The Voice of the Good Shepherd.
Good Morning Friends,
My Friend Dave has a scriptural imagination. I say that because he applies scripture to the situations in which he is living without effort and still very precisely reflecting and enlightening the experience of the moment. The Holy Spirit speaks through him. Actually I know several people who are like that, but Dave is perhaps the best example because he so rarely has an agenda behind the sharing accept to honor Jesus. The Bible has a variety of ways that God speaks to us… angels, visions, dreams…gentle whispers, miraculous signs and symbolic actions…clouds and fires, a donkey and burning bush.
I would add to that friends, especially the friend we have in Jesus. Most friendships of course take time to age. I think it takes years of absorbing the Word into one’s body and mind as a sacrament with others before its inspiration takes hold of us. Only in this way does it age properly so that when slowly poured out like a rare wine there is nothing to decant from the cup. Here scripture is as normal as a daily action but in remembrance of Jesus resonating in the same frequency as the Word sung… the Word read…a wine sipped so slowly that each flavor of life is as an utterance that soaks into our very being. Maybe in that surprise of life is how we are to hear The Voice of the Good Shepherd.
Scripture: “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father. ”Again the Jews were divided because of these words. Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why listen to him?” Others were saying, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah,tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.” Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’—and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.
John 10:1-42 (NRSV)
Message: Today’s scripture has to be read slowly. There is no other way. It has so many different voices. At one point one might hear the voice of evil and then at other times the voice of self and then finally the voice of God. One cannot gloss over the voices or the message is lost. One must taste, chew and digest the Word made flesh as a provision for hearing what God has breathed into existence. Read the Bible slowly to commit it to your mind and heart. Let the Good Shepherd’s voice pour over you as a Baptism in the Holy Spirit to be shared.
Pray we commune with Christ. Pray we comprehend the purpose in hearing His voice. Pray we know God’s Love, His Presence and Holiness. Pray we know His will, Sovereignty, and Faithfulness. Pray we comply with the voice of the Good Shepherd. Pray we rejoice in the Sacraments when the voice of the Good Shepherd in Scripture is magnified in them.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 