John 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Probably the least intelligent domesticated animal is the sheep. You can put a horse, a chicken, a dog outside and they could survive by themselves. But a sheep can’t find water, would overgraze, blindly follow a leader, and can’t get back up if it falls on its back. They can’t be trained and are useless to pull or carry anything. They are defenseless and need to have their wool sheared every summer.
And we are the same way. We are like sheep that blindly follow the masses and just eat and get fat. We are prone to falling and often get sheared by others.
But, as a shepherd takes care of his sheep, so does Jesus care for us. Even though we don’t learn from our mistakes, he is still patient with us. When we stray away from the fold, he goes to find us and brings us back.
“Lord, thank you that you are my shepherd. You know that all I am is just a stupid sheep. But you care and love me anyways. You put up with all my problems, my strayings, and doing the same dumb things again and again. You care about me so much that instead of the lamb being offered up to you, you have offered yourself to the lambs.”
Links:
The Sheep Story
A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23
The Role of a Shepherd
Wikipedia – Sheep
Sheep Tales
Sheep Tail Tales
Sheep from the past
FNAWS