My Sheep Hear My Voice

My grandparents lived in Idaho, about three hours away from where I grew up. We often visited them. One of their neighbors had several daughters and the two families had become close friends over the years. One of those daughters was about my age, and we spent many happy hours playing together.

As it happened, her grandparents lived in Ketchum, a town near Sun Valley, Idaho. The family had homesteaded there years before the resort became a tourist destination. When they invited us all to come visit, we loaded up our tent trailer, piled into the car, and headed off on a new exploration and adventure! (My folks loved to travel.)

We camped beside a small river and explored the area, including visiting a mine the family owned that had never really produced valuable minerals but had to be “worked” every year to maintain title to it. Dad found a beautiful big chunk of agate that he carried back down the mountain on the saddle of the horse he was riding! It still sits proudly in the garden at home.

Never ones to go back home the same way we had ventured out, we continued south through the Sawtooth Mountains into the high open plains of central Idaho. As we passed through, we saw a shepherd with his flock, traveling on foot across the dry lands. He had a wagon and his dogs and a very large flock, who moved at a very leisurely pace as they grazed happily. It was a big, open land. I’m sure there were plenty of predators who would happily have munched on his lambs and sheep. But he and the dogs were there, guiding them, keeping them from straying into danger, and helping them grow and thrive.

This experience often comes back to me as I hear the words of Scripture about sheep and shepherds and the One who is our shepherd.

The ancient Israelites, like the man we watched on that trip, were shepherds. They traveled with their flocks from Ur of the Chaldees, northwest into areas now part of Turkey (known today as Türkiye), then south into the land of Caanan, and even into Egypt and lands east of the Jordan River. Their religion and experience of the divine were shaped by their experience as shepherds who traveled with their sheep. Even as they settled into the land of Israel, built villages and cities, and had a Temple and royalty, their faith was expressed in terms of what they had experienced as traveling shepherds.

It is not surprising, then, that Jesus and his early followers would use the image of sheep and shepherds to describe the relationship of the divine with humanity. Jesus described the qualities of a good shepherd in his teachings. He spoke of himself as a shepherd. “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me… No one can take them out of my hand.” (Jn 10:27-30)

The Psalmist sings, “Know that the Lord is God; he made us, his we are; his people, the flock he tends … his kindness endures forever, and his faithfulness, to all generations.” This hymn has passed down through the generations. Jesus would have sung it. We sing it today. (Ps 100:1-2, 3, 5)

After the Resurrection, when it had become evident that salvation was not only for the Jews, Paul and Barnabas traveled through ancient lands that are now part of western Türkiye. They always visited the local synagogue to worship with their fellow Jews. As visitors, they would have been welcomed and conversations would strike up about who they were, from where they had come, the purpose of their travels, etc. They didn’t have an Internet to use to find out what was going on the world, or to learn about other lands. They had travelers – visitors from other lands – who would tell them of the great world around them.

What a story Paul and Barnabas had to tell. The Messiah had come. He had been rejected by the authorities and even crucified by the Romans, but that was not the end of the story! He had risen from the dead and shared the Spirit of the Most High with all of his followers. We, Paul and Barnabas, are coming to visit you to share this amazing, good news.

It was an engaging story, told by men who were staking their lives on its truth, and sharing it with people who lived far from their homeland. Many people wanted to hear more. They visited with Paul and Barnabas during the week and came in large groups to the synagogue the next week to hear more.

Now, we look at the story and might be critical of the leaders of the community for their actions in arguing forcefully and passionately against Paul and Barnabas. But we must not judge them too harshly. This was not the kind of messiah anyone had expected. People can so easily be manipulated, especially in hard times or when living under foreign occupation.

Paul and Barnabas were not deterred by the angry response of the authorities. They answered boldly, sharing their experience and the truth they had come to believe and to share. Furthermore, they let all know that this good news was not just for the Jews, the historical inheritors of the promise. The Holy One welcomes all. “So the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

The message was happily received by the non-Jewish residents of these cities. It was not well-received by the leaders of the community or the city. Paul and Barnabas were expelled from the territory and moved on, “filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 13:14, 43-52)

Later, as the community of believers were faced with the reality of persecution by major world powers, including Roman emperors, the image of the Lamb who had been sacrificed for all became a source of hope. The lambs sacrificed in the earliest days of Jewish history, the lambs whose blood marked the homes of the Israelites at the time of the Passover, the lamb eaten every year in remembrance of that gift of life and freedom, the lambs sacrificed at the temple through the time of Jesus, and the Lamb of God who gave his body and blood to his friends the night before he died – all of these examples of lambs giving their lives for the survival of others became a great source of hope for a community in peril because of their faithfulness to the Way of the Lamb.

In the vision of John in the Book of Revelation, the great multitude of people from all peoples and lands, faithful to the word they had received, stand before the throne of God. And “the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Rev 7:9, 14b-17)

The image of shepherd, from ancient times, portrays the role and calling of the one who is to lead the community. Not a king. Not a prince (or princess). Not a patriarch lording it over a family or community. A shepherd – one who cares for the sheep and the lambs, through thick and thin.

We are at a turning point in the history of our Roman Catholic Christian community again. Pope Francis has returned to the Lord. He spoke of the importance of shepherds who smell like their sheep. The importance of accompanying the poor and the marginalized. The rights of migrants and the imprisoned. And so many, many more examples.

We now have a new Pope, Leo XIV. This man too has a history of working with those who are powerless, opening doors to influence in the community for women and other lay people,  reminding those in authority of their responsibility to work for the good of all people equally, and speaking of the importance of setting up structures to protect humanity from the potentially run-away power of new digital technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI).

It’s a new day, a new era for our community and our world. A new shepherd has been selected. The clothing he wears, the symbolic items he carries, the places he travels, even the foods he eats will be watched and discussed. Some will love what he says. Others will react angrily. Some will simply yawn and go about their lives.

Nevertheless, as the next days and years play out, we have a shepherd who will lead and care for the community. Some days will be hot and dusty, as were those we saw as children in that high desert land of Idaho. Others will be stormy and not always well sheltered from the elements.

This week, let’s pray for Pope Leo as he moves into this new leadership role. Let’s do our best to help by being kind and patient with each other. Let’s continue to reach out to help the poor, the immigrants, those being swept up unjustly in deportation raids, those who are in need of healthcare or specialized services, those whose lives are turned upside down by drought, floods, winds, or cold.

We are the sheep of the Lord. Do we hear his voice?