I believe today’s Gospel reading is the shortest of the Gospels in the Lectionary. As is the case it has so much to speak of. So what is a sheep? and why such a focus on sheep? A Little investigative “googling” gave me the following. A sheep was one of the earliest animals that was domesticated for agriculture. They need rich grass and cast space to move and water. This makes sheep very easy to raise, as we have tons of space throughout the world and grass and water are plentiful.
Use of the word sheep allows for great familiarity. While they may not be common around here, the Illinois Farm Bureau says that Illinois has about 56,000 sheep in Illinois annually. A male Sheep is called a Ram. A female Sheep is called a Ewe, and a lamb is a sheep under the age of 14 months. They are considered quite intelligent on the scale of farm animals. and generally live together for protection.
My sheep Hear my voice
Well the description of sheep took more space than the actual Gospel reading today! Jesus makes an interesting comment. he says ” My sheep hear my voice” I guess we should probably look to who His sheep are. One of the central desires within the human race is to find their creator. Science can explain the physical activity that creates another human being. But there is deep within each of us a pull toward something greater. I have discussed before the many ways that humanity attempts to quell that desire, but I believe the main reason for so much angst and disquiet in the world is this constant quest to ignore what is obvious. There is a God, He loves us, and He wants us to be with Him.
I know them
God knows us sop very well.. From Luke 12 and Matthew 10 he knows the number of hairs on our heads. That is certainly more than I know about myself. Even if I would think about counting the hairs on my head.. I would probably lose interest fairly quickly. God makes that claim that He knows us that intimately. We are assured of His security. Certainly, it is not so much that everything will go perfectly in our lives, but that our souls are protected and can find peace.
But I notice that within a group of people fighting against God and humanity there is quite the anger factor and a meanness that is not evident in those who accept God and work with Him. Look at anyone fighting for the right to kill babies, they are angry and they are mean. Why is this? simply they are fighting against something that God loves. God finds importance in each and every life. Each live is known by God. This is one of the great truths uttered in the Creation stories in Genesis. Man was personally formed and given the breath of Life from God himself. Anyone fighting to take that breath away is fighting directly against God, no matter the pretty flowers they may try to convince themselves otherwise. They are fighting against God.
and they follow me.
The sheep follow me, simply because we hear that gentle voice giving us a pathway to happiness.As we know from personal experience, we tend to wander off that pathway and get ourselves in trouble. But usually when we are in this trouble, we seek out this voice, repent and get back on the pathway being led by Jesus. I think there is so much good to be found in the 12 step programs, which most of us think of for those suffering with alcohol, drugs, sex, etc We can also apply these 12 steps to our own lives. Usually pride gets in the way, because we tend always to be in denial that there is a problem.
The first step is obvious, we need to admit that there is a problem. Withour this admission there is no way you can ever go forward. Now it is very easy for us to relegate this to someone with an alcohol or drug issue and try to drive it away from the center of our focus, But the reality is there is a problem. it is called Sin.. we miss the mark… we are aiming for the bulleye but we miss this mark fro some reason or another. Each of us have one if not numerous of the “seven deadly sins” that we suffer with. But once we admit this.. we bring ourselves back on the pathway and find ourselves following Him.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish
We have allowed ourselves to be brought back to the pathway. Deep within us we heard the voice of God calling out to us. No matter the fearsome sin that we may have committed in the past we admit to them. We may have killed, maimed, destroyed or kept imprisoned… Our admission that there is a problem can bring us back to God. There are psychological issues that may prevent a particular person to even recognize an issue. But we still remain hopeful for them as was mentioned earlier God knows us down to the number of our hairs on our head.
No One can take them out of my hand
Jesus leads each of us both in this life as well as the next. We are given eternal life by God and we might be tempted to just think well okay I can just do anything and I will be forgiven. That is a dangerous way of looking at the next life. It is equally dangerous to think Well i will just say I am sorry right before I die… these are both equally problematic. It’s main danger is simply we think we are in control. Again one of the main lessons of the Creation stories is that God created and sustains. Man may be able to nurture and help grow other animals and plants etc but God gives us the nutrients the water and the life itself. We can never put ourselves as an equal or beyond God.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all
I know I have been guilty of this numerous times in my life. Thinking I have the answers, I have the ability, I have the intelligence. Who needs God? I can take care of it. Well like the ram caught in the thicket that was a road leading to my destruction.. eventually I heard that call deep within me.. not wanting my destruction, but my love. I had bought the lie for a little while, but I heard the truth and I wandered back . Numerous errors in judgment and mistakes are made by me and will most likely not reach perfection before I die. I am going to work at it I don’t relish the fires of Gehenna… I am more fearful that I won’t pluck out the eye or cut off the foot as i am called to perfection in God’s eye.
and no one can take them out of the Fathers hand
God is very protective of his people. But since we are all His people, that means he is very protective of all of us. But of course we each have our own freewill. This allows us to truly love God in return. Unfortunately in Genesis we also have the explanation for our dulled senses and we can recognize how we can be so ignorant of the most basic of things. But deep down that call is there and we have the ability to get back on the pathway. The entire path is in God’s hand as well. He is the Creator and He is loving. At some point we have to repent and accept God and His ways. We can in the end not accept any of it and well not being with God is a real possibility, but it is our own freewill that will separate us.. it is not God’s desire
Jesus, warns us of the repercussions of thinking more of the self than of serving the other. By serving we accept God’s words and his call. He is the one who makes the “rules” But they are not rules at all.. they are really a calling to happiness. We are assured of God’s love. Because we know Jesus, we know the Father
The Father and I are one
This sentence needs not much of a comment. There are some that still deny that Jesus never called himself God… A simple turn to this verse dispels this concept. Jesus loves us and believes in each of us. We make the call though. Jesus will not force us to do anything, we have the ability to make as much or as little of ourselves. He gave us instruction and he gave us love. What more can we need?
Be Good Play Nice Think God !