Easter 4

Easter 4 "My sheep hear my voice"

The Good Shepherd devotes himself to his sheep.

The good shepherd spends all of his time and talent and attention tending to the well being of his flock. He is always there for the flock. Gradually, the sheep learn to identify the shepherd’s form and voice with care and protection.

Not all who serve as shepherds act as shepherds. Some are less attentive and less devoted. The sheep are less likely to follow them and more likely to wander aimlessly into danger.
Sheep are sheep. They do not aspire to be shepherds. They have a fixed nature and character. The good shepherd spends time learning as much as he can about the nature and character of sheep. It doesn’t take long. Sheep need food, water, security and direction.
Only Jesus can use the metaphor of the shepherd and the sheep to apply to himself and the human race. Only Jesus has the time and the energy to study humanity and comprehend human character and nature.

Unlike sheep, human beings are not content to be who God created us to be.

God the Father created human beings to be self actualizing persons filled with love and holiness. The Father created us to be holy vessels of God the Holy Spirit. The Father created us to be in a spontaneous joyful, dynamic loving relationship with the co-eternal Beloved, the Son- Jesus Christ.

For a created being to be the vessel of holiness and the companion of the co-eternal Beloved the activating principle is real choice. Love and holiness cannot be compelled they can only be chosen.

The record of scripture is the observation and revelation that human beings chose to separate from love and holiness in order to embrace knowledge and power. Human beings are not content to be human. We are not content to be who God created us to be.

Human beings aspire to be like God’s attributes of omniscience and omnipotence rather than God’s character of holiness and nature of love. We seek to command and control our environment, our interpersonal relationships, our own souls and above all else: God. We end up lost, lonely, frustrated and broken.

Jesus, the good shepherd, knows that unlike real sheep we are not content to be who God created us to be. Jesus is the original pattern for humanity. He knows how and where and why we choose to break the pattern. He knows how to restore the pattern.

The restoration of the original pattern of humanity is not possible by law, religion, science or philosophy. Those things have their place in human life. Those things can not restore us to wholeness and health. Only Jesus can do that. Only Jesus can do that because he is the original pattern by which, through which, and for which God the Father created us.

Jesus affirms this when he says: The Father and I are one.

Jesus alone is the universal Lord and the universal savior because Jesus alone is one with the Father. Jesus alone is the co-eternal Beloved of the Father. Jesus alone is the perfect plan, pattern and purpose for humanity.

There is a fundamental spiritual principle implicit in the Biblical observations about human behavior and human nature. The principle is real choice. There are three parts to this principle.
The first part of that principle is that we are lost and are stubbornly committed to our individual will to power to resist God’s solution to the problem we face. We are lost and we insist on our right to exercise our will to stay lost.

The second part of this principle is that God the Holy Spirit is reaching out to all people everywhere with the invitation to be found. The Holy Spirit whispers to us in our pleasures, He speaks to us in the beauty of the natural world, the order of creation that science perceives in the universe, and in the desire of the heart for companionship.

The Holy Spirit also shouts to us in our pain. That pain may be physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual. Pain alerts us to a problem. The Holy Spirit shouts to us in our pain and he shouts out one word: Jesus.

The third and last part of this spiritual principle is that all who seek God for who he is will find him for who he is. And, we will find him for who he is in Jesus Christ.
There are three keys to finding God for who he is. These are the keys of surrender.

The first key is the desire to surrender our self will demand to define God for who we want God to be.

The second key is to surrender our fear that if we cannot impose our will to define God that somehow we will suffer and perish.

The third key is to surrender our pride, that fatal pride, that in all ways and at all times demands "my will be done."

Why some hear the invitation and choose the path of surrender is Divine Mystery. There were many in Israel who heard the words of Moses and still worshiped the golden calf. The were many in Israel who heard the call of the prophets and rejected the invitation to worship the living God. There were many in Israel who saw Jesus perform miracles and teach the love and compassion of God who yet rejected Jesus and plotted to kill him.

All who seek the truth find it. All who seek God find him.

All who seek with the three keys of submission are found by the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. It is they who recognize the voice of the One who has been caring for them despite their stubborn rebellion. They hear his voice and they make a real choice to believe.

That real choice to believe says: yes. I receive the gift of God in Jesus Christ. Yes. I receive the apostolic witness that Christ lived, died and rose again. Yes. I receive the testimony of the Holy Spirit as he speaks to me in the events of daily life and from the words of the Bible. God is real. God is personal. God is love. God is Jesus Christ.

The sheep who aspire only to be sheep hear the voice of the shepherd and rejoice to recognize that voice. The sheep who rejoice in the voice of the shepherd choose the path of surrender to the eternal love of the co-eternal Beloved. They are the ones who follow him into the green pastures fed by springs of living waters.

The voice of the Good Shepherd is the word of God made flesh in Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us this morning that all who seek him will be found by him. And he will give all who seek him eternal life. He can do this because Jesus is one with God the Father. Jesus is one with the infinite and eternal love of God.