I don’t know enough about sheep-keeping to know how responsive sheep are to sound (and the one person I know who’s been a shepherd is out of town, so I can’t ask…)
But Jesus says that sheep know the shepherd’s voice:
“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.”
This passage always reminds me of Jesus’ encounter with Mary Magdalene in the garden on Easter morning. In her grief at finding the tomb empty, and assuming someone has taken the body of her Lord, Mary has a conversation with Jesus, whom she mistakes for a gardener. It is only when he says her name that she recognizes him by his voice. “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”
I can’t claim to know Jesus’ voice, but I have had enough interior conversations with him that I believe I recognize his voice – not by timbre but by what he says. When I get a response in prayer that is simple and profound and sometimes a little sharp, something that I’m pretty sure I would never have thought of, I attribute it to Jesus. And if it bears good fruit, I feel that hunch confirmed.
One way of describing spiritual growth as a Christ-follower is allowing our spirits to become familiar with the Shepherd’s voice, so that we are led to green pastures and still waters, to fruitfulness and refreshment. Christ’s leading, which comes to us through the the Holy Spirit, can also steer us away from ravines and precipices. As we learn to trust that guidance, we also become more attuned to false shepherds, seeking to lead us away from the One who makes us whole.
How do you experience Jesus’ voice in your life? Through scripture or prayer? In worship? Inner promptings? Other people offering interpretations?
If the very idea of “hearing” Jesus seems strange to you,you might consider offering a prayer like this: “Okay, Jesus, if you call your own sheep by name and lead them out, call me in a way I can understand.” And then see what happens – over the next hours or days or weeks… check in periodically with that prayer and see if your relationship is changing at all. It’s not up to the sheep, it’s up to the shepherd… and it helps if the sheep are alive to the possibilities.
I think Jesus had to watch a lot of people who wandered into his community be drawn away again by fear-mongering leaders who warned people not to trust him, or by their own inability to commit to him when it became inconvenient. I imagine it pained him to watch people come close to the love he offered and then wander off.
But Jesus never forced anyone to follow him, and he doesn’t now. He only calls to us, with open arms.
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