Acts 2:14, 36-41/ 1 Peter 2:20-25/ John 10:1-10
This world is full of sights and sounds. For us who could see and hear, we would use our discretion to see what we want to see and to hear what we want to hear. That is called selective seeing and selective hearing.
But for those who are blind and deaf, they don’t have this option for selection. Simply because they can’t see and they can’t hear.
Between blindness and deafness, it is difficult to say which is more inconvenient.
Maybe the chances of overcoming the difficulties of deafness are higher because of the availability of good hearing aids.
There is this story of an elderly gentleman who had serious hearing problems for a number of years.
Finally, he went to a doctor who fitted him with a set of hearing aids that allowed him to hear quite well.
After about two months, he went back to the doctor for a follow-up and the doctor said, “Your hearing is good. Your family must be pleased that you can hear again.”
The elderly gentleman replied, “Oh I haven’t told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to the conversations. And there is something else that they don’t know. And that is I have changed my will three times already.”
This reminds us of the basic principle in life: Be careful what you say, because you don’t know who is listening.
Maybe because we think that others are a bit deaf and that they are not listening to us.
Well, another elderly man was wondering if his wife had a hearing problem.
So one day he stood a short distance behind her as she was sitting on the sofa, and he said, “Can you hear me?” There seemed to be no response from her.
He moved closer and said, “Can you hear me?” Still there seemed to be no response.
Finally, he moved right behind her and said, “Can you hear me?” And she replied, “For the third time, Yes!”
It goes to show that some have ears that can hear, some have ears that can’t hear, and then some have ears that hear only what they want to hear.
In the gospel, Jesus told the famous parable of the Good Shepherd.
The good shepherd calls out to his sheep, and he calls them one by one, and the sheep hears his voice, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
But Jesus also said that the sheep never follow a stranger but run away from him because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.
So what is the difference between the voice of the shepherd and the voice of the stranger?
Certainly, it is more than just the tone or the familiarity. Because the voice of the shepherd speaks the truth with love, it is the voice that cares, it is the voice that has compassion.
In the 1st reading, when Peter stood up with the Eleven, he addressed the crowd in a loud voice. He said, “The whole house of Israel can be certain that God has made this Jesus who you crucified both Lord and Christ.”
That wasn’t very impressive nor eloquent. In fact it was rather blunt. But when the people heard it, they were cut to the heart.
What the people heard was more than the voice of Peter. They heard the voice of the Good Shepherd, they heard the voice of truth, the voice of love, the voice of salvation.
Well, today we also celebrate Mothers' Day. We honour our mothers and we give thanks to God for the love and care our mothers give to us.
And our mothers are also like the mouthpiece of God. God speaks to us through our mothers (although at times a bit too much).
Of course, mothers are not the only ones who are like the mouthpiece of God.
Teachers also form and guide the young by their words as they teach the truth with love.
A married teacher who has no children was sharing this with me.
She teaches at an organization that provides tuition classes for needy students, and obviously these students are from the low income families and this is one of the best tuition they can ever have.
Just a couple of days back, a young boy, one of her students, came up to her and gave her this small packet of potato chips.
And he said to her, “For you, teacher, for Mothers Day.”
That young boy, in all his innocence, thought that she is a mother, maybe because she is so like a mother to her students.
It was just a small packet of potato chips, may not cost much, but it is a big thing for that poor boy, and a bigger thing for that teacher.
Yes, the voice of the Good Shepherd can be heard everywhere, from mothers, from teachers, from young poor students.
It is a voice that speaks of truth and of love, a voice that cares and has compassion, a voice that gives life and life to the full.
Let us listen to this voice, and may the voice of the Good Shepherd fill our hearts, so that we too will be the voice of the Good Shepherd for others.