The Sheep Know Him

Introduction

I need to start today with an apology and a retraction. I have said something in the past that I believed was true, but it wasn’t. I spoke out of ignorance, and I hope that you can see that I was just trying to make a point, and that I didn’t intend to mislead or offend anyone.

So, let me clear things up. Sheep are not stupid.

I know, I’ve said it a few times, and it seems at first glance to be true, but sheep are not stupid. In fact, in some ways, sheep are highly intelligent, and have great capacity to learn.

We see sheep as stupid because they can’t protect themselves and tend to wander off and get themselves into trouble. But that is one of the main reasons that sheep tend to stay together in groups. They know their limitations, their tendency to wander off and get themselves into trouble, so their nature is that they stay in groups of other sheep they know, and of course, there’s strength in numbers. The more sheep there are in a group, the safer that group is from predators.

Sheep can recognize and remember the faces of other sheep and even people. Researchers studied “sheep psychology” (yeah, I know how crazy that sounds) and found that sheep tended to stay in groups of “close associates”, and they recognized those “close associates” by their facial features. Those “close associates” can include people, like their shepherd.

The BBC published a story back in July of 2004 about sheep that learned to get over a cattle guard. You know, those large set of bars on the ground that keep cows and other farm animals from walking out the gate because their hooves will go between the bars and hurt them. Well, these sheep figured out that the local folk had tasty things growing in their gardens, and they knew they couldn’t go over the fence to get at it, so one of them figured out they could lay on the ground and roll over the cattle guard and not get hurt, and then they could get to the tasty treats in the neighborhood gardens. Eventually all the sheep in that flock learned how to do it, so the owner had to find another way to keep them inside the fence.

So, sheep aren’t stupid. I’m sorry I said it before, and I won’t say or imply it again. I hope I haven’t offended any sheep owners or sheep out there who may have heard me say it before.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk for a bit about herding sheep. We’re used to people using animals to help drive sheep to where the shepherd needs them to go, dogs, pigs, or something like that. That’s the standard way of taking care of sheep in the Western world. But the shepherds in the Middle East and other areas care for their sheep differently. They don’t drive the sheep, pushing them from behind. They lead the sheep, calling to them so they follow the shepherd.

I’ve heard people talk about Middle Eastern shepherds leading their flock down busy streets around Jerusalem, calling, whistling, and singing to their sheep, and the sheep dutifully following the shepherd, single file, through the crowded busy streets to get to their pasture outside the city.

Another anecdote I’ve read was about a group of Bedouin shepherds who had returned from the fields in the evening. There were four different flocks, each with a different shepherd and each shepherd had an assistant. All four flocks were put in the same sheep pen for the night, with the assistant shepherds taking turns protecting the sheep from predators through the night. In the morning, each of the shepherds, one at a time, would enter the sheep pen and call to their sheep, singing and whistling to them. As the shepherds would walk out of the pen, the sheep from their flock would follow them, but the other sheep would stay in the pen, patiently waiting for their shepherd to come and lead them out to pasture for the day.

Sheep aren’t stupid.

Sheep in the Pen

Now, in the Bible, people are often compared to sheep. In fact, it’s a normal analogy. David compares himself to a sheep with God as his shepherd. Isaiah says we are all like sheep who tend to wander off and get ourselves into trouble. The sheep comparisons are scattered throughout the Bible.

Today we’re starting John chapter 10. So that we don’t take this out of context, it follows on to what happened in chapter 9, where Jesus healed a man who was born blind. Jesus healed him on a Sabbath. To get to the bottom of what happened, the Pharisees interviewed, maybe grilled, the man, then his parents, and then the man again, but they didn’t really learn anything they didn’t already know. But the end result was that the Pharisees disfellowshipped the man from the synagogue because of his faith in Jesus.

Jesus found the man whom he had healed, explained who He was, and when the man professed faith in Jesus,

John 9:39

John 9:39 ESV

Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

The Pharisees realized Jesus was talking about them, and they called Him on it, but He didn’t back down. In fact, He doubled down on them and told them if they had actually been blind, they wouldn’t have been guilty, but because they said they could see, they were guilty.

But He didn’t stop there. That’s where chapter 10 picks up.

I usually break scripture up into small parts, either sentences or a few verses, but today I’m going to work from paragraphs, because they are so tightly packed and hard to break into small pieces.

John 10:1-6

John 10:1–6 ESV

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Westerners like us don’t understand these verses without the background I’ve given to you. But now you can start to understand what Jesus is talking about here.

The shepherd is the one who goes into the sheep pen by the gate. The gate keeper will open the gate for the shepherd because they know each other, and the gate keeper knows the shepherd is coming to lead his own sheep. Anyone who wants to do harm to the sheep, or steal one, would have to either get past the gate keeper who is protecting the sheep, or jump over the fence to get to the sheep. If someone does climb over the wall or fence, it’s quite obvious that person is up to no good. He’s there to steal or kill sheep.

When the shepherd goes into the sheep pen, he starts calling to his sheep, whistling and singing to them, to get them to start following him out of the pen to pasture. And because they know the shepherd, because sheep know his voice and recognize his face, they follow him. He doesn’t drive the sheep toward pasture with the help of a dog or other animal, he walks in front of them, and they naturally follow him to where he is leading them. The shepherd is effectively accepted as the lead sheep in the flock.

