Divine Voice 4-28-23
Divine Voice
Acts 2:42-47; John 10:1-10
Acts 2:42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
John 10:1-10
“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Prayer – Gracious and loving God, you sent your Son, Jesus the Christ, to shepherd us, to give us a voice that touches us deeper than any other voice. Jesus walked the dusty roads of Palestine, talking and teaching, preaching love and grace and healing the broken simply by the sound of his voice. Remind us this day, in the midst of the countless voices that speak in our world, that your voice, the voice of love and grace and mercy and peace is the singular voice that helps us to know your divine voice – amen.
For much of John’s gospel, the question of Jesus’ identity is the common thread. In the other gospels the question of Jesus’ identity is important but in John’s gospel it seems to be the pervading question and in our passage this morning Jesus casts off the veil of subtlety. He answers the, “Who is this?” question and he does so with two poetic images – the gate and the true shepherd.
In our passage this morning Jesus says, “anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in another way is a thief and an outlaw. The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out . . . they follow him because they know his voice. They don’t follow a stranger’s voice because they don’t know the voice of strangers.”
A thief rarely walks in through the front door but rather sneaks in through a window. When you enter your own home, you walk through the front door or the garage door, there’s no need to sneak through a window. Many times when I get home from work Valerie will say, “I hope that is my husband.” To which I respond, “Hey hon” and she knows it is in fact me simply by the sound of my voice.
Jesus is known by his voice. Nobody knows for sure what Jesus looked like – how he dressed, how tall he was or whether he was slender or a little heavy set. What we do know is what he had to say. The gospels record the most important of his sayings. Have you ever asked yourself, “I wonder what God thinks about that?” or “What would Jesus say about . . .” You can look in scripture, and you can hear what God says, In Jesus, God elected to be known to us, not to be vague, obscure or indirect. It is the nature of God to speak to us, to reveal and to disclose what is most important simply by the words that ring most true. When God’s voice speaks to us through scripture, experience or even the sacraments we tend to just know.
The words of Jesus we find in the gospels are his way of revealing not only who he is, but who God is. You see, Jesus came not to change God’s mind about us a broken people, but to change our minds about God. The words of Jesus, his self-revelation, is not limited to the inert, fixed words on a page, even the pages of the gospels. As we celebrated here just a few weeks ago, Jesus is raised, alive and present. The cross didn’t silence Jesus. In his resurrection, the Jesus talk continues – continues to speak, to reveal and to remind us that there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love.
Jesus is known by his voice. It’s interesting that Jesus doesn’t say, at least he doesn’t say in this passage, that he is recognized by his words, his rules, his religious principles and ideas. He is known by his voice, the sound of his words. A voice is a living thing. You can close your eyes to words written on a page. But it’s more difficult to shut your ears, even the ears of your heart, to the sound of God’s voice.
I can’t tell you the number of times in the hospital when a patient has been unresponsive to the doctors, the nurses, the chaplains but when they heard the voice of a loved one, their heart rate would go up, they would squeeze the hand of a loved one, they would respond even though they were unconscious. I’m sure you have seen infants crying, upset in a caregiver’s arms, perk up and calm down immediately when they hear the sound of their parent’s voice. The baby doesn’t yet know words, cannot yet speak, but knows, knows the voice of love. It is pretty amazing to know that tender voice of love – the divine voice.
We live in a world where there are literally millions of voices beckoning to us, seeking our attention. Some of those voices are relevant, most of them aren’t. Those voices are clamoring like a gong to get our attention every single day – voices like be all you can be; like you can pull yourself by the bootstraps; like you can’t do that; like you will never amount to anything; like stay at home, wear a mask, maintain social distancing; like we need to get our economy moving again. These voices are heard so frequently that they tend to get imprinted in our minds and sometimes on our hearts.
When you compare and contrast all the voices of humankind and society we hear, how do you discern the divine voice of God, the voice of Jesus from all the others voices? What is different about the voice of Jesus, the voice of God? Can we trust the divine voice? There are lots of voices calling out our names just like there are so many spammers, jumping over the firewall of my life promising bigger things and greater harvests. Jesus tells us to trust the ones who come in by the gate and not the blind guides who are intent on thieving and stealing us blind. You can hear the difference between the divine voice and the claims of growth and riches they espouse.
In fact, Jesus is not a divine spam filter who will keep us safe at home. Rather the voice of Jesus is like that of a divine shepherd who will call us by name and who will in fact put his life on the line for us. We believe that Jesus laid down his life for us. Hired hands rarely put their life on the line.
Jesus spoke to me when my grandmother would sit and talk about life and faith with me as a young teenager. Jesus spoke to me when she told me one day that I would be a minister. Jesus spoke to me through the voice of my dad who embodied unconditional love. Jesus spoke to me through my Emmaus walk when I was surrounded by both friends and people I didn’t know from Adam’s housecat who were showering me with grace and kindness. Jesus spoke to me when I made dumb decisions and made mistakes in my journey, yet his voice was of forgiveness while far too many of the voices in my head were of judgment.
Jesus speaks to me still today, when I sit with a patient or family who is facing a difficult illness or an EOL situation. Jesus speaks to me when Valerie and I sit down for one of our spiritual conversations. Jesus speaks to me when my grandkids smile and say “Poppi.” Jesus speaks to me as I watch a sunrise or sunset, a rainbow or a coming thunderstorm. Jesus speaks to me as I sit and contemplate what to share with you each week. Jesus speaks to me through words, thoughts, memories, hopes, dreams and sacraments.
It is also that divine voice calling our names to come and do things that we probably least want to do. The divine voice has a tendency to call us to leave our safe places and come out into the world; a voice that calls us to do the most concrete and solid acts of love like feeding the hungry; helping the poor and seeking justice for all who have been wrongly accused; even in loving the unlovable.
If we want the divine voice to call out our names – if I want, or you want, the divine voice calling your name to be clear and comforting, we must leave what little comfort we may have, and follow the shepherd out into new pastures. And know, that to follow the shepherd may very well mean crying out, “My God, My God, where are you, why have you forsaken us?” To be honest, hearing, rather, listening to the divine voice can seem to be a poor bargain and a risky enterprise at times.
Jesus, the divine voice speaks to me just as it speaks to you each and every day. My challenge, and perhaps your challenge is hearing the divine voice with all the other voices that compete for our attention. The divine voice is one that continues to call our names and at the end of the day, that divine voice reminds us that there is nothing the divine won’t do to remind us of God’s love, whether we betray, deny or run and hide. There is something different about the divine voice – it strikes a place deep in our hearts, it resonates with truth, it is a voice that we just know – thanks be to God – amen.