Belonging to Jesus

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Scripture:  John 10:11 – 18

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. Read more…

Looking to Sunday

by Elaine Poproski

Back when I used to be involved in summer camp, we sang a song, the first verse of which goes like this:

I just wanna be a sheep, baa, baa.
I just wanna be a sheep, baa, baa.
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
I just wanna be a sheep, baa, baa.

There are lots more verses to the song. You can listen to the whole thing here.

That song is connected to a parable about Jesus’ return and his associated judgment of humanity at that time. It’s told in Matthew 25. In the parable, all the people are separated like a shepherd separates sheep from goats. The sheep are those who loved like Jesus loves. They are welcomed into God’s Kingdom. The goats, on the other hand, are those who failed to love like Jesus loves.

Sheep show up a lot in Jesus’ stories. I think that’s because so much of the land He and His disciples traveled was populated by fields, farms, and fertile grazing for all manner of domesticated animals, the most populous of which were sheep. Sheep were an integral part of the rural landscape. They were also an integral part of the religious sacrificial system.

The night before they were finally freed from slavery in Egypt, it was lamb’s blood the Israelites brushed on their door frames to protect them from the angel of death. For generations thereafter, a lamb was sacrificed to commemorate that extraordinary event every Passover. Sacrificed sheep were also frequently part of the many different kinds of offerings made by God’s people in the Temple, one of which was a sin offering. It’s not by accident that Jesus was declared to be “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

On Sunday, we’re going to be invited into this world where sheep are common, easily understood metaphors. Only this week, instead of it being a metaphor for Jesus, it’s a metaphor for us; and rather than focusing in on the sheep, we’re going to focus in on the Shepherd. As we continue in this series of being Rooted in Jesus, it’s helpful to remember that we belong to the Good Shepherd who is Jesus. As you prepare for Sunday, perhaps spend some time considering this metaphor of sheep and shepherds. What images come to mind? How does it feel to be a sheep? What does it mean to be a sheep? Is it a designation you’re happy with, or one you’d rather ignore? As you prepare for Sunday, perhaps spend some time reflecting on John 10:11 – 18, which will be our key Scripture passage for the service. If it helps, perhaps spend some time reflecting on this image by Paweł Czerwiński.