4th Sunday of Easter, 5-11-25
Don Ratzlaff, a pastor and editor wrote an article for The Christian Leader, a publication of the U.S. Mennonite Brethren in which he tells the story about the importance of paying attention:
As the flight attendants called our attention to their
pre-flight safety instructions, I turned to the in-flight magazine, flitting
through the pages on the off chance of finding an article worth reading. I was
still searching when I felt a nudge from my traveling partner, a friend who had
spent several years in the pastorate. He nodded toward the flight attendant
standing near us and said with a wry smile, “This is just like preaching.” I
didn’t catch his meaning at first. When the light dawned, I glanced around the
cabin. Like me, many of my fellow passengers had their noses in a magazine, newspaper,
or paperback. Others were chatting with their seat mates. Some stared vacuously
out the window. A few already had their eyes closed, anticipating an in-flight
doze. Maybe a handful were giving any semblance of notice to the safety
instructions. My friend’s analogy to preaching was painfully clear: listeners
in body only, ears and minds heeding a private and distant itinerary. “Yeah,” I
muttered in rejoinder, “the only time people wish they would have paid closer
attention is when there’s a crisis.”1.
This weekend’s gospel is familiar to church goers. So familiar that we may finish the gospel before the preacher
does. We can think we heard it all
before so there is nothing new for us. It is a short gospel, but let’s listen
to the lines in the gospel and maybe we will see between them a message for ourselves.
Who is speaking, Jesus.
To whom is he speaking- his sheep, us (i.e., collectively and individually). It is a well-known fact that sheep will only
follow a voice that is familiar and that they trust. The divine Shepherd knows his sheep. He knows their names, their habits, their
sins, and their good points. And yet, lovingly he calls them to himself, to
follow him. If Jesus were speaking to you right now, what would his voice sound like? Are
you listening to his call? Can you hear
how he would pronounce your name? Can we recognize his call, and the sound of his
voice?
Once, a shipping company had advertised a job opening
for a ship’s radio operator and the outer office was crowded with applicants
for the position. As they waited, they were talking to each other loudly enough so
that they could be heard over the sound
of a loudspeaker. Another applicant entered, filled out an application and sat
quietly for a few moments. Suddenly, he rose and walked into the office marked
“private.” A few minutes later, he came out wearing a broad grin – he had been
hired. A man in the waiting room protested. “Look here,” he said, “we were here
first, why did you go in there before us?” The successful applicant replied,
“Anyone of you could have landed that job, but none of you were listening to
the Morse Code signals coming over the loudspeaker. The message was, ‘We desire to fill this
position with someone who is constantly alert. If you are getting this message,
come into the private office immediately.'”2.
“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.”
This shepherd promises something no one else can. If we follow him, yes, our earthly life will
end at some point, but his life living on us will make us eternal. We will not cease but rather go on and on
with and in him. Sheep will only follow
the voice they know. A stranger cannot
lead them away or deceive them. They
will go only where the shepherd leads them.
Sheep do not have many options, but we do in terms of who we will listen
to, our friends, the world, or that voice in our hearts who calls
our name and knows us?
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
Jesus can make these
assurances because he and the Father are one.
Their power and influence are beyond all imagination. Those who choose to follow that voice will be
protected forever. Nothing will separate
them from that voice. Like in the story above of the flight attendant everyone hears her voice, but
no one is listening to her words or her message. Or in the other story about
the people applying for ship’s operator’s position, that is a position that
requires that the listener knows how to interpret the code. Do we know how to interpret the code in
Jesus’ message? Our
gospel this weekend has but one question of us – To whose words, or to whose
message, are we listening- the words of the world, the words of a late-show host or newscaster, the latest Instagram, or TikTok
message? Or are we first and foremost
hearing only the words of the Shepherd, “Come to me, all you who labor and are
burdened, and
I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
1 The Christian Leader,org
2. Voicings. Com
