Scripture Reflection, July 19, 2009: The Shepherd's Voice

Scripture Readings:
Jeremiah 23: 1-6
Psalm 23
Ephesians 2: 13-18
Mark 6: 30-34

During a retreat that I attended this year on Easter, the young adults who gathered for reflection and prayer, had a moment of recreation and played scavenger hunt. At a certain point, our task was to master an obstacle course. One person was blindfolded and had to go through the course while we were allowed to help only with our voices - without touching or leading her. The person followed the sound of the clapping hands and the voice of another group member. We could see that she wasn’t quite comfortable. She held her arms out to avoid running into one of the obstacles. After a little while she was more assured and had the courage to go ahead a little more confident. She managed, but it was a real challenge to fulfill the task.

We are not used to moving around, following sounds and other people’s voices without being able to see where we are headed. But in some times on our vocational journey, this is exactly what God asks from us. Sometimes we feel blind, alienated, confused and don’t know where to go. We are “like sheep without a shepherd.” We would like to see, we would like to know where we are going and what the plan is, but we don’t. It’s especially in those moments when we need to know who can lead us and who has the words we can rely on. The Scriptures of this Sunday tell us who our Shepherd is: it is Jesus, the Messiah. In the Old Testament texts, the Messiah is pictured as the shepherd of God’s people: “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young” (Isaiah 40: 11). And Jesus himself told his disciples: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10: 11).

Of course, the image of the sheep and the shepherd is far from our reality in a modern, technological world. But shepherding was one of the oldest professions in Israel. It was no easy task. The herds were often large, with thousands of sheep. Most of the time, the sheep were out in the open country and the shepherds practically lived with them day and night. Many times they were asked to literally give their lives for the sheep when they were threatened by hyenas, jackals and other wild animals. That’s why the sheep really got used to their shepherd and learned to recognize his voice.

In the first reading, Jeremiah denounces the religious leaders as shepherds who do evil and mislead and scatter the flock, the people of Israel. He announces that God himself would gather his flock and appoint shepherds for them. It becomes clear that division and separation is evil. God’s plan is about peace, unity and justice for all people. Jesus comes to unite all people in “one body.” Even the Gentiles who were not part of the old covenant with the people of Israel are now part of God’s saving plan. In Christ, they became part of the “flock.” Christ made them all one and “broke down the dividing wall of enmity”.

I think sometimes we still are like the sheep without a shepherd. We don’t hear our shepherd’s voice and follow leaders who divide and separate us. We are not used to following blindly God’s voice in our lives. We want to have a plan; we want to see. The noise of the different voices around us makes it hard for us to recognize God’s voice in our heart and to follow it. Maybe we too need to go to a deserted place, like the Apostles who return from their various ministries. Jesus invites them to withdraw from the crowd to get some rest and to pray. In the Scriptures, the desert stands for a place of quiet and of closeness to God. We need quiet sometimes. Quiet around us and in us, to be able to listen. We have to learn to listen to Christ’s voice in our lives and allow him to lead us. Not as dumb sheep, but as smart sheep who search for true nourishment and follow the good shepherd. We too can follow God and listen to God’s voice in our hearts. God lovingly suggests what we should do, what we should not do and the path to follow. God doesn’t give us the “road map”, but wants to walk with us step by step, share our lives and introduce us into communion with himself and with one another.

It is all about relationships, says Bishop Morneau to Catholics on Call participants, year after year. It’s all about unity – unity with God, within ourselves and with others. And Bishop Morneau offers one central question for our discernment: “What is the loving thing to do to lead to union and unity?” If we follow God in our lives, God leads us to unity. The closer we are to God, the more we follow God’s voice, the more we are close to each other. In God we can be one – “one new person in place of the two.” God wants peace and unity for humankind. Jesus, the shepherd of all people and human beings asked for the gift of unity before he died: “That all may be one.”

The summer can be the time of the year to follow Jesus’ invitation: “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” Jesus wants to lead us; he wants to restore us and to nourish us. Let’s follow his voice, even when we are blindfolded and trust in him. Let’s listen to him and nourish ourselves with his Words and with his body and blood at the Eucharist.

Birgit Oberhofer