There are more than 600 references to sheep in the Bible. Many of the references compare humans to sheep. Have you ever wondered why? If you do some study on sheep, you will see why. We are just like them.

One of the interesting things I have learned about sheep is that if they get on their backs they can die. Sheep can rarely turn themselves right-side up. Left for long in that position, they will simply die.

People are like that. When they get down from illness, marital problems, financial problems, or any of the thousands of things that affect daily living, they often can’t recover without some help. It’s also true when we get down because we are consumed by sin.

Sadly, sheep are also content to be dirty and smell bad. They make no effort to take a bath. They are content with the circumstances in which they find themselves. This sounds like some people we come in contact with today. They are content to be physically dirty and stink, and some are spiritually dirty and stink. Neither one  seems to want to change the circumstances.

Sheep have eyes on the sides of their head. They don’t see what is right in front of them We are much like sheep in this respect. We don’t see danger when it is right in front of us. Though warning signs are there, we ignore them and travel headlong into danger. Jesus warns of those who will pretend to be shepherds but are really thieves and robbers. Even with this warning, we are led astray by false doctrines and are tempted by worldly things.

John 10:1-18 is a type of parable, spoken by Jesus to the Pharisees. These Pharisees claimed to be perfect guides of the people of God, the Jews. They could recite the law, and they held the people to strict customs that were laws of their own making. The people were heading right through dangerous territory without looking where they were headed.

Any good shepherd will protect his sheep at all costs. They may be dirty, blind, or on their back, but a good shepherd will react to whatever their needs may be. Jesus is our shepherd. He did lay down His life for the sheep. Five times in John 10, Jesus mentions laying down His life for His sheep. It was important for the Jews, and it is important for us to know that our shepherd has sacrificed His life for us.

When a sheep wanders away, the shepherd doesn’t just leave him to die. Instead, he makes every effort to find that lost sheep and restore it to the fold. Jesus does the same for the spiritually lost sheep. “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? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:12-14 ESV).

Could it be that we simply do not want to submit to the authority of the Shepherd? Though we are called sheep, we have at least two ways in which we are different from sheep. The first is that we have an attitude. We don’t like to be told what to do, how to live, when to worship, how to worship, and that we should love our enemies. Then there is that list of works of the flesh that we don’t want avoid. Sheep have no attitude. They willfully follow the shepherd wherever he leads them. Humans do have an attitude, and it is often an attitude of willfulness.

The second way in which we are different is pride. Our pride won’t allow us to be the kind of “sheep” we need to be. The wise man, Solomon, said, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Being filled with pride will simply cause us to fail to see the danger right in front of us and be hurled over the nearest spiritual cliff to destruction.

King David summed up the relationship between the sheep and the shepherd in Psalm 23. He acknowledges that the Lord is our shepherd; in that relationship, we will not want for anything. He will keep us safe, restore us when we need it, and lead us through all the ways of righteousness. Even in death, He will walk with us and comfort us. Goodness and mercy will be there for us, and we will dwell with Him forever.

Following the Shepherd is our salvation. If we go astray, we need to let the Shepherd lead us back to the fold. Only then will we find safety.

Sandra Oliver