The good sheep

Many Christians in Nigeria would be wondering why there are no retaliatory or reprisal attacks against the fundamentalists or extremists, but a search into the scripture provides the answer. This is rooted in the concept of the good sheep which readily brings to mind the beatitude of meekness, where Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” The nature of the sheep is that of meekness. Expectedly, the sheep should be humble, gentle, obedient, modest, submissive, etc. Anyone who is meek is blessed and such a person shall inherit the earth. So, it is not out of context that the Christian is referred to as sheep in the scriptural allegories. Christians are sheep. And they are to be led by a shepherd. Jesus is the Chief Shepherd of all Christians, however, there are men ordained to shepherds on earth to lead Christians to Christ. These are your pastors, prophets, elders, fellowship leaders and so on and so forth. But we live in a world where Satan is constantly battling to deceive Christians from making it to Christ or even staying with Him. He has devised many means, including using fake prophets to mislead Christians. The good and shepherd are discussed in the book of JOHN 10: 1-10. When we read and hear the Bible, we need to remember how different our world is from the one Jesus lived in. As He and the disciples roamed around the countryside, spreading the good news of God’s coming Kingdom, they saw no great industrial centres producing clever machines and toxic waste. There were no shopping complexes and parking lots. The highways were not choked with rapidly moving automobiles. For the most part, as they travelled on dusty, rocky roads, Jesus and the disciples saw wilderness and crops. Along the way, every once in a while, the road would widen, revealing a tiny village. The Bible is full of stories of sheep and shepherds. In the gospel of Luke, shepherds receive an angelic announcement of Christ’s birth and went in search of the baby Jesus. I once saw a picture hanging on a charcoal rendering of the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine sheep in order to go after the one lost sheep. And today, from the gospel of John, we hear Jesus using a shepherding metaphor to describe His role in our salvation. What did we learn about sheep from our younger days? Not much. During your growing up years, I am sure you never saw one shepherd, not one among all the many fields of grazing cattle and high corn. This discrepancy in the midst of such fertile diversity may prompt one to ask his/her sage grandfather precisely why more flocks of sheep were not to be seen. His answer would quietly simply be, “They’re too much trouble and are stupid.” Very stupid! So stupid that they require almost constant monitoring that is expensive. The world of average sheep is about as expensive as the patch of grass right in front of its own nose. They are short sighted, narrow minded creatures, basically oblivious of everything else except for the next blade of grass. And because of this, a sheep will step right off a steep gully and break her leg. A sheep will drift away from the herd, become lost and panic. A sheep will die at the hands of a predator before he knows what hit him. So, sheep needs a shepherd to lead them and guide them, to make them aware of danger and help broaden their focus beyond that next of blade of luscious grass. Christians are here compared to sheep. Not a very flattering comparison you may say, but then, we don’t wish to be flattered nor would our Lord deem it fit to flatter us. While far from flattering, it is however, eminently consoling, for of all creature, there are not any more compassed about with infirmity than sheep. In this frailty of their nature, they are a fit emblem of ourselves, at least, of as many that believe in Jesus and become his disciples. Let others boast how strong they are, yet if there be strong anywhere, certainly we are weak. We have proved our weakness and day by day, we lament it. We do confess our weakness, yet may we not repine at it for, as Paul said, so we find, when are weak,then we are strong. Sheep have many wants, yet they are very helpless, and quite unable to provide for themselves. But for the Shepherd’s care, they would soon perish. This too is our case. Our spiritual needs are numerous and pressing, yet we cannot supply any of them. We are travellers through a wilderness that yields us neither food nor water. Unless our bread drop down from heaven and our water flow out of the living rock, we must die. Our weakness and our want we keenly feel; still we have no cause to murmur, since the Lord knows our poor estate, and succours us with the tender rest care. Sheep too are silly creatures and in this respect, likewise we are very sheepish. We meekly own it to Him who is ready to guide us. We say, as David did, “O God, thou knowest my foolishness” and He says unto us as He did to David, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go.” If Christ were not our wisdom, we should soon fall a prey to the destroyer.. Every grain of true wisdom that we possess we have derived from Him; of ourselves, we are dull and giddy, foolishness is bound up in our hearth. The more conscious you are of your deficiencies, the more your lack of stamina, discretion, wisdom and all the instincts of self preservation, the more delighted you will be to see that the Lord accepts you under these conditions and call you the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. He discerns you as you are, claims you as His own, foresees all the ills to which you are exposed, yet tends you as His flock, sets store by every Lamb of the fold and so feed you according to the integrity of His hearth, and guides you by the skilfulness of His hands. “I will feed my flock, I will cause to lie down, saith the Lord God.” From Sunday Newswatch