Sheep could use a good shepherd.

Y'all.

Sheep.

Sheep are all throughout the Bible. Shepherds are all throughout the Bible. Why?

Well, for starters, the cultures that produced the Bible all widely used shepherds to herd animals, including sheep. And sheep were very common animals in these cultures. They lend themselves to metaphors, especially in a society without modern entertainment.

But that just means that this is a metaphor with which we (probably) have very little real in situ experience; we just don't keep animals or know folks who do the way that people in the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Ages would have. When we come to any ancient text, including the Bible, we're coming as tourists in someone else's culture. So it behooves us to be good guests and learn a little bit about our hosts before we go gallivanting off.

So let's get clear on a few things.

What is a sheep?

A sheep is defenseless.

They have no sharp teeth to tear others' flesh. They can’t fight back against their enemies. They have no claws or sharp beaks. They can't prey on other animals. They don’t have the fastest legs. They can’t outrun their most dangerous predators.

All a sheep can do when presented with danger, is run away.

The particular sheep in Palestine are Awassi sheep. Some of them do have horns to offer a little protection. Most of the males have horns, and most of the females don’t, but that’s not an exact science which is fascinating and may be the topic of another blog post soon.

But you know what Awassi sheep are good at?

• Resisting disease

• Walking really long distances

• Tolerating extreme temperatures

• Adapting well to different environments

• Compensating for under-nutrition

• Keeping young alive in difficult circumstances

Basically, they are known for their ability to adapt, to survive less than ideal environments, and still produce.

What happens to sheep?

In other words, a sheep is two things: vulnerable and valuable.

With no defenses against wolves, their best-case scenario is that they gain the protection of someone who wants to use them as a commodity. Their protection and right to live is acquired by losing themselves: their meat, milk, and wool - even their children, who are born to live and die just as they did.

What a horrible, depressing, hopeless picture. What on earth could any sheep do to get out from under the thumb of this evil? What could all the sheep do, even if they all joined together and used absolutely every ounce of their strength and wit to change their reality?

Nothing.

They are stuck. Doomed. Destined for a life of oppression and commodification and death as soon as they’ve outlived their usefulness. When they die, their bodies will go on to feed their oppressors.

So why does God use this illustration?

Adam and Eve were priests, responsible to maintain the sacred space and keep evil out, but they opened the door and let evil in. And that evil spread so very fast.

Within a generation, we have our first fratricide. But that’s not all. Immediately, plants, animals, and cells start to fight for survival. Predators turn on prey. Plants start fighting for light and nutrients, some strangling others with vines, others blocking sunlight to eliminate competition. Even cells start to fight each other.

All of creation, locked in a fight for survival.

We are all forced to choose: do we become like the oppressors and see those around us as obstacles, tools, commodities, threats, or resources? Do we step on each other to get to the top? Do we train our intellect to look for weaknesses and exploit them?

Or, do we do as YHWH challenges us? Do we walk the path of peace? Of love? Of turning the cheek? Of suffering, over becoming oppressors?

Scripturally speaking, there are two kinds of people in the world: those who turn on their fellow humans, and those who consistently refuse. To extend the metaphor a little, it's sheep - and wolves.

We were always supposed to be peaceful. In Eden, choosing the path of peace would cost nothing. Maybe a little curiosity, at most; we might not know what would happen if we had eaten the fruit.

But now? Now we live in a dog-eat-dog world. We live in a survival-of-the-fittest world. We live in a world that rewards greed, aggression, cruelty, and cunning. We live in a world where the dirtiest businessmen get rich, while those who care for their families, customers, and employees go under.

We live in a world where men who are gentle and peaceful are erased and men who are ambitious and aggressive are called “real men, godly men.”

We live in a world where poverty is a black hole, sucking everything near it deeper and deeper into it’s abyss, absolutely unwilling to give anyone up. In that same world, if by some miracle or act of superhuman will a person drags themselves out of that hole, they often pull up after themselves the very ladder they used to climb up.

We live in a world where arguments are settled with nukes, genocides, blockades. Where those who respond with generosity and compassion are killed with drones in their sleep. Where confused, frightened teenagers on the Internet are called "the enemy" while confident, powerful men in big chairs give orders to kill different teenagers and are called "leaders."

We are sheep among wolves.

Christus, Victor

But Jesus left Eden to come and get His sheep.

He lived as the sheep live: He took up no arms, never raised a hand against another, never took bread from another’s mouth, never allowed hatred to grow in His heart.

And He experienced the oppression, willful misunderstanding, accusations, scorn, torture, hunger, and pain that all sheep know.

And He bore up under it. It was His battle. His war to wage. Could this God-man, imbued with more power, privilege and might than anything else in the world, be a sheep? Could someone with the power to oppress instead lay down His life and refuse to use His power to save Himself?

He fought that battle and He won.

And for it, He was killed -- which started His next battle, a supernatural battle that lasted the three days he laid in the tomb. He fought a cosmic battle against Death itself, and when He rose again, he had defeated all the cosmic forces of evil.

And in so doing, He proved that He is the Good Shepherd. His resurrection was a rallying cry - this Sheep has power. This Sheep can protect the other sheep. This Sheep can unite the other sheep together and care for them.

This idea is called “Christus Victor.” It is one facet of how the Bible's conception of atonement works - or, how Jesus dying on the cross can heal the relationships (atonement just means "to reconcile") between God and humanity, humans with humans, and humans with the rest of Creation. In this facet, Jesus is making the healing of relationships possible by destroying evil. The book of Colossians claims that He:

"disarmed the powers and authorities [that is, of cosmic evil; think Satan, Death, Hades, etc.], he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."

This Good Shepherd doesn't run when the wolves roll up. He certainly doesn't negotiate with them, or feature on their podcasts. He doesn't let them run Sunday school classes, or let them bully folks in the foyer after service. The Good Shepherd never shrugs his shoulders when his sheep suffer.

The Good Shepherd acts. Because while sheep definitely don't need a babysitter, they could definitely use a good shepherd.