Old Dog V
Just A Flock
Bob Neumann, 11/2004
Years ago i watched a program on PBS about SHEEP RAISING. Surprising that people raise sheep in a whole lot of different places. In ancient times each society developed the “technology” of efficient SHEEP PRODUCTION according to the environment they had to survive in. In Mongolia they rode horses. In the Pyrannies it was on foot. But they all traveled with the sheep wherever graizing was available. So herding sheep was not a good vocation for people who wanted to build cities and establish civilization. In the program it showed where corporations had invested in huge numbers of sheep and how modern technology was being used. Trucks and motorbikes and helicopters all had there place. Computers and microchips and genetic manipulation was the obvious future. But then they showed men and women walking amoung the sheep. It seems technology was not enough to insure profitability. In fact sheep, while profitable, were still labor intensive. Seems that one human with a dog or two was needed for the care of every 60 sheep when the ewes were ready to give birth. Then you wound up with 100 sheep and made things just a bit harder.
One HUMAN…60 sheep seems to be an old pattern. Actually a time proven pattern. Of course if your flocks grew you needed more workers. Children could “watch” sheep. Agriculture has always been a “family” centered business. AND…you could trust family more than someone hired for a few months.
I guess that was why David found himself out with his FAMILY ASSETS at an early age. Older brothers get to sleep in the tent….runt freezes out alone with smelly, stupid sheep. Maybe THE LORD had been working on David as HE HAD Lydia…think about it. What would it take to get a 14 year old to come up with…”THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD….I SHALL NOT WANT…”.…
Just think about the Psalms that touch you deeply. For some reason we all have a time or a place where each of us is sitting right with him as he sang UNTO THE LORD. We all have sung “OUT OF THE DEPTHS I CRY UNTO YOU OH LORD…”.
So when JESUS says “I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD” HE was painting a vivid picture of HIS RELATIONSHIP with/to HIS OWN SHEEP. Now the biggest office in any church today is usually called a “pastor”….which is just a funky title for someone who is supposed to watch over and protect SHEEP.
One of the strangest places in scripture to me is in
John 21
15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep
18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not
Ignoring the variance of the GREEK terms for love used in these verses, this is a strange conversation. Peter, although a fisherman, was probably not completely ignorant of sheep and the care they require. Peter knew that sheep grazed and lambs suckled their mother’s milk. So i ask myself how Peter reacted to this questioning…just as they were on the MT of Olives. In a few hours JESUS was arrested and Peter would deny HIM.
So do you think Pete properly discerned the metaphor of SHEEP and LAMBS being an allusion to THE BELIEVERS that would “FLOCK” into the assembly of the BRETHERN? I don’t. By Acts 2&3 i think Pete figured it out… with a little help from THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT.
To be responsible for 60-100 sheep and lambs is a whole lot of hard work in the NATURAL. So it also is in the SPIRITUAL. So how do you watch, guard, feed, and do whatever THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT requires for a “flock” of 1500 sheep and lambs? One man or woman can not.
So if you wonder why “in the spirit” you “see” lots of diseased and starving sheep, you are not alone. Lost and dying sheep are too too many. And carcases covered with flies is an image i can never forget.
So for all of you who have thought i have had a problem with pastors and the amerikan church system, you are right. I know and love many who work long and hard in their job because they are “shepherds”. Any good sheep dog can tell a shepherd from a heirling. Too often the stench of “dragon” is obvious…..but only to the dog(s).
So once again i ask the WPA…what do we do about the “wolves in sheep’s clothing”….it’s almost 3 years since i first asked…
selah dog
Up Next: All Those Turkeys