Hearing God’s Voice

What does the image of Shepherd bring up for you?

I imagine some Victorian pastiche of a sunny pastoral scene with a long-haired Jesus in a flowing white robe holding a crook followed by a small collection of lambs and perhaps carrying one under his arm as he smiles at some unknown thig in the distance.

It’s quite far away from the experience of shepherding in first century Palestine - which was not only an unglamorous and hard manual task, undertaken in unpredictable weather, but also a rather lowly profession which caused issue with fulfilling the religious obligations of the Jewish faith at the time. BUT, shepherding in the context was also widely understood to have both caring and leadership responsibilities.

So when Jesus speaks of himself as the Good Shepherd and of those who do and do not belong to his sheep, and then goes on to say that he can grant eternal life to those who follow him, it is clear that he is not only positioning himself in leadership of the people but is also drawing on the First Testament’s tradition of God leading his people like a Shepherd.

Jesus is aligning himself with the Father.

To those who did not recognise him as the Messiah, this was not only controversial but blasphemous and they ask him to spell it out to them and tell them plainly that he is the Messiah. This would give them cause to declare blasphemy and stone him (which they later in the passage attempt to do). But Jesus’ response is to point them instead to his works which he does in the Father’s name.

In this context this doesn’t just mean he represents God, but that he is aligning himself with God. That the same power which God in heaven possesses, God on earth shares in too. ‘The Father and I are one’ he declares.

Jesus is pointing them to his works of healing the sick, raising the dead and casting out demons as self-evident examples of his messiahship.

His sheep are not those who follow obliviously, but those who follow with the eyes of their heart open – expectant to meet God and who recognise him when he walks among them.

His sheep are those who ‘hear his voice’ and follow the shepherd on the path to eternal life.

How do you hear God’s voice I wonder?

And how do you recognise it when you sense God is at work?

Are you living each day expectant to meet God?

The way we hear God’s voice is different for everyone but there are of course some similarities. Very few of us hear a booming voice out the clouds but most people ‘hear’ God’s voice more internally – in their inclinations and convictions, in what they find themselves drawn to or away from and what they are stirred to pray for, or the sense of peace which comes after a tough decision is made in the way we trust God would want us to respond.

But how we hear the voice of God can also be influenced by our up-brining and other dominant voices in our life. If you think you hear God’s voice judgementally, harshly or aggressively, then the chances are that it is not in fact his voice which is calling you but it might be an amalgamation of other authority figures who have been less than pastoral in the past.

The voice of the Good Shepherd may be strong and unwavering in the face of danger, but it is also gentle. The Good Shepherd calls his sheep to follow, to feed on him and to experience fullness of life. He goes out to find you when you are lost and he lays down his life to give you life eternal.

In these days of global turmoil, take comfort in being shepherded - You have been given to Jesus by the Father, and no-one can snatch you out of his hand.

Amen.