A Pastor’s Confirmation Prayer

Dear Confirmands. Over a dozen years ago, your parents waited with eagerness for your birth. During those nine months of waiting, they thought carefully about what name to give to you. They made sure they had the crib set up and the change table ready to go. Your parents also did plenty of praying for you—praying that you would arrive on time and in good health. Do you suppose they still pray for you? Of course they do! And what do you suppose they pray for? That you would clean up your room? That you would do well in school? We could put them on the spot and ask them. But I won’t. Instead, I’ll share with you what my prayer for you is on your Confirmation Day. I pray that you keep listening to and following Jesus, and that you keep resting in him. My prayer comes from the words of Jesus in our sermon text this morning. Listen carefully to those words.

Our text takes place about three months before Jesus’ crucifixion. For close to three years, Jesus had performed miracles like changing water into wine, feeding the 5,000, healing the blind, the lame, and the sick. He had raised at least two people back to life and would shortly raise Lazarus from the dead. These miracles had not been done in private. Even the religious leaders who remained enemies of Jesus had witnessed many of these feats of power.

In addition to the miracles, Jesus had been teaching in public. The religious leaders had sat in on many of these classes. One had even invited Jesus to his home for dinner and had received a personal lesson in grace when Jesus extended forgiveness to a woman who crashed the banquet. In spite of all this, the religious leaders in our text came up to Jesus as he was walking through the temple in Jerusalem and demanded: “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly!” (John 10:24)

But Jesus had already told them plainly. He had also proven that he was the promised Messiah by the many miracles he had performed. So why were they still asking? Jesus tells us why. “… you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:26)

Confirmands, like the religious leaders in this sermon text, you too have been hearing the voice of Jesus for some time now. You first heard his voice when he called you by name at your baptism. You continued to hear his voice whenever your parents read the Bible to you and brought you to church. In the last couple of years through your confirmation instruction, you have made a serious study of the Bible—like someone pressing their ear to a railroad track to hear the distant rumble of an approaching train. But there’s a difference between hearing and listening, isn’t there? The person who presses their ear to the railroad track, hears the approaching train but then does nothing to get out of the way is asking for trouble!

Which describes your relationship to Jesus and his Word? You have heard, but are you listening to and following Jesus? In a way, you’re in a precarious position. Come Judgment Day, you can’t plead ignorance and say to Jesus: “Oh, I didn’t know what your will was! That’s why I didn’t follow it.” You do know the Lord’s will. You proved it in your answers today during this service and with the answers in your final confirmation exam before today. But sadly, there are many who have gone through confirmation instruction just like you who have gone on to adopt the attitude of the religious leaders in our text. They have strayed from Jesus’s voice. And what’s worse, they may think that they can get away with it by playing dumb.

Such an attitude might be hard for you to imagine right now. You have been so thoroughly plugged into the Lord through your confirmation instruction that you’re on fire for him right now. But our weekly confirmation classes have come to an end. What can you do to ensure that you’ll regularly hear and listen to the voice of your Good Shepherd Jesus? Can you follow a Bible reading routine? Can you commit to and encourage your family to remain regular in worship? You see, it’s not just the voice of Jesus that is vying for your attention. There’s the voice of social media, the voice of your friends, the voice of your own sinful nature that are all distracting you from what is truly important: following Jesus to heaven! That’s why it’s important to note that in our text, Jesus said that his sheep continue to listen to him and continue to follow him.