Rhyming is fun, don’t look at the sun; Sometimes when you try, you find the cake is a lie.
John 10:1-18; 1 Peter 2:19-25; Psalm 23; Acts 2:42-47
I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t know much about sheep. I know they’re not typically known as the brightest of animals. I know they tend to follow a leader. I know that twice a year a flock of them make a mess out of a number of the roads in Brigham City. I also know they’re fluffy. I know they’re rather tasty. But that’s really about the extent of my knowledge of sheep. Well, that and they can run surprisingly fast, especially when someone is trying to catch them. Surprisingly enough I’ve witnessed that first-hand.
That’s a good part of the reason why sheep need a shepherd. Yes the shepherd is there for protection as well, but someone has to go and find a sheep when it goes “oOo butterfly” and wanders off / bolts off in whatever direction it decides to go. From what I’ve heard, the accuracy of which I am unsure, sheep aren’t particularly talented at taking care of themselves. They’ll eat anything in their general vicinity until it’s all gone, and then be rather unclear as to what to do next. I think almost all of a sheep’s survival instinct has been bred out over the years or something.
But when a sheep gets away from the rest of the flock, the shepherd gets to go hunting. Otherwise, the sheep could get into all sorts of dangerous troubles, both those of its own making, such as not being able to find food, or some outside trouble: wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, whatever. It’s the role of the shepherd to find the stray sheep and bring it back to the safety and security of the flock.
It should be rather unsurprising, then, that humans are quite often referred to as “sheep” in the Bible. We have a rather strong habit of bolting away from our shepherd as often as we get the chance, and then realizing we’re rather incapable of taking care of ourselves. So we start bleating. Let me give you one long biblical example. One of the Old Testament’s main themes is the utter unfaithfulness of Israel. At every chance they got, the turned from God to serve, well, just about anything else. But whenever things got bad, the immediately turned to God and started pleading with Him for help. Whether it’s the golden calf incident, the snake incident, the whole books of Judges, Samuel, Kings, or all the Prophets, humans always seem to think we know better than our Great Shepherd.
So what did God do? His flock of humans was continually running away from Him. It would have been easy to just get a more obedient flock, right? That wasn’t his plan though, in a way He tried it already during the flood, and humans just went right back to doing what they wanted. Instead, the Shepherd became a sheep.
Interesting thought, right? In order to save the sheep, the Shepherd became a sheep and then gave up his life for all sheep everywhere (only, as Jesus was quick to point out in the gospel, he lays down his life only to take it up again). But it’s not just his sacrifice that Jesus did for us, he also gives us his Spirit, helping us to recognize his voice.
As Scripture often makes clear, Jesus didn’t forgive our sins just so we can run away from God again. No, he always wants to protect us from those who would destroy us, whether an outside problem or one we create for ourselves. He protects us from the thieves and wolves of our lives, urging us to stay with the flock and listen for his voice. You see the Good Shepherd will never lead his sheep astray. In the words of the Psalm, we are led to green pastures and still waters.
Of course, like anything else, the more time we spend with our Shepherd, the less likely we are to run away again. To paraphrase Peter, while we were once sheep going astray, we have now returned to the Shepherd of our souls. And the Spirit continues to grow us and teach us to follow our Shepherd, not to force us, but because following the Shepherd keeps us safe and secure.