May I be helped to speak in the name of the Living God … Amen.
My brother-in-law, Bob, has some experience of sheep. He spent the early years of his life on a farm in Hertfordshire; and later he went to agricultural college. Sheep, he says, wake up each morning, then go into a huddle and draw lots to decide whose turn it is today to drop dead for no reason. Bob doesn’t involve himself with sheep these days – he builds agricultural machinery. Tractors and harvesters tend to be more reliable.
Bob’s negative attitude to sheep is not unusual. If someone were to describe you or I as a sheep we would not normally accept it as a compliment. To say someone is a sheep suggests he or she unthinkingly follows where they are led. We tend to think of sheep as slobbering, untidy, dumb animals who exist for just three purposes: to be sheared; to be slaughtered; to get in the way of cars on country roads.
I read a passage the other day which took a rather less jaundiced view of sheep. It’s the view of someone who grew up on a sheep farm in the Midwest in the United States. He says that sheep aren’t dumb at all. He blames their bad image on cattle ranchers – or in this country I guess cattle farmers – who don’t get on with sheep for the sole reason that they don’t behave like cows.
Cows are herded from the rear by hooting cowboys with cracking whips, but that just won’t wash with sheep. Stand behind sheep and make a loud noise, and all they will do is run around behind you. Anyone who has watched ‘One Man and His Dog’ and seen sheep refusing to co-operate when being rounded up by an overexcited or inexperienced sheepdog, will know just how that works.
The thing is, sheep much prefer to be led. You can push cows; but you’ve got to lead sheep. And not just anyone can lead sheep. They’re very choosy. They won’t be led anywhere unless it’s their shepherd who is leading them. They want someone they know and trust to go ahead of them to show them that everything is all right.
This guy from the Midwest went on to say that sheep grow fond of their shepherds. It never ceased to amaze him, growing up on the sheep farm, that whilst he could walk right through a sleeping flock without disturbing a single one of them, if a stranger stepped foot in the sheepfold there would be pandemonium.
Sheep seem to consider their shepherds to be part of the family, and the relationship between sheep and shepherd can become very close. They develop an understanding such that a good shepherd can distinguish between a bleat of pain, and a bleat of pleasure; whilst the sheep learns that a cluck of the tongue means food, or a two note whistle means it’s time to go home.
In Palestine today, it’s still possible to witness a scene that Jesus almost certainly saw two thousand years ago: Bedouin shepherds bringing their flocks home from the various pastures they have grazed in during the day. Often different flocks will end up at the same watering hole around dusk, so that they all get mixed in together – eight or nine small flocks turning into a convention of thirsty sheep.
Their shepherds don’t worry about the mixing of the flocks though. They have no need for different coloured marks from the sheep dip to help them separate their charges. When it comes time to go home, each shepherd gives his or her distinctive call – a special whistle, or a particular tune played on a particular reed pipe. And that shepherd’s sheep withdraw from the crowd to follow their shepherd home. They know who they belong to, they know their shepherd’s voice and it is the only voice they will follow.
You know, it is in the nature of sheep that they cannot lie down unless four requirements are met. Because they are timid creatures unless they are free from fear they will not lie down. Because they are part of a social grouping unless they are free from friction with others in their flock they will not lie down. If they are tormented by flies or parasites they cannot relax and so they will not lie down. If they are hungry, if they need food, they will not lie down.
To be at rest a sheep must feel a sense of freedom – freedom from fear, tension, aggravation and hunger. Part of the bond between sheep and shepherd is that the shepherd is the only person who can provide this sense of freedom from anxieties. A good shepherd tends sheep which feel safe in his care, which are at ease with each other, which are free from parasites, which are well grazed. A good shepherd is able to make it possible for the sheep to relax, to lie down, to rest, to be content – to flourish.
Of course, Jesus referred to himself as the good shepherd; and we think of ourselves as his sheep, his flock. So perhaps all this talk of sheep and shepherds should lead us to ask a few questions of ourselves. Do we feel at ease with our shepherd? Do we listen out for his voice, and follow where he leads? Do we feel part of a safe, secure flock which relies on him? Do we feel able to rest in the presence of our shepherd and our fellow sheep?
Let’s keep a few moments of quiet as each of us reflects on that.
John Routh