Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
Jesus said: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27-28).
How good are you at listening? According to Psychology Today, in one survey, 96 percent of respondents said they were always or sometimes good listeners. Would you consider yourself to be a good listener? However, another study found that we only retain about half of what people say to us. And that is directly after they say it. So maybe you aren’t as good of a listener as you may think.
Now, as you are acutely aware, men and women are different. Even if the fallen world attempts to erase the fact that men and women are different, how is it that one sex is significantly better at listening than the other sex? And in case you aren’t sure which sex is typically the better listener, well, it’s female. You may have already known that. And there are always exceptions to every rule. So, there are occasions when the male is a better listener than the female, but typically, the female is the better listener.
In today’s Gospel text, Jesus says: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).
Do you know who your Shepherd is? Do you know what He is saying to you? Do you know His voice?
Sheep always recognize their shepherd’s voice. They listen for their shepherd’s voice. If they hear another’s voice, they flee. They flee, because voices are unique. Voices can identify people much like fingerprints. Restless babies settle down when they hear their mother’s or father’s voice.
Today’s text tells us about the familiar voice of the Good Shepherd, who is Jesus Christ. But how do we identify His voice?
You and I hear many voices. Persistently and in many ways, the voices of the world – those “strangers,” “thieves,” and “robbers” – approach us.
§ They call us to disobey the voice of Jesus by rejecting or evading His commands.
§ They call on us to subvert His inerrant Word.
§ They call us to ignore Jesus, so that we would get caught in false teachings.
§ They call us to remain busy in this life so that we don’t have time to hear God’s Word and receive His Sacraments weekly in this place.
§ They call on us to abandon our faithfulness to Christ.
§ They call on us to isolate ourselves apart from Christ and this congregation.
§ They call on us to not support the work our gracious Lord has given for us to do here, by supporting this congregation with our time, our talents and our treasures that Christ alone gives to us.
After Christ ascended into heaven to receive all power and all authority in heaven and on Earth, it appears that He has abandoned us. But He hasn’t. He is still speaking. He speaks to us in the Scriptures. He speaks to us through right preaching. But are you listening?
The Good Shepherd is speaking as He carries His rod and a staff (Psalm 23:4) and by this, He directs and guides us. He speaks to us the word of the Law – the rod, as He lets us know how much we have sinned and deserve nothing but eternal wrath apart from Him. He also speaks to us the word of the Gospel – the staff, as He forgives our sins, giving us salvation and opening for us eternal life. His word of Law and Gospel is His unique voice.
For the Jewish authorities who were at the temple colonnade and interrogated Jesus, which led to Jesus to say, “My sheep hear My voice,” they were wondering just who Jesus was. It was winter and Jesus was at the temple for the feast of dedication, which may be better known as Hannukah.
So, the Jewish authorities asked Jesus, “How long will you keep us in suspense?” (John 10:24a), or more literally, “How long do you take away our life?” This is what they were asking. So, for these Jewish authorities, knowing who Jesus was is a life-or-death issue. They want to know if Jesus is the Messiah or not. So, Jesus answers them, saying, “I told you, and you do not believe” (John 10:25).
What Jesus is saying is this, “You will not understand, since you don’t understand anything I have said, because you are not of My flock. You don’t know the Shepherd’s voice. If you did, you would know. You would realize who it is Who is speaking to you.” You see, knowing the voice of Jesus is a life-or-death issue for you and me.
For if you do not know His voice, you only receive judgment. The marker of unbelief is that those who oppose Jesus are not of His sheep. If they were His sheep, they would follow Him. If they were His sheep, they would become His disciples. If they were His sheep, they would be given them eternal life. For Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24).
For everyone who hears the voice of the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd knows them, and they follow Him. And He gives those who listen to His voice: eternal life.
This is Christ’s guarantee for you. All those who listen to His voice and follow Him receive eternal life. And in His hand and His Father’s hand, He says that no one will ever snatch you.
But what’s to guarantee that we will receive eternal life that Jesus says is ours as His sheep? Afterall, there are so many kinds of strangers, thieves and robbers just waiting to steal us away from God. And because we live in America, our First Amendment allows for so many false teachers who wear sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. They preach what our itching ears want to hear rather than what we need to hear.
We are called sheep, because sheep are pretty stupid. Sheep are easy prey. If everything was up to the sheep, just up to you and me, we’d all be dead. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against cosmic powers over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
This is what we are all up against. We are all facing increasing opposition against the Church. And not only that, the media and culture are bent against the Church. We have so many spiritual forces arrayed against us. And it gets worse. We have ourselves to contend with. We have our own sinful nature. It’s a never-ending battle.
But Jesus says, “No one can snatch those who listen to My voice and follow Me.” Now, the fallen world, our own sinful nature, and Satan himself are sure trying. Who is going to protect me and you from ourselves, the fallen world, and the devil? These are our wolves!
But that’s the beauty of today’s text on this Good Shepherd Sunday! It’s not up to us – you and me. So, for us and for our salvation, He came down from heaven. He saw our hopeless situation. He saw how hopeless we were. We were like sheep without a shepherd.
So, He came down. He came down to do something about our hopeless situation. You see, for the Good Shepherd, He doesn’t see us as just sheep to Him. For He calls us His brothers and sisters. He calls us children of God by grace through faith in Him. He went so far as to lay down His life for us – you and me – to give us His atoning blood which covers yours and my sins.
And in this constant battle, this daily battle against cosmic powers, spiritual forces of evil, and ourselves, Jesus gives us His medicine of immortality. He gives us a blood transfusion every week, so that we have the same blood type as He does. So, when you partake of Christ’s true body and His true blood, Christ’s perfect blood is coursing through your veins. And when we hear His voice, we listen. When we hear His voice, we participate in the life of Christ given by Him.
It is here, in the Divine Service, that the Good Shepherd teaches us His voice. It is here where the Holy Spirit records Christ’s voice of Law and Gospel within us as He writes it on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:34). And having the Good Shepherd’s voice recorded in our hearts means that we are able to hear Him, believe in Him, abide in His Word, and follow Him.
So, wherever and whenever the Good Shepherd speaks, we are attracted to His sweet words and we listen. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life.”Have you ever noticed that those four statements of our Good Shepherd’s voice intertwine? “Theyhear – I know – they follow – I give.” In these four short master strokes, the relation between the shepherd and the sheep is pictured. All four of these statements are simultaneous.
When we hear our Good Shepherd’s voice, He knows, we follow, and He gives. He gives His sheep eternal life, so that we would never perish. He gives us protection so that no one could ever snatch us out of His hand.
Yet, the wolves are always out there. Those strangers, thieves, and robbers. But we have the promise. We have Christ’s promise. We have the Good Shepherd’s promise that no one can ever snatch you away from Him.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Amen!
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +
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