The first question is: What are the needs of a sheep? The first and obvious answer to that question is: protection. Jesus says that there are predators always trying to get into the sheep pen, trying to devour the sheep: coyotes, bears, wolves, or cougars. They will try every trick in the book climbing over the walls. Their intent is to steal and rob. The sheep don’t help the situation much, either. I have heard that if two sheep are grazing together and a wolf comes up beside them and kills the one eating it right there, the other sheep will continue grazing, lean over and say “Pretty good grazing ‘round here.”
Not only do they need protection from predators, they need protection from themselves. You have no doubt heard that sheep are some of the dumbest animals in all the animal kingdom. They are creatures of habit: They will graze the same hills until they become desert wastes. To there own destruction they will not move on. They are creatures of bad hygiene: They will pollute their own ground until it is run over with disease and parasite. To their own ill health they will live in their own filth. They are creatures with heavy coats: Their fleece can grow very long and become weighed down with mud, manure, burrs and debris. And when they lie down they can roll over. Once on their backs they cannot right themselves unless a shepherd comes and puts them back on their feet. To their own destruction they become burdened with things.
Protection is the first task of the shepherd because sheep by nature are followers. That’s the second thing I want us to see in our text. A story is told of a young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application blank that asked, "Are you a leader?" Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application, expecting the worst. To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: "Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower” (Adapted from S. I. McMillen, None of These Diseases).
Most of us do not like to think of ourselves as followers. We style ourselves as leaders but truth be told the vast majority of us are not. Outside of parenthood we rarely are placed into positions of ultimate care over others. But Jesus recognizes that we are by nature followers, that we need those over us to care for us. Sheep are followers. The voice of the one they know, of the one they recognize, they will follow. But the voice of a stranger they will not follow.
What are the needs of sheep? They need to follow someone and they need protection.
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I am working on my sermon based on John 10 at this time.15th April 2005. Just in case these illustrations might help anyone: my wife and I used to live in Madrid, Spain; on a visit to Segovia we were in a small village above the town. A heated argument was taking place in a local bar (cafe) it turned out that the owner of some sheep was berating two hired hands. Their crime?, the night before there had been a fiesta in the village, not wishing to miss the fun they had abandoned the sheep and gone to the fiesta, the sheep had been found wandering the streets, no doubt looking for the shepherds. A true story illustrating the truth that the hired man does not care about the sheep.
On another occasion, in the hills near Madrid, we met a goatherd, all his goats would come to him individually when he called them by name, he knew each one and they knew him. I'm going back to my sermon preparation now, shalom.
Posted by: Clive Harffy | April 15, 2005 at 11:52 AM
Thank you for the valuable information on the needs of the sheep. The characteristics of the sheep are particularly interesting in understanding their needs. Also for the concrete examples given in the comment. These help a lot in illustrating our points. God be gracious to you!
Posted by: phil | April 12, 2008 at 05:20 PM
I am preparing for a religious education class for teenagers and could not find the point of inspiration for today's class. In desperation, I googled john 10:1-10 and it led me to your message, which with its reflections on how we are like sheep has given me the structure for class today! Felt compelled to thank you (and God, for leading me to you this morning!).
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