I read a short blog the other day that has been stuck in my craw. The writer was attempting to encourage pastors with a list of quips concerning the ministry. One of those quips was, "Sheep bite; they just do." or something like that. Though I confess that I am unable now to find the blog to reference it, I was able, through a simple Google search, to find several Web sites that contain articles about sheep biting. The idea of course is that Christians, who are characterized as sheep in the Bible often hurt there pastor, who is characterized as their shepherd or one another.
This is interesting and I think
addresses a flaw in our definition of who exactly is a sheep. The fact is real
sheep do not bite. Their teeth and their palate is designed to graze and bite
off grass. They so not bite. Not one another; not their shepherd. This isn't to
say that sheep are perfect.
- They do wonder off
- They do get ill
but
- They don't bite
Sheep are a unique animal that
has no chain of authority. There is no alpha sheep in the flock. No one in a
flock of sheep is fighting to be lead. It is against their nature.
Dogs, or rather biblically,
wolves bite. They bite each other and they bite anything else in their way.
They are pack animals and the leader must always assert and defend his lead
because every other wolf in the pack is waiting for its chance to assert itself
and become lead.
All of this reflects on the current concept of what constitutes a Christian and what the role of the pastor is. Today's model sees anyone who attends church or makes any sort of profession of believing as a child of God. We view Christianity as a life choice today so anyone who chooses to may claim the status of "sheep." consequently a shepherd's job in today's Christianity has the role of coaxing as many self professed sheep as possible into choosing his flock and then managing those "sheep" well enough that they won't go looking for another shepherd and some other flock. The shepherd of this sort of flock, the contention is, must expect to get bitten once in a while. It is the nature of the sheep.
I have a different idea. It
sounds to me like that kind of shepherding isn't shepherding at all; I think
that's just managing a wolf pack. Anyone working with wolves of course has to
be careful of being bitten. That is not true of shepherds. Our trouble today is
that we accept that wolves are sheep just because the wolf says he is a sheep.
The Bible warns that wolves will enter among us. The Bible warns that there
will be many false professors. We would do best to remember that and warn those
who are prone to bite that they don't possess the character of their
profession.
Marvin McKenzie
In the fields
