The Shepherd’s Voice (Sermon Illustration)

When God speaks, do you recognize his voice?

My friend Roy tells a fascinating story about a trip to Palestine some years back. One afternoon, he stood on a ridge overlooking a long, narrow gorge. Below him, the gorge opened out into rolling grass- covered pasture lands. A single trail meandered down the length of the gorge floor, then branched out into dozens of trails when it reached the grasslands. A group of shepherds strolled down the gorge trail, chatting with one another, followed by a long, winding river of sheep. At the forks of the trail, the shepherds shook hands and separated, each taking a different path as they headed out into the grasslands. Roy recounted the fascinating sight that followed.

As the shepherds headed their separate ways, the mass of sheep streaming behind them automatically divided into smaller flocks, each flock stringing down the branch trail behind its appropriate shepherd. When the various shepherds and their flocks were distanced from each other by a few hundred yards, each shepherd turned to scan his own sheep, noting that some strays had been left behind and were wandering in confusion among the rocks and brush.

Then one of the shepherds cupped his hands around his mouth and called in a strange, piercing cry, “Ky- yia- yia- yia- yia.” At his shout, a couple of stray lambs perked up their ears and bounded toward his voice. Then a second shepherd tilted back his head calling with a distinctly different sound, “Yip- yip- yip- yipoo- yip.” A few more strays hurried straight toward him. Then another called his strays with a shrill, “Hoot- hoot- hoot!” Each shepherd, in turn, called. Each of the strays, hearing a familiar voice, knew exactly which shepherd he should run to. “In fact,” my friend Roy marveled, “none of the wandering sheep seemed to notice any voice but the voice of his own shepherd.”

This is what Jesus meant when he said, “My sheep listen to my voice,” but “do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

Dr. Lynn Anderson, They Smell Like Sheep (New York: Howard Books, 2009), 16.

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