If there is one thing I have learned about sheep, it’s that they will travel. In the mornings, we open the pasture gate, and they go down towards the river, or around the ponds to graze. Usually. For some unknown reason, once in a while, they like to stray. They will make the half mile journey to our shop area. This was one of those days.
Thankfully, because they know me, it is usually easy for me to “call them up” if needed. They know that I am there protector in times of trouble, the one who feeds them when they are hungry, and the one who provides comfort when they are sick. When they hear my voice, they come.
In Biblical times, when shepherds went into a town, they had their flocks with them. There were large pens, and the shepherds would drop their flocks off, while they visited in town. There could be hundreds (maybe thousands) of sheep in these pens. However, when the shepherd came back to the pen where he left his sheep, he would call out to them, and they would come find him. They knew the voice of their Shepherd.
Jesus is referring to this in John 10:4-5 (KJV):
4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
Matthew 9:36 (NIV) had this to say about Jesus:
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Just as I was able to gather these sheep and guide them back to safety, Jesus does the same for his followers. Without the Good Shepherd, we are at the mercy of the world, with no protection, guidance or comfort in our times of trouble.
Our Shepherd is calling.
Will you follow him?