people vs. sheep

Matthew 17
I see this chapter split up into 2 parts, so we'll start with the end of the first half and work our way back to the beginning. I don't know why I think in reverse sometimes, i guess it just helps me to see things a little more clearly.

Lets start out with the lost sheep. Verse 10 says this:

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. 12What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

I know that I have been this one lost sheep. I have gone down wrong paths, fallen off cliffs, and hardly made it out alive time and time again. In fact, if I were the shepard, it would probably have been worth the effort to put this sheep to sleep than to save it. But thats not what Jesus does. He leaves his whole flock for me. Let me elaborate a little bit here on how this whole sheep hearding thing goes down. Ususally one shepard goes out into the woods, miles away from civilization, sometimes for days on end, with 100 sheep. So this shepard is out in the middle of no where and he looks out at his flock. These sheep are what sustains his family, this is how he earns a living, he has come to consider each and every one like a family member. He names them, he cares for them, he protects them.

In order to find enough food for the sheep, the shephard needs to keep them moving, sheep will over graze and devour a field in a short amount of time. The interesting thing I found on wikipedia is that sheep show strong tendancies to fall into 3 category of sheep. Some sheep, usually the stronger ones, would fight their way into the middle of the flock for saftey, but could risk the chance of not finding any food there. Some sheep would have strong leader tendancies and bring the other sheep to more grazing fields. And some sheep naturally just naturally raomed away from the flock. These sheep will continue these tendencies from lambhood until they are adult sheep.

So the shephard always had to be on the lookout for the roaming sheep not to get to far, because they would, in fact, roam until they are lost. This is all information that was common in those days. Jesus doesn't say here that the shephard gets fed up with the sheep when it gets lost, He rejoices. I was one of those sheep that roams. I've always been good at roaming. I used to drive around and try to get lost, just to see if I could really get lost. Its intersting for me to look back and see all the times in my life where Jesus found me and led me back, and how quickly I'd wonder off again.

But heres the difference between us and sheep. Between you and sheep. Sheep are always going to be either leaders, roamers, or flockers. Jesus has made me new. I am no longer a the roaming sheep I once was. Jesus has turned me into a leader. He didn't get fed up with me everytime I left the herd, never left me behind, every time he found me.

Now for the second, well...first part. In order to be made new, I had to make a decision. I couldn't change on my own. But I had to ask Christ to make me new. Change who I am. Now that was stepping out on a limb for me. I had roamed a lot at that point in my life. I had roamed so much that I had different names in the different places I went. Guess what happened....God gave me a new name...Peter. In order to take that huge jump, I had to become like a child. I had to believe that this fantasy Jesus was real. I had to humble my proud, worldly self. I had to assume for a little while that I didn't know everything about everything. That was hard. Thats what it takes.

Kids don't question whether santa claus is real, or the easter bunny....they get presents from santa and candy from the easter bunny, thats all they need. For a kid to believe in Jesus it comes so naturally. We were born with the desire to be intimate. Not just with each other, or with our parents, but with God himself too. So for a child to believe in Jesus its just as easy for him to believe in santa. Children can see the fruits of the spirit better than we can. Children never try to justify what God does. Children don't blame God for bad things in their lives.Ever ask a 4 year old in sunday school why God created the earth?





"because he loves me"