Fourth Sunday of Easter-A
[The Shepherd] “walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.
But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”
There is something boundless about the Voice. The Voice was there at the beginning of all time. “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters. Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light”.
The Voice creates the world and has never faded away. It continues to be heard and is at work in its creation, interacting with it. The Voice will never be silenced, can never be silenced. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Voice of God entered into the human condition and united Himself to us. “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
The same and never-changing Voice encountered one of his own who was suffering and unable to walk. “Rise, take up your mat and walk.” The creating Voice of love, who also has compassion for His people and desires to heal them. The Voice cognizant of sickness reaches even to those who apparently have died.
The all-powerful Voice demands that death surrender to His will. “Lazarus, come out! The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, his face wrapped in a cloth.” The Voice is so pervasive in the human condition that it speaks most loudly about redemption. On the first day of the week, Mary met the Voice and told her, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” The Voice assures us that death has finally been destroyed.
During the season of Easter, we have heard many stories of those who encountered Him and were unable to see Him as He is. We became acquainted with the disciples on the road to Emmaus and on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias when his own Apostles did not initially know who He was. It is a common theme.
The Voice is something altogether different. After He speaks, the Risen Lord is recognized. Lazarus, come out; Mary, it is Me; Peter feed my sheep; Were not our hearts burning within us when he spoke to us on the way; The sheep hears His Voice, and He calls them by name.
Over two thousand years later, our world is filled with forces dedicated to silencing the Voice. Their mission is to challenge it and seek followers who ignore it. Consciences once receptive to the Voice by leading a person to do good and avoid evil have been deadened by repetitive sin. The voice of the deceiver, who can never bring life and goodness, tries to sell his ideas as an enlightened and emancipated way. Then, killing one’s own in the womb, denouncing gender, disobeying the Commandments, and manipulating natural law is the noise these poor souls gravitate to.
Jesus distinguishes between His disciples and those who are not. “They will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.
But for those who call themselves Christians, the Voice of the true shepherd is recognized and followed. Deep within the disciples is the Voice speaking to one’s conscience, instructing them to do good and shun evil. A disciple hears the Voice of the Lord when engaging with the scriptures and being open to the Truth, sometimes pointing out past and present transgressions. Far from dread, the Voice is the only way by which liberation and freedom can be found.
The Voice proves Himself over and over to be trustworthy, and the words He speaks bring clarity to lives, strengthening the resolve to walk behind with Him through the gate of eternal life.