The Abundance of Being a Sheep
“So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
John 10:7-10 NRSV
The music we sang in youth group back in the 90’s wasn’t near as cool as Christian music is today. Our band used to perform an old camp song, “I Just Want to Be a Sheep.” Here’s a link to the song if you’d like to imagine just how cool we must have looked singing this song. (There were dance moves too…but I don’t remember those.)
However, we were also the generation that grew up with movies like “Can’t Hardly Wait,” a teen comedy about breaking out of the norms of high school stereotypes. In one memorable scene, the quirky best friend of the nerdy main character jumps on the karaoke mic and yells to the mostly drunk popular students, “You Are All Sheep!”
Two very different contexts. Two very different messages.
The rebel in the movie might sound more familiar. A “sheep” is someone who just follows along blindly, and it’s not usually used in a positive light. The assumption is that “sheep” are stupid, don’t think for themselves, and are mind-controlled.
The song about sheep comes out of John 10, in which a sheep is one who hears and recognizes Jesus’ voice and chooses to follow and obey – knowing Jesus’ wisdom is the true wisdom and worth submitting to.
Contrary to popular wisdom, sheep are highly intelligent animals. Sheep can remember the faces of up to 50 humans or other sheep. Sheep can navigate complex mazes. Sheep experience a deep range of emotions, and even self medicate with different plants and substances that help them in a variety of situations.
It seems that being a sheep might be more of a compliment than we often think. Biblically speaking, being a sheep leads to vastly more abundance than not being a sheep.
In John 10, Jesus tears down his opponents without mercy. These opponents are the Pharisees and Sadducees, religious elites who earnestly want to bring holiness to Israel and want the people of Israel to live in accordance to all aspects of the law so that the Messiah will come. In their emphatic forcefulness of doctrinal standards, what happens is that they unintentionally place themselves in the Messianic seat of power – leading people to believe that God will be closer to them by works and righteousness alone. In a modern-day context, this same message sounds like “Just buy more and you’ll be happy!” or any equivalent message where “more” will earn you the peace that we seek.
Jesus argues that those who chase more, perfection, and their own “island” to live on will only find destruction because they will always be in competition and clashing with each other.
But sheep…sheep stay close to their leader and follow closely.
Not out of stupidity…but out of trust, and love, and joy.
John 10:11-18 goes on to say that Jesus will lay down his life for the sheep, setting the standard for sacrificial love that we are supposed to share with each other. Imagine if we all followed so closely to Jesus that we also were willing to give freely for each other? Would there be any that went without? And if there wasn’t anyone who was needy, would we worry about ourselves as much? And if we had less worry…would we be happier?
I guess that’s an experiment in abundance we should consider trying. You already did it this Sunday when you donated over $1,100 to victims of Hurricane Helene. You don’t know them. They did nothing to earn your money. They will not benefit you. And yet you sacrificially gave for them to have more abundance in their lives.
Maybe the experiment is how we think this way without needing a hurricane?
Go listen to the song. I don’t know about you, but I just want to be a sheep (ba ba ba ba).
Peace,
David Lessner
PS – We still need more help in the pumpkin patch as we go through October. Please consider an evening shift, even if you can’t make it right on time.
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