My sheep hear my voice

Homily for 4^th Sunday of Easter Year C 2016

Acts 4:8-12; 1 John 3:1-2; John 10:11-18

Introduction

“My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish."  In this short verse, Jesus teaches four things, two of which his disciples do and two of which he does himself.

·        The disciples "hear my voice," and "follow me," Jesus says.

·        And as for himself, "I know them" and "I give them eternal life."

Scripture and Theology

The voice is a powerful instrument.  You have probably seen the TV show called “The Voice.”  In the first stage of this competition, participants compete in a blind audition in front of four coaches, who are usually accomplished musicians themselves.  During the audition, the chairs of the coaches face away from the performers towards the audience.  Each coach must pick a potential artist to coach, based only on their voice.  And so when a coach has heard enough to impress him or her, they press their button and turn their chair towards the performer.  A few years ago, in the Italian version of this show, when the coaches turned round, they were surprised to see that the beautiful voice they had just heard was that of a nun, Sr. Christina.

And so, Jesus can confidently say, "My sheep hear my voice." For sheep have a knack for identifying their shepherd by his voice.  All the shepherd needs to keep his sheep in line is his voice, unlike the cowboy who needs a whip to drive the cattle.  And so the disciples of Jesus, should be able to identify him by his voice, by what he teaches.  Like the music coach in the Show can identify talent just by the voice, the disciple should be able to identify the Lord's voice of truth.

The second thing that the sheep do is to follow the shepherd's voice.  Because they are used to him and know him, they will follow him when he calls them; they will not follow the voice of a stranger or thief.  They hear in his voice that he cares for them and that is why they follow him.  And so, whether Jesus is teaching the Sermon on the Mount, or talking to Nicodemus at night, or conversing with the small band of apostles around him, they hear the Word of God that he shares, and they stick with him, on account of that voice.

And now to what Jesus himself does.  First, he says, "I know my sheep."  The real shepherd had to know his sheep.  He probably had to stay with them in the desert for days on end, looking for water and grass.  All this time, the shepherd was entirely responsible for their fate and well-being.  It is even said that the shepherd could tell each individual sheep from the others.  He probably named them too.  He knew the needs of each sheep; the shy one, the slow one and the one with attitude!  And he took care of their needs accordingly, encouraging the shy one, carrying the slow one and reining in the mischievous one.

In the same way Jesus knows his followers and sometimes tailors his message to them according to their needs.  To the sick he brings a message of healing and patient endurance; to the prostitutes and tax-collectors, a message of repentance and forgiveness; and to the Pharisees and scribes a message of God’s boundless and gracious love.  That is why he can claim to know his sheep.

And finally besides knowing his sheep, Jesus gives them eternal life.  Yes, the shepherd provided his sheep with material things (food, drink, protection, shade).  But Jesus the Good Shepherd, by his teaching and miracles, by his death and resurrection, gives the sheep more than material and physical comfort; he offers them the chance to get to heaven, where they will live with God forever.

And so, it is because Jesus the Good Shepherd does his part in knowing the sheep and giving them eternal life, that the sheep can hear his voice and follow him to where he leads them.

Christian Life

Jesus is still our Good Shepherd today; he still knows us and gives us eternal life.  His is still the voice we should hear and we should follow.  Unfortunately for us, there is a cacophony of voices today, some good, some not so good, all calling for the attention of our ears.

·        There are the ideological voices of the network and Cable News channels, as well as the sitcoms and dramas whose voice is often not that of Jesus.

·        There are the voices on the internet, newspapers, blogs, youtube, many of them peddling philosophies and ways of life, that are not of the Lord.

·        You also have the voices of our family, co-workers and friends, sometimes the source of gossip, slander and even hate, clearly not the voice of Jesus.

How can we hear and listen to the voice of Jesus in such a crowded marketplace of voices and ideas?

My friends, let me suggest three places where the voice of the Good Shepherd is loud and clear.

First, like I often say, let us to go the horse's mouth, the Bible.  There is no problem or situation in the world today to which Bible in general, but especially the fulfilling Word of Jesus has not spoken or given some guiding principle.  There was a time, when Catholics were not encouraged to read the Bible, perhaps because they did not have the tools and the help to understand it.  Today, Catholics read the Bible all the time.  But how do they read it?

In the book of the Acts of the Apostles, there is a story of the Ethiopian official, who was reading the Bible as he rode along the highway; but he could not understand what it was saying.  Then Philip the Deacon joined him and explained to him what it all meant; he got it and was baptised.  That is why Catholics read the Bible within the Church and not independently of the Church.  That is why the premier place for reading the Bible is in the Liturgy, in the readings and in the homily that explains them, as well as in Bible-Study groups.

For me, one of the reasons I like being Catholic and not Protestant is that I don’t have to do all the heavy lifting by myself.  Yes, I have to personally accept the Lord Jesus as my Saviour; I have to read the Scriptures and meditate on them; I have to pray; I have to love God and my neighbour.  But I don’t have to work out every single detail of Jesus’ teaching from scratch.  I rely on the testimony and witness of all those Catholics who have gone before me in the past 2000 years, going back to the apostles.  I believe that the Spirit, which the Lord promised to send, has continued to inspire the Church of every generation, so that the message he left us, has been handed on faithfully until our generation today.

That is why besides the Bible, the voice of Jesus can also be heard today in the in the teaching of the Pope, Bishops, priests and deacons of the Church.  This voice can be heard in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, nicely divided into four sections of Belief, Worship, Moral Life and Prayer.  The Catechism, in its complete form, or its youth formats, can be good gifts for Confirmation, First Holy Communion, birthdays and so on.

The third place to hear the voice of Jesus is our conscience.  Conscience is the secret chamber of the soul, to which only you and God have access.  When a conscience is well formed by prayer, by reflecting on God's Word and Church teaching, by celebrating the Sacraments, it can point us towards good and away from sin.  Some people call it a gut feeling; but it is really the voice of Jesus.

Conclusion

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, let us go home reassured that Jesus truly cares for us and speaks to us in various ways.  But let us also go home challenged to good shepherds in our own ways, as parents, as friends, as teachers, so that people can hear in us, the voice of Jesus.  And especially, for some of us, let us consider becoming priests, deacons and religious men and women, who are in an official way, the voice of Good Shepherd.