A Homily by The Reverend Alice Marcrum

4th Sunday After Easter, April 29, 2007

“My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me.”  In today’s readings we are given several insights into believers’ relationship with Jesus Christ.  In the gospel of John, Jesus compares Himself to the Good Shepherd and tells His listeners that His followers are like sheep that recognize the voice of their shepherd.  Since most of us here did not grow up with sheep, we just might miss the significance of this comparison.

Sheep are not the smartest of animals. In fact, they are rather dumb. They will wander off and fall into ditches, briar patches and even become prey for lurking predators. Yet, even as dumb as sheep are, they do recognize the voice of their shepherd. This bit of intelligence keeps them from following just any shepherd that comes along.

So when Jesus compares His followers to sheep, He is letting us know that even though His followers may wander off like sheep are prone to do; when they hear their shepherd’s voice they recognize it.  Even when they have fallen into a ditch, at the sound of their master’s voice they will cry out for help.

Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, is saying that He knows the ways of each of His followers. He knows which ones are prone to wander and which ones keep close to His side. As the Good Shepherd, He loves all of His sheep. Even more than what a good shepherd does for his sheep, Jesus guarantees that His sheep “will never perish”, because He gives them “eternal life”.  

Now how can this be? In the Book of Acts we read today this passage of scripture:  “by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” The law taught humans the difference from right and wrong. Then through the sacrifices of innocent animals and birds, humans’ sins were forgiven. Yet, humans remained in bondage to their sins. Only through the blood of Jesus were humans released from this bondage.

In the Book of Revelation, John describes the believers as being set free from sin through the blood of Jesus, who is described, as the Lamb. The scripture states, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.”

Winston Churchill had this to say about the great ordeal: "I am ready to meet my Maker," Winston Churchill declared as the end drew near. "Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."

Seriously now, the Great Ordeal which is more commonly referred to as the Great Tribulation, has inspired various viewpoints. Some of which even point to the End Times; when there will be such great suffering that no one will survive, except for God shortening the time of suffering.

Since there are so many who have put in their two cents worth of ideas concerning the Great Tribulation, I will add my thoughts on the matter. The reading for this passage in Revelation begins with these words, “After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

When Jesus gives the Great Commission, His followers are commanded in the Gospel of Matthew, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

Then in the Book of Revelation we read that those who have gone through the great ordeal have come from every nation. Did you know that we are still discovering isolated groups of people or tribes in the Amazon? In the mean time, since the beginning of the Church, there are other tribes and nations throughout the world that have become extinct or blended into other nations. So if we pinpoint the Great Ordeal to a specific time in history - whether the past, present or future, then we will not be including all peoples who have heard the gospel.

To bring it home, how many of you have gone through some difficult times in your life? Did you ever feel like you were being tested or tried or perhaps going through your own personal tribulation? I know that I have and I believe that if most of us are honest about our lives, we can point out times when it seemed as though the Lord was even absent from us.

Yet, it is during the times of life when we least feel the presence of God in our lives that we need most to turn to Him. Too often, it is those times of testing when we choose to turn away from God, which is the wrong way to go. It is like turning into a dead end street and there is no way out except to retrace our steps until we can move forward again.

So what I am saying here is that I believe those who are washed in the blood of the Lamb are all those who have given their lives to Jesus the Lamb of God. They are the believers or followers of the Good Shepherd. As the reading today from Revelation states, “They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

The promise from the Lord for those who follow Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who laid down His life for all who will believe, is that one day the suffering of this life will end. Those who have followed the Lamb of God through the sufferings of this world will be rewarded. We will enter into eternal life with Christ, who will turn our sorrows into joy. No more will we weep for we will be given the garment of praise. And we will be given the privilege of standing before the throne of God and praising Him forever along with all the angels and heavenly host.

If you are here today and do not know the voice of Jesus in your life,7 the Lord God in His mercy invites you to become a follower of Christ. I can personally testify to you that the Lord Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you. Although there have been times in my own life when I have wandered off from the Lord, He has always been faithful in finding me and bringing me back into His fold. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and He wants to be the Shepherd of your life too.