Vocal impressions and imitations can be funny. You know, when comedians and actors do vocal imitations of famous people. It can be entertaining because it can be fun to hear a particular voice come out of somebody else. But, even though these impressions can be pretty good, a trained ear or a computer can detect the differences between the imitator and the voice of the original person. That’s because every person has a unique vocal pattern, a different shaped mouth, throat, teeth, neck all which make for a voice that cannot be perfectly duplicated by another person. Your voice is almost like a fingerprint. Our unique vocal pattern not only includes our accents, and rhythms of speech, but the actual physical waves of sound that comes from our uniquely structured bodies. Our voice is part of what makes us, us. Our ears recognize this. That is how we are able to recognize the voice of each other, the voice of a celebrity, or the treasured voice of a loved one.
Today’s text talks about the voice of another, often imitated voice, a voice which is not funny to imitate or mock: and that is the voice of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. Jesus referred to Himself as a shepherd and His followers as sheep. Jesus had gone into greater detail of that sheep/shepherd relationship in John chapter 10. But in the section appointed for the Gospel today Jesus highlighted the vocal aspect of the sheep/ Shepherd dynamic. He said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
At the time Jesus said these things in chapter 10, He had been speaking with some Pharisees along with the man who had been born blind but Jesus had healed on the sabbath in the previous chapter. The Pharisees had twice questioned the healed man as to who healed him. The second time, the conversation went like this: They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.”
And they cast him out of the temple.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”
Jesus is speaking the Good Shepherd texts of John 10 in this context. The sheep of God’s fold hear His voice. They recognize that Jesus and His preaching are not nothing. He calls to them, and by the Holy Spirit, they respond by sound and not by sight. The Shepherd Jesus knew and knows them, that is why He seeks them out to call them, to protect them, because they are His own and He will protect them, yes, even to the point of laying down His life for His sheep.
How did the Pharisees respond to Jesus’ voice? At the end of John 10, they picked up stones to stone Jesus. But it was not yet His time to die.
The one who has been crucified and raised continues to be the Great and good shepherd. He continues to watch out for the flock. Gathering even as He continues to call to them. His sheep find refuge and strength in His presence as He feeds and defends them.
Yet He must gather them. Why in Scripture does the Shepherd have to go hunting for the sheep calling to them except that the sheep are prone to wander away?
Among the many dangers lurking are the enemies who imitate the Good Shepherd in act or voice. Who creep into the sheep fold of the Church acting as under shepherds but are false shepherds. Whether they creep in by television, radio, or as pastors in congregations. They try to ape the message of the Good Shepherd. They add to it, subtract from it, all with an attempt to fool the sheep, to woo them away from the Good Shepherd, so that separated from the Good Shepherd and the safety of the sheep pen, they can be all the more easily eaten and devoured by the enemy. They are wolves in shepherds clothing. If only the enemies were as clumsy and silly as Wile E. Coyote in the old Warner Brothers cartoons when he plotted to steal sheep, but the sheepdog would always save the day.
Sadly, these spiritual enemies are truly wiley and clever, they know our weaknesses. They know how susceptible we are to laziness, or coveting: the grass always seems greener elsewhere, or even to fear. The competing voice of the devil or our flesh may cause us to question the love of our Shepherd sometimes. When trouble arises, when the valley of the shadow of death looms large, we may be tempted to panic and lose faith that we will be defended, that Christ’s promises are true and that we need not fear. And so we fail and fall, sinning in our unbelief.
We are powerless on our own to defend against such trickery. There is a reason that sheep get a bad reputation in terms of intelligence, they are easily distracted, they cannot defend themselves well, they get their wool messed up and fouled, and do go astray and get devoured and ignore the voice of the Shepherd they should listen to.
When it comes to us, how we behave, how we think and feel, how we trust or don’t trust the voice of the Shepherd, sometimes going after other voices or teachings out of curiosity or dissatisfaction with the truth. Are we any different than sheep that go astray and get what they deserve?
Yet the shepherd Jesus Christ came for this reason. As a shepherd pities his silly but beloved sheep so God pities us. Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” He spoke about the coming of wolves and thieves who would seek to steal, kill, consume, destroy, while scattering the flock. Jesus declared in verse 10, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it abundantly.”
The Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ intends to do all that He can to rescue all the sheep of His sheepfold. Because He loves us. He loves you. He came and dwelled in the muck and mire of the sheep, getting dirty even as He led the perfect life that we could not. He laid down His life and was crucified for your sin, defeating all your enemies and has risen triumphant from death to life.
The Good Shepherd continues to call out to us and to the world. He continues to come to us in our valleys and wherever we may be, to do the acts that His Father has given Him to do. Now His voice is the voice of His Word in Holy Scripture, and in the proclamation of His Word by faithful under shepherds and sheepdogs.
Yes, all we like sheep have gone astray, but today and every day, the Good Shepherd calls to you and me by His Word to come to His Divine Service, to be gathered around Himself. To confess our sins and hear again His voice of triumphant forgiveness, “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
That is why you are here today. By faith, you recognize His voice. You desire to be where the voice of Your beloved Shepherd is heard. The Holy Spirit has led you here again today because He worked this faith into your heart. He did it by that voice of His Word as it has been taught and preached and given in His Sacraments. In Baptism, He called you by your name and marked you with His name. He abides with you His sheep and hears you when you call to Him. He comes with His staff to rescue and His rod to defend you in your life.
In order to better spot the imitator wolves, to hear and recognize the comforting voice of our loving Shepherd, let us continually come to where He is. The more familiar we are with His voice, His teaching, His forgiveness, the less likely we can be led astray. But if and when we do, know that the Good Shepherd calls and gathers us again to Himself, crucifying our sins upon Himself, washing us clean, and comforting us in all our trials. Feeding us His body and blood to nourish us and strengthen us soul and body as His cup of mercy runs over.
So now rest in His arms, listen to His voice and receive His love, forgiveness, and mercy. Jesus says to you: that for His sake, through faith in Him, you will never truly perish, but you shall receive eternal life. Your enemies cannot ultimately harm you, for they are defeated already through Jesus Christ, your Good and loving Shepherd, Amen.
Pr. Aaron Kangas