Isaiah 53:6. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.
Today we go from the mighty and powerful eagle (or vulture) to one of the weakest and most defenseless animals on earth – the sheep.
Sheep are one of the most important animals in all the Bible. Sheep were “clean” animals that the Israelites were allowed to eat, but also to sacrifice to God for their sins. When the Israelites were rescued out of Egypt at the Exodus, they sacrificed and ate a lamb (a young sheep) on that Passover night. Throughout their history, the Israelites offered sheep to God in worship. Knowing how much God wanted his people to use sheep as a sacrifice might make us think that calling us sheep is a compliment.
It’s not.
Yes, sheep were “clean” animals before God, but they are also known for being completely helpless and even foolish.
Sheep can’t find their own food. Their Shepherd has to lead them to new pastures of grass or else sheep will just start eating dirt and mud.
Without a shepherd sheep WILL be killed. They aren’t fast enough to run from wolves or lions. They don’t have fangs or claws for fighting. What do sheep do when they are attacked by a wild animal? They flock together and run around in circles hoping the predator will eat someone else.
Sheep can’t find their way home if they get lost. Unlike the dove (day 4) or even the dog (day 16), both of which could find their way home from thousands of miles away, if a sheep gets lost, it is lost until the shepherd finds it.
Sheep are not known for their high intelligence. In Turkey (the country not the animal), a large flock of sheep followed each other over a cliff and they all died. Their shepherds had left the sheep to go to breakfast and that day 1,500 sheep went astray to their death.
We need advent, we need Christmas, because we are sheep. Sheep who go astray. Sheep who are defenseless against Satan and his temptations. Sheep who will wander off into selfishness and pride. Sheep who have no idea how to feed ourselves or find our way back home to God.
That’s why Jesus came, to be our sheep that is sacrificed for us – Yet the Lord laid on him (Jesus) the sins of us all. Jesus the great Shepherd came to us to be a sheep so that we could be sheep that become shepherds. Jesus came to us as a baby, weak and helpless, guided by God all the way to the cross where he was even more weak and helpless. Why? To be our “clean” sacrifice.
Now, because of his resurrection, Jesus is our Shepherd, protecting us, feeding us, guiding us through life. And we can help others follow Jesus too as his mini-shepherds pointing other sheep to him.
Questions: How does knowing that you are a sheep help you understand how much you need Jesus? How can you be a sheep-shepherd that also points others to Jesus?
TLICfamily 