Hearing the Loving Shepherd’s Voice
- davidwperk
- Feb 17, 2022
- 5 min read
Devotional Reflection, Thursday, February 17, 2022
The week of the sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:
27My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. 30The Father and I are one.’
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 949)
AM Psalm 105:1-22; PM Psalm 105:23-45
Gen. 32:3-21; 1 John 2:18-29; John 10:19-30
Today we celebrate the Feast of Janani Luwum. (See below.)
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Office Gospel, John 10:19-30
19 Again the Jews were divided because of these words. 20Many of them were saying, ‘He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why listen to him?’ 21Others were saying, ‘These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?’
22 At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24So 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.’ 25Jesus answered, ‘I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; 26but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. 27My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. 30The Father and I are one.’
David’s Reflections
O strangely art thou with us, Lord,
Neither in height nor depth to seek;
In nearness shall thy voice be heard;
Spirit to spirit thou dost speak.*
In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ words reveal the poet’s source of inspiration. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” Shepherds in Palestine named their individual sheep and called them by name, walking in front of them to lead them. But, the point of comparison here does not reduce us to dumb, mindless sheep; rather, the point of comparison highlights Jesus’ knowledge and care of us as individuals.
As Dykes, the hymn writer put it, “Spirit to spirit thou dost speak.” Jesus assures us that he speaks to us and that we can hear his voice. Just how does that take place? The Church always has answered that God’s voice can be heard personally in Holy Scripture. On Sundays, the preaching of the sermon stands in a place secondary to the reading of the Gospel text, because we trust that Jesus speaks to us as community through the sacred texts. We trust that his personal voice underlies and gives life and force to the words read off the page.
Slow, deep reading of biblical texts with a prayer for God to speak to us will often cause a word, phrase, or image to leap off the page with punch, demanding our close attention and reflection. The Benedictines have a word for this kind of reading, “lectio divina,” or “divine reading.” Most of these daily devotionals happen because some word, phrase, or image in the text takes on life as I read.
Jesus’ voice comes to us in various other ways as well. Recurring inner intuitions or urgings may well be the whispered voice of gentle, persuasive divine love. Sometimes, the voice of Jesus comes to us in the words of a trusted friend or mentor. Sometimes, the words of a sermon or a hymn or a poem or a paragraph of prose jump to life with God’s speech.
The psalmist said that God gives us blessing even when we sleep. It has often happened that I write down a question on going to bed and ask God to speak to it during sleep, only to awaken with an “Of course! Why was that not obvious before now?” Dreams can be another way of God’s approach to us; psychologists recognize the existence of precognitive dreams in which a future event unfolds in a dream. Examples abound in Scripture from Genesis through the New Testament of God speaking through dreams.
The image of Jesus as loving shepherd, personally relating to us, speaking to us, guiding us lies at the heart of all this surmising. What a comfort—Jesus’ voice constantly sounds within us and strikes our spiritual and physical ears from without. Listening becomes a vital challenge, listening that believes there indeed is much to hear.
*John B. Dykes, “O Breath of God, Breathe on Us Now.” Hymn text.
Collect of the Day, Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 216)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda, martyr. (died 16 Feb 1977 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Janani Luwum
O God, whose Son the Good Shepherd laid down his life for his sheep: We give you thanks for your faithful shepherd, Janani Luwum, who after his Savior’s example gave up his life for the sake of his flock. Grant us to be so inspired by his witness that we make no peace with oppression, but live as those who are sealed with the cross of Christ, who died and rose again, and now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Protection
O God, the life of all who live, the light of the faithful, the strength of those who labor, and the repose of the dead: We thank you for the blessings of the day that is past, and humbly ask for your protection through the coming night. Bring us in safety to the morning hours; through him who died and rose again for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP, 124)
A Collect for Social Justice
Almighty God, who created us in your image: Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom, help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 260)
A Collect for Early Evening
Almighty, everlasting God, let our prayer in your sight be as incense, the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice. Give us grace to behold you, present in your Word and Sacraments, and to recognize you in the lives of those around us. Stir up in us the flame of that love which burned in the heart of your Son as he bore his passion, and let it burn in us to eternal life and to the ages of ages. Amen. (BCP, 113)
A Collect for Mission
O God of all the nations of the earth: Remember the multitudes who have been created in your image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ; and grant that, by the prayers and labors of your holy Church, they may be brought to know and worship you as you have been revealed in your Son; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 257)
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