Because sheep recognize voices and faces, they won’t follow a stranger. They don’t trust this new face who seems to be trying to imitate their shepherd. They will only react to the voice of their shepherd, and they will only follow the shepherd they know.

The Pharisees understood basic shepherding, and they understood the farming aspects of what Jesus was telling them, but they didn’t understand the deeper context of what Jesus was saying. Jesus was telling the Pharisees that they were bad shepherds, that they were the ones climbing over the fence to get to the sheep, not going in the gate to lead them out.

Firing the Shepherds

The Pharisees and the Sanhedrin were considered to be the shepherds of the people of Israel. They were the leaders, directing the people in what they were supposed to do and what they weren’t supposed to do, how they were supposed to live. But every time we find Jesus speaking to a member of one of these groups of the religious elites, He is telling them they are doing the wrong thing, and even mistreating people because of their misunderstanding of scripture.

This wasn’t a new problem. God had addressed it before, through the prophet Ezekiel. And that prophecy is another one of those “now and later” prophecies. It applied to the people of Ezekiel’s time, and also to a later time.

Ezekiel 34:1-6

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; 6 they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.

Shepherds are supposed to care for the sheep, and that provides for their livelihood. But these shepherds, and the ones Jesus was talking to, were only in it for their own benefit. They were taking advantage of the people they were supposed to be helping. They were fleecing their flock and leaving them to suffer on their own.

Those who were suffering, the weak and the sick, were left behind. They didn’t look for the ones who wandered off, those who stopped showing up and needed attention. There was no love in the way they led, they led with an iron fist, not caring about the consequences of how they treated the flock.

If you lead badly, not taking care of those you’re leading or taking advantage of them, they aren’t going to stay around and follow you if they have the choice. They will wander off and either go it alone, or they will find someone else to follow who will take care of them and help them, instead of taking advantage of them.

Ezekiel 34:7-10

7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 10 Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

The shepherds, those who were supposed to lead and care for the sheep, weren’t doing their job. They were taking advantage of their position and reaping the benefits while not taking any of the responsibility. They were asleep at the wheel.

God told them the consequences of their actions: you’re fired. You won’t be feeding yourself from my flock anymore. You won’t be warmed by their wool. You won’t have to trouble yourselves to feed, tend, and lead my flock. You’re finished. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

The New Shepherd

One thing we do know about sheep, even though we know they’re not stupid, they need someone or something to lead them and protect them. Sometimes that’s a leader sheep, a strong ram that knows where the good pasture is and where the water is, and how to protect the flock with the help of the rest of the flock.

But God had another plan.

Ezekiel 34:11-16

11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

God said, “You let My sheep wander off and wouldn’t try to find them. Fine. I’ll do it. I’ll do everything you said you would do but didn’t.”

One of the things that tells me this is one of those “now and later” prophecies is that God says He will gather all His people from all peoples and countries into their own land. This didn’t happen when Babylon allowed the Temple to be rebuilt. Some returned, but not all. Some remained in Babylon and other places they were taken.

God says He will bring all His sheep, all His people, and feed them on the mountains of Israel, and provide them good pasture. This is a manifestation of Psalm 23. He will gather, feed, and protect His sheep.

But will God be the shepherd? Let’s see what He said.

Ezekiel 34:20-24

20 “Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, 22 I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.

God is the over-shepherd, if you will; He’s in charge of the Shepherd that He puts over the flock. He still remains the God of His people, but He says He will set up His servant David as Shepherd and Prince over them. And why did He do that?

Because the shepherds were being bullies. They were pushing the other sheep out, injuring and killing the weak, and generally causing havoc with all the other sheep. God will rescue His flock and protect them from the evil shepherds He was replacing.

God says that He will be judge over the flock. He will determine which sheep prosper and which sheep will be removed from the flock. He will help the weak become strong, protecting them from harm and leading them to the best places of pasture.

Conclusion

Jesus, in His discussion with the Pharisees after they reacted negatively to the man who Jesus had healed by throwing him out of the synagogue, was actually beginning the execution of God’s plan in Ezekiel chapter 34. He was telling the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin they were not the shepherds of the flock anymore. It was over for them. He protected the sheep they had pushed out of the flock. He healed their sickness and injuries.

Jesus is the example of what a Shepherd should be, what a leader should be. He doesn’t drive the flock from behind but walks in front and calls the sheep to follow Him. He leads by example, unlike the Pharisees and Sanhedrin who taught one thing and did something else, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Not only that, but He sacrificed His life for the sheep. He suffered so that none of His sheep would have to.

The question is, are you one of His sheep? Do you know His voice? Do you listen to Him and follow Him, doing what He says to do? Or are you following a thief or a robber, who didn’t come into the sheep fold by the gate, but climbed over the wall to steal sheep for his own benefit?

God wants all of us to come into His flock that His Son is Shepherd of. He wants us all to be under the protection and leadership of Jesus. But not everyone is willing to submit to Jesus as Shepherd, as Lord and Master of our lives.

His sacrifice can be affective for you, if you’re willing to submit to Him. All you need to do is turn away from your old life, doing the things that you know are wrong. Then you need to fully submit to Jesus, obeying everything He teaches. And the first thing you need to do is be immersed in water to wash away your sins. After that, you can start over, following the True Shepherd.

If you want to know more about that, or if you’re dealing with problems in your life, let me know, and I’ll do what I can to help.