“The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. When he has brought out his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow because they know his voice; but they will never follow a stranger” (John 10:3-5)
Our church group was in the Holy Land. It was years ago, before the political climate made travel to that precious region dangerous and foreboding for tourists. In Jerusalem Ari, our Arab guide, cautioned us, “We are now going through the crowded, narrow streets of the city. Many groups of people, tourists and others will make up a throng weaving in and through our people. I don’t yet know you all. Here is the sound I shall make. You must listen to my call and find your way to me.”
It does indeed open one’s eyes to the Bible upon visiting Israel. One can better understand the quotation above in the place where Jesus lived. Our Lord is using shepherd’s language, assuming all who live in the land will grasp His meaning instinctively and apply it to themselves. All true believers will recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd. But what ought we to be listening for? No need to know Aramaic, His tongue. So what language does He speak that will be heard and comprehended from all others? How are His sounds different? All too many people I have known thought they were hearing the voice of Jesus Christ, and so they had been told by false leaders, but they realized, usually after great suffering and remorse, that they were following a stranger. Worse than a stranger, they were caught up in a cult led by someone moving in the opposite direction from God’s Kingdom. Those dangerous, false prophets and teachers are always quite persuasive. In our society with the political scene so traumatic, after decades of God denial, we are at a time when charlatans abound. This is a moment that calls for discernment: How does one know for certain that the voice within is that of Jesus Christ the Son of God?
For one, His voice will be and is the language of love and compassion for others, as we find in the gospel of St. Matthew 25:31-46, the Last Judgment warning. When you feed the hungry, offer a drink to the parched, visit the imprisoned or clothe the ragged and naked, He will remember and remind you that you are His. You saw them through His eyes, and He watched you through theirs. The voices of their pleas were the sound of His voice.
Is there some way even now in this lifetime to condition yourself to His voice? Is it possible to learn to listen for His presence within the ear of your soul? When you pray and discover that your prayer was received—when you thank the Word for having heard your word, then you grow to know He is listening. And when the Holy Spirit touches your soul and you feel warmth throughout your body that has nothing to do with temperature, you realize that He is with you and within you. And as you progress in prayer no longer waiting for the last Amen but wanting your prayer to go on and become a natural relationship with the Holy Trinity, you ought to start feeling His presence with you there in prayer. Whether you slur your words or pray even when distracted, nevertheless, He is near and the Spirit there to encourage you without doing your praying for you.
And when you are reading the Bible and yearning for His Word and directive, as you take your problems to Him, are you really listening for the silent sound of His voice in your soul and following what He is telling you, or is the voice you think you hear just the echo of your own ideas?