A couple of weeks ago I had the chance (that I was OH so grateful for) to take a trip outside of the city for a couple of hours. Since arriving here in September, with the exception of short trip to another country, that’s the second time that I’ve been outside the city limits. It was a beautiful day - a breath of fresh (and warm) air compared to the city. My companions and I traveled for about an hour until we came to this old “castle” ruins. It sounds romantic and adventurous, and it was. The piles of rocks were beautiful. The landscape was breathtaking. If you’ve seen the newest version of Pride and Prejudice [and you’ve paid attention to the menu page], you have an idea of what my surroundings were like. Blue skies, rolling hills, green fields, a stream, and sheep.
Sheep. One thing that I’ve noticed since arriving here is how the Bible seems to come to life. Especially since I've grown up in the West, there are concepts and illustrations used in the Scripture that I’d like to think that I understand, but the truth is that I had no idea what a fig tree was or why it was significant that He cursed it when He did. Or why did John the Baptist and Christ both made many references to the rocks? Or was washing a guest's feet really that big of a deal? Today, I'm thinking about sheep.
Sheep have come to amaze me. My dad grew up on a farm (cows and pigs and chickens), but that’s about the closest to farming and livestock knowledge I have. While out on this countryside, we were among sheep. Lots and lots of sheep. At one point I sat on a rock and just gazed at the hillsides around me; there were at least four different flocks that I could see. One was moving down a mountain. One flock was being quickly herded across a field. Another group didn’t seem to be moving at all. The fourth flock was right in front of us; grazing and moseying at a leisurely pace. We hiked for awhile and just enjoyed being outside, but I kept watching the sheep and wondering about the life of a shepherd. Back in the States, the closest picture of shepherding I got was watching teachers try to herd students into classrooms after the bell had wrung. In that case, I’ve been a sheep and a shepherd! I was so intrigued to watch some of the shepherds. There was one flock that was rather far off, and I couldn’t really tell they were sheep at first. They looked more like black bugs....or rocks. At one point I was watching that particular hillside, and all of a sudden there was a black bug - or rock - or sheep that went zooming across the grass. After a couple of seconds I realized that it wasn’t a sheep at all. It was the shepherd. He must have heard a sheep crying - maybe it was hurt, and he immediately started running as fast as he could to rescue it. He bounded down the hill with such speed and skill. He knew exactly where that crying sheep was, and there were no hesitations in his movement.
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—” (John 10:11,14)
Later on we were walking around this ancient cemetery, and as we were relaxing and talking, one of the herds was slowly making its way towards us. Before we knew it, we were surrounded by sheep and goats. I hadn’t realized before that there were goats in the mixture. From a distance I couldn’t tell. Maybe I’m just very ignorant in the world of sheep and goats, but I couldn’t depict differences in their movements or coloring until they were literally before me. Scripture warns us about this: there will be goats among the sheep. We’re all mixed in together right now, but there’s a day coming when the religious will be separated from the righteous.
Thank you, Jesus, for sheep and the word pictures you give us throughout scripture.
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