Listening to the Voice of Jesus
Pastor Mathew Magera – 4/17/16 – Sermon 161
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to from God
our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
When I find myself driving
north through Pierson, I like to check out the sign on the restaurant on the
main road there. I love creative signs and the most recent time I drove through
I noticed their sign that read, “Wanted: Punxsutawney Phil, dead or alive.” One
of the things I notice around this time of year is a great deal of impatience.
On March 20th, the seasons changed, but unfortunately, we never
quite felt the relief from the season that we expected. Many days would offer
exchanges about the poor weather, slush, snow, ice. Not to jinx this perfect
weekend, but we all can say that we have been in that place. Even those who
enjoy the winter season like myself have been found demanding answers from Mother
Nature about when spring would actually spring up. We’re finally beginning to
see signs of the new life that we associate with this season. The trees are
budding, the grass is turning green, and our moods are improving but that
impatience can be just killer during March and early April.
This morning, on Good
Shepherd Sunday, we find a story of Jesus that took place well before the first
Easter. While this story does not take place after the cross, we are still able
to experience the hope of the resurrection through the concept of the good
shepherd that we find in John and also in Psalm 23.
If we start with John 10
we’ll find the people becoming as impatient as we do when it comes to spring.
But, they weren’t impatient about the new life that comes from the environment,
they were impatient about the new life that comes from a savior. The Jewish
people are impatient and want answers. They have been witnessing Jesus'
uprising as a popular counter-cultural force and they want to know once and for
all if he was the Messiah. Just tell us plainly, Jesus. However, rather than
answer the question, Jesus exposes their impatience as unbelief. He exposes the
unbelief of the Jewish people who are questioning and at the same time he
exposes our unbelief as well. How many times do we become impatient with God’s
timing, His actions and His providence among us? How can we not read this
passage in John 10 and not wonder if we are the very people he is talking to
when he says, "you are not one of my sheep"? We get impatient like
the Jewish people do. They want answers. They want to know if Jesus is the
Messiah. We want answers too! We want relief from the suffering we are in and
we want it now! It's as if we are asking just like they were, "Are you
really the Messiah? If so, just tell us plainly." If you are really the
Messiah, turn our country around. If you are really the Messiah, cause our
church to grow. If you are really the Messiah, take away our suffering. We want
a savior and we want one now! This is a reality for many of us. We struggle
with the good news of the Gospel being preached and proclaimed because often we
find ourselves seeing little change, having seemed to gain little ground in
growing the Kingdom.
So, what happens at that
point? Jesus separates this attitude of impatience from the attitude of his
sheep. The unbelieving and impatient seek answers. That's where we are. The
sheep listen to the voice of the shepherd. That’s where we need to be. We're
not very good listeners. We need to do better. We need to understand our
situation in a way that allows us to be open to the movement of our shepherd,
that we might turn and follow His voice and not be led by the impatient tone in
ours. So, let's listen and let's start listening by bringing in a Psalm that we
all know so well by heart but may also benefit by really listening to this
morning.
Psalm 23:4 says, “Even
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for you are with me.” The first thing we must listen to is the fact that
suffering is part of the journey we are on. We have to walk through the valley
of the shadow of death. What we must remember, though, and this is so
essential, is that while suffering is part of the journey, suffering is not the
end of the journey. Why? Because of all the people that could be our shepherd,
Jesus is our shepherd. Verse one of this Psalm even says so, “The Lord is my
shepherd.” The President of the United States is not our shepherd. Spectrum
Health is not our shepherd. The stock market is not our shepherd. The Lord is
our shepherd. You see, if we think of our journey in life and integrate Psalm
23, we can see that the voice of Jesus, the voice of our shepherd leads us into
the shadows, as the Psalm says, the valley of the shadow of death. It's not
necessarily a fun journey at times, but this is why the Lord is our shepherd
because if there is anyone who could lead us through that valley, it's Jesus. Jesus can lead us through the valley. This
leads me right to another important word of encouragement. Psalm 23 does not
say, "though I walk to the valley..." it says, "though I walk
through the valley..." again, the valley is not our destination, thank the
Lord, but it is along the way. We will pass through it. Because of our shepherd
we can be confident that we will not be overcome by all that we experience in
this valley. In the midst of terrorism, of losing members in the church, losing
money, being consumed by disease, the Lord leads us and then it says he feeds
us.
Psalm
23:5 says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Jesus
is not only leading us through the valley but he is sustaining us as we go. Of
course when we think of the table we might immediately be drawn to the table of
Holy Communion. There is a table spread before us in the presence of our
enemies. Everything that is determined to weigh us down is at the table with us.
Think about it. When you come up for Communion, you are bringing to the table
all of your sin, all of your burdens, your impatience. It is all coming to the
table with you like an uninvited inner guest. But, at Holy Communion, who has
the voice? Not our enemies. Our enemies may have the voice in the world but at
the table of Holy Communion, it is our shepherd who gets the voice when he
says, "this is my body given for you." "This is my blood shed
for you." He takes himself and gives himself and gives to us hope of life,
making our enemies powerless over us. Even in the presence of our enemies, we
rejoice because of Christ's sacrifice.
And that is what we need to
be thankful for and rest on, Christ's sacrifice for us. Even in the joy of the
resurrection, we are drawn to the sacrifice of Christ. The hope of the
resurrection is still found in the cross, contrary to our usual assumptions.
When it comes to Easter, we tend to have a thought process that leads us
through the cross to the crown, that once we have gone through the suffering
and gotten to the resurrection that the suffering is over. But, the logic of
the cross works another way. You can see it when Jesus appears after his
resurrection, most notably to Thomas, we see that he maintains his wounds from
the cross. He is still the crucified Christ. Cross and resurrection all in one.
Suffering and freedom together.
So, ultimately, we cannot
forget about the power of the Easter message, even three weeks later. We can't
leave the empty tomb behind and let the world put Jesus back in it and close it
up. That's not hope. That's despair. The despair ended when the women found the
tomb empty and ran back to the disciples. The despair ended in the garden when
Jesus called out Mary's name. The despair ended when Jesus confronted Thomas
and the disciples in the upper room. The despair ended on the road to Emmaus.
The despair also ends here and now in the hope that we, as His sheep, have a
shepherd in whom we can place our anxieties and our impatience as we walk
through the valley.
What does the valley look
like for you? What threats are you walking through this week? But also, what do
you think the valley looks like for someone else? We are not only walking with
Christ through the valley but we are also representing Christ in the valley for
others. Christ leads through the valley because that is where the dying people
are. That is where we are found by Jesus, destined for death, and what better
place to build the kingdom than in the midst of those who are headed for the
grave. In the valley, Christ redeems sinners. He picked us up and took us with
him. In the valley, Christ rescued us. In the valley, Christ rescues others
through us. We can provide the hope of the resurrection with people who are in
the valley because we know people in that place. We know those who are
suffering, even the closest ones to us. We know suffering is real, we know it
is not giving up but we know of a greater power in Christ that sings to us the
song of victory so that even on the last day we will not be teased by a voice
that says, "nice try, better luck next time" but that on the last day
we might be awakened by Christ himself from the grave, hearing the words
"rise up and enter into the life I have given you." That is the voice
of our Good Shepherd, the one who gives eternal life because as Jesus says in
John 10, "they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my
hand." This is the voice of Jesus we need to listen to in our impatience.
When we want our suffering alleviated, let us take a step back and remember our
great shepherd who is leading us confidently to life, and though we walk impatiently
through the valley of the shadow of death, we shall fear no evil, for he is
with us. This is a promise that we can count on. To God be the glory, now and
always. Amen.