What Does A Shepherd Do, Anyway?

My early years were spent fairly close to the earth. We were not a family of farmers but we always lived near farms and among farmers. I was born into a home that was across the country lane from a large poultry farm. Our parsonage lot was carved out of a cow pasture. We moved to our next parsonage. Its lot was carved out of a donated corn field. When our family finally moved into our own home it was the farmhouse of a working sheep farm.

My brother is among the few people who can start their résumés with the experience of being a shepherd.

Most people don’t know much about sheep or shepherding these days.

When Jesus claimed to be s shepherd, that meant something to the people whose families measured their wealth by counting sheep—a concept that puts us to sleep today.

What did Jesus mean? What does a shepherd do, anyway?

Here’s what I remember from the years when I woke to the sound of bleating sheep.

• Sheep are not smart animals. They cannot get themselves out of trouble. If they fall into a ditch or catch a leg in a fence wire, there they will stay, crying for rescue.
• Sheep follow without question. When one runs through the pasture and leaps, just because, the sheep following will leap when they get to the same spot, too.
• Sheep like to stick together. They know their own kind.
• Sheep are content to spend their lives nibbling on grass, seeing to their own interests.
• Without a shepherd, when the grass runs out, they will stray. This is dangerous. Sheep rely on numbers. It’s the shepherd’s job to find grass and water.
• Sheep have no ability to defend themselves from predators, outside of gathering together so that only one or two of their number are sacrificed to settle the wolves’ appetite.
• Sheep need someone to watch their tails. They are born with long fluffy tails which just get in the way. Off they go.
• Sheep will obey a ruler without question, even one that barks and runs around in circles.
• Sheep, despite their weakness, have value. The wool from one or two sheep can keep a family warm. The milk from a few sheep can nourish a family. Some people like their meat—camouflaged with mint or wine sauces.
• Sheep do not tend toward aggression, although a mean streak can sometimes be detected in individuals. They will quickly become mutton.
• Sheep without a shepherd are in danger. Sheep with a lazy or negligent shepherd are in even more danger.
• Ewes predominate in the flock, but both rams and ewes are needed to sustain the flock.
• If we want to eat meat, an animal must die.
• While sheep know their shepherd’s voice, sometimes shepherds have a hard time knowing one sheep from another. They splash a bit of color on their coats.
• Fences make shepherding easier—or unnecessary.
• The sounds of sheep are pleasant. The smell you get used to.
• Sheep are good-looking bright spots in a green field.
• Touching sheep makes your hands soft.
• There are black sheep, brown sheep and white sheep. They all smell like sheep.
• It is easier on your shoes to walk through a sheep pasture than a cow pasture.
• Lambs make us laugh and forget ourselves.

Jesus had his shepherd hands full!

How does understanding sheep help us understand the biblical analogy of shepherd?

photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar via photopin cc