Sermon Sampler (May 3rd) - Why Sheep?

My grandfather has a favorite story that involves church, Catholics, and them all being sheep. For background purposes, my grandfather is Protestant, his father is Protestant, and his father before him was "invited" to leave Ireland for being Protestant. My grandmother is Catholic. Being such a "good" Protestant, my grandfather naturally only ever went to church when he went to Mass with my grandmother. On one occassion, while attending an Catholic Mass with my grandmother, my grandfather decided to stand up. The people around him, uncertain of what to do, also stood up. Within moments, the entire congregation was standing for no reason other than that my grandfather decided to put his sheep theory to the test!

My grandpa loves to tell this story, and it always ends with him laughing at how all Catholics are nothing more than sheep, willing to blindly follow the priest/pope no matter what. Truth be told, Jesus said we are all sheep (see John 10:11-18) and that he is the "Good Shepherd". Now at first such a statement doesn't seem to be too offensive, until one begins to learn more about sheep. For instance, sheep are not known for being the smartest animals, as a matter of fact, they kind of have a reputation for being fairly stupid. This appearance of stupidity, comes from the naturally strong flock mentality present in sheep. This means that they are drawn together, and that once in a group they are seemingly very content to stop thinking on their own, but rather go with the flow. All of a sudden, being labeled as "sheep" isn't so flattering. As unflattering as this comparison may be, one need only observe a group of people for a short time to find that we too have a strong "flock mentality" that often gives us the appearance of not being the sharpest tools in the shed. The following short story from my own past, illustrates this truth quite well.

Out with several friends, at a local grocery store, someone got the bright idea to take a piece of candy out of the bulk candy bins and eat it. What was good for one of us, seemed like a good idea for the rest of us, and before anyone thought about what was going on, there were six teenage boys stealing candy from the local Topps in Owego. When one of us got caught red-handed, the rest of us scattered (only to be rounded up soon after). To make a long story short, the six of us ended up chipping in to buy 30+lbs of lemon jelly beans! An action that would have seemed outrageous to any one of us, if we were alone, seemed completely reasonable (even a good idea) once we were in a group. Truly individual persons are smart, but a group of people often act dumb.

This story is by no means the exception, but rather quite telling of humanity's willingness to follow one another's lead without fully thinking things through (also known as the flock mentality). This is why Jesus' self-identification as the "Good Shepherd" is so important. As the Good Shepherd he is responsible for leading us, and because of who he is, Jesus leads us in right paths.

As people who often act like sheep, the reality is we are going to follow someone or something, the question is will we be lead by the Good Shepherd or by the flock? The flock mentality says our time is our own, yet our Good Shepherd calls on us to give it to others. The flock mentality says times are tough, we've got to save every penny, but our Good Shepherd encourages generosity and giving to those whose times are tougher yet. The flock mentality says food should be hoarded because you never know, but our Good Shepherd leads us to give to local food pantries, because some have no food to hoard. The flock mentality leads us astray, down paths that lead to selfishness and loneliness. The Good Shepherd leads us down paths that lead to community and self-giving. Who will you be following, the Good Shepherd or the flock?

Grace & Peace,
Pastor John