Evidence of Sheep

Dear friends in Christ, grace to you, and peace, from God our Father, and His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

It is 980 miles from Stillwater Minnesota to Christikon Bible Camp in Big Timber Montana. The first 960 miles are four lane interstate highways, and the last 20 is nothing more than a forest service road of rocks and ruts and dust. In 1981, while serving on internship here at Our Savior’s, I volunteered to take the confirmation class to a week of camp at Christikon; five sophomore girls and me and we drove those 2000 miles in a rented station wagon. What a trip! The only tape we had for our cassette tape player was “Carley Simon’s Greatest Hits.” Mercifully, on the way home, the girls pooled their money to buy “James Taylor’s Greatest Hits” so we listened to that one for 30 hours.

On those last 20 miles going up the mountain, I was so tired I practically drove off the side of the trail. Half-way up, we came face to face with a flock of about 1000 sheep who were being led down to pasture for their summer shearing. A thousand sheep, on a 12-foot wide road, so there we sat for an hour, waiting for them to pass. The girls were counting sheep literally; I was counting sheep figuratively, and when they finally passed, we got out, stretching our legs.
We noticed two things when we got out of the station wagon. The first was that the sides of our car were wiped clean by the passing sheep. But the doors weren’t just clean; they were shined. The lanolin emitted from the sheep’s skin is like wax, and as they passed by, the sheep polished those doors. The fragrance of the lanolin was sweet, like perfume, and the doors simply glistened.

That was the first thing we noticed as we walked around our car. The second thing we noticed, albeit too late, was the little treasures the sheep left upon the road, which was now stinking to high heaven as it stuck in the soles of our hiking boots. That fragrance filled the car for the remaining ten miles of our drive. The evidence of sheep announced our arrival at camp; a glimmering appearance and a horrible stench. “The kids from Stillwater are here! They look good but they stink!”

My take away from that sheepish experience is that sheep, like people, can be both beautiful creatures and messy creatures. Sheep can be beautiful; they move slowly and gracefully, and their coat of wool is both fluffy when it’s on them, and warm when it’s on us. The lanolin, which is essentially “sheep sweat” from their skin smells wonderful, and it’s therapeutic; it can be used by humans for chapped lips, diaper rash and itchy skin, but is also used to prevent rust in shipyards. And lambs are mild and gentle and playful animals. All of this is the up-side of sheep.

But the dark side of sheep is that they are perceived as stupid. They travel in large packs – sort of like 7th graders – and they are more followers than leaders. They can be filthy dirty – also, I suppose, like 7th graders! – because when the lanolin seeps through their wool it is sticky and attracts dirt and dust and bugs. And sheep are vulnerable and skittish animals; when they are in danger, they tend to panic. When they fall into a hole, they cannot help themselves. When they are stuck in a thicket of brush, they cannot extricate themselves. When they are chased by wolves, they are defenseless. In short, sheep need a shepherd to survive.

And because of this, you need to know a bit about shepherds. They were largely uneducated, uncouth, and unclean, because they spent most of their days and nights with their flocks. They were fiercely protective of the sheep in their care – probably like the mothers of those aforementioned 7th graders.   Shepherds would never leave their sheep alone, they would never leave their sheep without food or water, and they would die protecting their flock.

And perhaps all of this is why sheep and shepherds are so commonly mentioned in scripture. Don’t take offense that you and I are compared to cute but dirty and stupid sheep. But rather, listen to the various biblical references:
•   David was Israel’s greatest king, but long before being a king, David was a shepherd boy. The 23rd Psalm was written by David out of personal experience
•   The first eyewitnesses to the birth of the Savior were not the wise men from the east, nor the dignitaries of Bethlehem, but rather a group of mangy shepherds from the Bethlehem hills.
•   Later in this 10th chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus refers to himself as “the good shepherd” who knows his sheep by name.

And sheep are also prominent in the bible:
•   Jesus said there will come a day when he separates the sheep from the goats. The sheep will be the Swedes and the goats, the Norwegians.
•   Jesus calls those who follow him “the sheep of his pasture”
•   He instructs Peter to “feed his sheep”
•   And Jesus was also referred to as “The Lamb of God”

So, in case you haven’t made the connection, it is not merely coincidence that scripture compares people in the church to sheep in the pasture? Why is that? Have you ever wondered?

Well, first; God thinks we’re beautiful. To him, we are precious jewels and enormously valuable. We have the capacity to be kind, and generous, and deeply compassionate when we choose to be. We have the ability, just like shepherds, to reach out to those lambs in our midst who are hurting or discouraged, and love them into wholeness. This past week, our community mourned the death of Julie Johnson, a member of this church, and a teacher in this district for 22 years. She was one of the lambs, one of the shining lambs, polished by God’s love and grace. But this church and the community of Stillwater never shined more brightly than when we celebrated Julie’s life on Friday. You were beautiful lambs and God loves you for it.

Like sheep, we too have a dark side; we too are quite accomplished at creating messes in our lives. We make bad decisions; we can become selfish and rude. Sometimes we can be hateful and hurtful and evil. We can find ourselves in dangerous circumstances because we have been stupid, or disobedient, and oh, so sinful! When we act this way, we are very far from the beautiful, graceful creatures that God made us to be.

But herein lies the secret: As beautiful precious lambs, we still can’t be good enough to gain the kingdom of heaven on our own accord. And as belligerent, self-centered lambs – goats, really – we can never be bad enough to be deemed unlovable. It sounds like a conundrum, I know. But the point is, we have a Good Shepherd who loves us, and saves us, and calls us by name. Without him, we are lost; unable to get ourselves out of danger.   But with him, we are safely led to pasture. What kind a lamb are you today? Kind and gracious and pure, or filthy, mean-spirited and selfish? Either way, you need a shepherd. Either way, you’ve got one. The Savior calls your name. You are safe. Thanks be to God. Amen.

©2010 Steven Molin