[Jesus said]: "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is great than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand. The Father and I are one." [John 10:27-30]
When you know you are held safely in the grip of the shepherd's hand, you don't have to try to stop being a sheep. You can be who and what you are without any need to look "tough" or "intimidating," and you don't have to pretend to have spikes or stingers or sharp teeth or venom. You can be OK with being a lamb--in fact, you can know you are beloved as you are--when you know you are in the care of a good shepherd.
I want us to just sit with that thought for a moment, because it runs pretty well against the grain of what our wider culture says to us. So many of the voices around us seem bent on telling us that we are currently inadequate in our present existence, and that we must do something, be something, wear something, or most often buy something (which they, conveniently, are selling!) in order to make ourselves acceptable. And quite often even religious voices (or maybe, especially the voices of Respectable Religion, honestly!) do the same while claiming the heft of God's authority: that you are not acceptable or acceptable to God unless you... and then there's some list of actions, prayers, words, or spiritual experience you have to have had to make yourself somehow worthy. We are constantly being told in some way or another that we cannot rest in our being acceptable and accepted already. But then along comes Jesus, who speaks about us as his sheep without needing us to become some more impressive-looking, awe-inspiring creatures. Jesus doesn't need us to be anything more, less, or other than his own sheep, so we can stop pretending. And we can stop listening to the external (and maybe internal) voices telling us we have to be something other than we are.
In particular, being sheep means a certain unavoidable vulnerability. Domesticated sheep typically wouldn't have had the big horns of wild rams (it's not good for the health of the flock to have your own sheep butting heads with one another), and pretty much that leaves them unarmed. Or rather, they discover that all the protection they need comes from the shepherd. When you are a lamb guarded by a good shepherd, the shepherd's presence is enough to keep you safe. The shepherd's promise to put his own life between the danger and you is sufficient to calm your fears. And that means you can own your own sheepiness. You don't have to try to be as ferocious as a lion, as voracious as a bear, as sly as a fox, or as shrewd as a serpent. You can be comfortable in your own wool, without shame and without embarrassment, because you know your needs are taken care of and that you are safely in the hands of the shepherd who is pledged not to let anything snatch you from his grasp.
Moving beyond this barnyard/pastoral metaphor, what does it mean for us to "own our sheepiness"? Well, for one, I think it means that Jesus' people don't have to pretend, apologize, or downplay our calling to be people of peace in a warmongering world, or to be people of compassion in a culture obsessed with looking "tough." We can be decent in indecent times, and we can be vulnerable rather than defensive and mean.
I read a news story not long ago--maybe you did too--where a prominent leader in a particular American denomination was lamenting how many pastors he knew who had been criticized by church members for reciting Jesus' own words, like in the Beatitudes, about God's blessing on the merciful, the peacemakers, the meek, and the ones who were hungry for justice. When the pastors would say, "But these are literally the words of Jesus!" the congregation members would say, "But that stuff doesn't work for our times anymore--we can't look like we are weak! We can't be called losers! We can't forgive or not try to get even!" These are the times we live in, such that even in congregations of folks who would all swear they are "Bible-believing Christians" it's easy to fall for the lie that we have to make ourselves look "tough" or like "winners" rather than being sheep in the care of a Good Shepherd. The insecure need (and that's really what it is: insecurity) to need to project "strength" or "power" or to intimidate or dominate is so strong these days that folks who say they have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior don't want to actually listen to him when he tells us to practice the vulnerable virtues of mercy, peacemaking, and meekness. Even in church culture it sounds preposterous to own our sheepiness; we'd all rather pretend to be wolves and lions than trust the Shepherd to be enough for us.
Taking Jesus seriously, though, means trusting that the grip of his love on us will be more than enough to preserve our lives. Trusting Jesus' promise that nothing can pull us from his hand means daring to believe that we can be sheep, rather than trying to be something scarier or angrier. And letting Jesus' love hold onto us will mean we find the courage to be our vulnerable selves rather than putting up defense mechanisms to keep people out.
People who can own their sheepiness are brave enough to be peacemakers. People who are secure enough in their identity belonging to the shepherd can be merciful rather than vengeful. People who know that nothing can snatch them from God's hand are people who don't have to project a fake image of being "winners" (whatever that nonsense means), but can rest secure in knowing that God loves us even if everybody else calls us "losers."
That's what we're freed for when we take Jesus' promise seriously. That's what happens when we let ourselves be the sheep who are already in the Shepherd's hands.
Lord Jesus, hold onto us and don't let go... so that we can be the peaceable people you have gathered us to be.
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