The Shepherd's Voice

" Jesus said, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate, but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him and the sheep hear his vice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out . . . he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they do not recognize the voice of strangers.'
So, Jesus said again, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, ' I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. . . A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.' " -[John 10: 1-10].

The image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is one of the most beloved in the Bible. A good shepherd protects his flock from the wolf. As John 10:15 says, "[Jesus] lays His life down for His sheep."

And what is "the Wolf", except the Enemy of the Spirit, namely, "licentiousness, idolatry, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing and the like" -[Galatians 5: 20-21].

I would say that in my house, growing up, there were all these serious transgressions against the Spirit. One parent was a drinker. There were factions, one family member aligning with another, to abuse the third. That third was usually ME. . . As two aligned, the third became jealous. There was anger, expressed as physical abuse, constant verbal abuse, greed, blackmail, child neglect and abandonment. In this seriously dysfunctional family, I was the scapegoat -- to lifelong ill effect.

I had a pastor once express shock at how I did not end up becoming just like my family. At that time, I did not have the insight or the words to explain it.

As I have had more time to process and reflect upon all that happened in my childhood, I realize one simple fact. A child does not WANT Hate. A child is attracted to Love and Peace and Hope.

In a very real sense, you could say that I "heard the voice of the Good Shepherd." I sought Love; joy; peace; patience; kindness; generosity; faithfulness; gentleness; self-control as the antidote to the chaos in my home.  These are the Fruits of the Spirit.

I did not even "recognize" the things which my parents were saying and doing. It was as if I were growing up amidst a bunch of strangers! In John 10: 5, Jesus says, "The sheep will not follow a stranger, but will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers."

I KNEW, even as a child, that the abuse, jealousy, violence and hate were wrong.

Today, I still "hear the shepherd's voice." I run from all people or things that oppose the Fruits of the Spirit. It feels like I am still running from the Wolf.

Now I suppose that, in our modern world, hearing "a voice" may seem insane to many.

I remember when I was recently having trouble, for weeks, connecting with a girlfriend. I was in a discount store, I rounded an aisle, AND -- there she was! We both looked heavenward and laughed out loud! Then, we hugged joyfully! We had both been praying about how we could see each other again. That is Love, that is Jesus.

I also remember when I told my son that my friends, two former Lost Boys of Sudan, had been airlifted out of the refugee camps TO the same country (America) and TO the same region of the country, about an hour apart.  These two boys run in opposite directions when attacked, had been separated for years and had no idea how to find each other. My son said to me, "And, I suppose you will say that that is God." I told him, I can always tell that it is God, when I look heavenward and say, "What are the chances of THAT?"

There are more instances than I can count in my life, when events dovetail so perfectly; when I "hear" a nudge towards the Fruits of the Spirit and away from strife; when I realize even in hindsight that God saved me from the power of the Wolf or from transgressions keeping me from His Son.

So often, I think that we modern humans do not recognize the Shepherd's Voice, because we race through our days at an inhuman pace. Then, we dare to ask, 'BUT where IS God?'

Finding the Shepherd's Voice takes reflection, prayer; and it takes those moments when we slow down, look heavenward and say, "God! Jesus. I KNOW that was YOU!"

[Related Postings: "Hearing the Shepherd's Voice", 4/19/16; "The 'Lost Shepherd' ", 4/25/15; "The Good Pastor", 7/14/12; "Where is My Flock?", 4/29/12; "His Flock", 5/16/11].

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