A Holdover From Christmas: Do You Hear What I Hear?

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy….Do you hear what I hear?

Christmas is my favorite time of year.  I love just about everything  about it.  I especially love the music.  While listening to Christmas music this past season, this thought kept coming to my mind:

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy…do you hear what I hear?

I kept wondering what that little lamb, what that little sheep was hearing.  Not the one in the song.  No, the little lamb or sheep that represents you and me.  What is he or she hearing?

In John 10:27, Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”  Think about what Jesus is saying in this sentence.  His sheep hear His voice.  These sheep belong to him.  He calls them, “My sheep.”  He owns them.  They belong to Him.  How did he come to this ownership?  Verse 29 gives us the answer.  His Father has given them to Him.  They were in the Father’s hand.  No one was or is able to snatch them out.    Now no one will be able to snatch them out of Jesus’ hand.

He knows these sheep.  That means these are more than just dumb animals.  You and I may not be able to differentiate one from another.  Not Jesus.  He knows them.  I understand this, a little I think, from when my famly owned cattle.  From spending time with these cattle, I could tell from hundreds of yards away which was which.  You can do that when you know them.  These sheep are not creatures he watches because it’s His job.  It’s because He has ownership and cares about them.

These sheep follow Him.  Why do they follow Him?  Why not just wander around?  Here’s why.  They follow Him because they know His voice.  They follow Him because they belong to Him.  That is the nature of Jesus’ sheep. 

There are other things I see in this chapter where Jesus talks about His sheep.  First, sheep believe Jesus because they are……sheep.  Jesus tells the Jews (probably Pharisees) that the reason they did not believe because they were not sheep.  Do you catch what Jesus is saying?  He does not say that believing makes you a sheep.  He says that being a sheep is why you believe.

Second, sheep have eternal life.  He gives eternal life to them.  Again, eternal life does not make them sheep.  Being a sheep means that they will have eternal life.  Does that reduce your responsiblity to hearing and believing the gospel?  I dont’ get that from the Bible.  It just seems that sheep are wired to believe and gain eternal life.

Third, sheep are secure.  They draw their security from Jesus.  No one could snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  No one can snatch them out of Jesus’ hand.  The Father is greater than all.  Jesus and the Father are one.  No one is able to affect this security that Jesus brings.

I love reading this chapter from the gospel of John.  I am reminded of it everytime I hear this song at Christmas time.

Do you hear what I hear?????

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