One day, two friends were walking down a crowded city sidewalk together. Suddenly, one of them said, “Listen to the lovely sound of that cricket,"
His friend listened, but, try as he might he couldn’t hear the cricket.
So he asked his friend, “How can you hear a cricket when there’s so much other noise from all people and traffic?”
The friend who’d heard the cricket didn’t say anything. Instead, he reached into his pocket, pulled
out a large handful of pennies, and proceeded to toss the coin out on the
sidewalk.
Instantly, a dozen people heard the coins clinking and clanking
as the hit the ground, and they began scrambling around looking for them. Even in the midst of all the other sounds they’d
heard the coin.
And as the two friends watched the people looking around for
the coin, the one who’d heard the cricket turned to the other and said, “We
hear what we listen for.”
The last three Sundays we’ve been hearing stories about what
happened with Jesus and his disciples after the Resurrection. We saw him appear to Thomas in the upper room
and eat breakfast with his disciples by the sea. The last three Sundays have been stories
confirming the fact that Christ did rise from the dead.
But now this morning we go back in time to before Jesus’
death and resurrection to be reminded of the fact that Jesus predicted all
this. He’d told people he was the Son of
God. He’d told them he would die and
rise again after 3 days. And yet still
the resurrection came as a surprise to everyone.
And the reason for that is given in our lesson today: it’s
because people didn’t listen; they wouldn’t hear what he told them.
Again, we hear what we’re listening for, and they weren’t listening
for Christ.
In our lesson this morning the Jews ask Jesus, “How long
will he keep us in suspense? If you’re the Christ, tell us plainly."
And Jesus answers them, “I have told you but you do not
believe.”
Like the cricket in the story, Jesus had been speaking, but
they had not heard him.
And the question we need to ask ourselves this morning is: what
are we listening for?
There are a lot of voices competing for our attention: the
voices of our families and friends, the voices of the media and pop culture and
the internet, the voice of books and magazine, and on and on …
And in some of these voices we can hear the voice of Christ
when he speaks to us through them.
While other voices don’t want us to hear the message of
Christ; the message of the Resurrection; the message of hope, forgiveness, and
eternal life.
These other voices want us to believe a different message, a
message of fear, guilt, uncertainty, and death.
That’s certainly the message the bombers in Boston wanted us
to hear this past week. Theirs was a
message of terror and hatred and despair.
Voices such as these are compete with Christ for our
attention. And when we let them fill us
with fear or hatred or despair, they are victorious.
And so this morning, Jesus wants to make sure that we hear
his voice and his message.
“My sheep hear my voice,” he says, “and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they’ll never perish, and no one will
snatch them out of my hand.”
This is the message his voice speaks to us this morning in
his words and Sacrament; a message of encouragement and assurance and hope.
The life he’s given us in baptism is eternal. Death cannot defeat it because the resurrected
Christ is our Good Shepherd and nothing in all creation – not even death itself
– can snatch us away from him.
This is Christ’s message for us today and every day.
But are we listening for it?
Are we listening for Christ’s voice and that message in the
midst of all the other noisy voices competing for our attention? Or has it gotten drowned out?
Again, we hear what we’re listening for.
And as our gospel reminds us this morning, if we’re not
hearing the voice of Christ it’s not because he’s stopped speaking, it’s that
we’ve stopped listening.
Christ’s voice and his message are always there for us. He’s always calling out to us like that
cricket on the busy sidewalk. All we
have to do is focus our ears on hearing him.
And so if you’ve been having trouble hearing Christ’s voice in
the midst of all the other voices in your life, if you’ve found yourself
overwhelmed by messages of hopelessness anger, guilt or despair, then I would
encourage you to use our worship this morning to once again tune your ears into
Christ; listen to his voice speak to you in his Word and in his Sacrament. Listen to his message of hope, forgiveness and
life.
“My sheep listen to my voice,” he says to us again this
morning, “I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life. They
shall never perish because no one can snatch them out of my hand.”
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