Somewhere I read about a man who went to an auto auction. They were selling cars to benefit a certain charity. Vehicles in this auction were classified as either “Running” or “No Start.” On the auction block was a No Starter. It had a shattered windshield, two missing tires, a sagging front bumper, a cockeyed grill, a hood that was sprung up at an angle, and dings and dents all over the body.
Before he started the bidding, the auctioneer announced the car’s year, make and model. And then the auctioneer read the owner’s comments: “Please note,” the owner had added, “the radio does not work.” (1)
Well, there was a lot more wrong with that car than a broken radio.
Some people are like that car. They’re broken and they’re not even certain how they got that way.
It reminds me of the Lutheran pastor who always started each service by saying “The Lord be with you.”
The people would respond, “And also with you.”
But, one Sunday the PA system wasn’t working, so the first thing he said was “There’s something wrong with this microphone.”
The people responded, “And also with you.”
You and I know the truth. There’s something wrong with all of us.
In our lesson for the day Mark tells us, “The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’
“So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”
Sheep without a shepherd--what a descriptive term. That was Jesus’ reaction to the multitude who were seeking him. “He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”
Have you ever been saddened by the human condition? This is a wonderful world and each of us is happy to be alive, but have you ever been touched by what some writers have called the “pathos” of humanity? There is something sad and almost pathetic about human beings. For all of our pride, all of our knowledge, all of our sophistication, there are areas of our life in which we are so vulnerable, so uncertain, so insecure.
Middle-aged people, watching young people and remembering days gone by, say knowingly, “I wouldn’t be 13 again for anything in the world.” All of the struggles . . . all of the intense feelings . . . we envy their youth but not their situation. Probably we will sit around in heaven some day and say the same thing about our days on earth. “It was nice while it lasted, but I wouldn’t want to go back . . .”
The heartache of loving and losing . . . fears and insecurities about the future . . . aging and dying . . . the inability to get our act together . . . doing those things we know in our hearts we ought to do and leaving off those that are destructive to us . . . the difficulty in connecting our lives one to another.
I am certain that God sees our condition and has compassion, for we remind Him of sheep without a shepherd.
For example, sheep are particularly prone to wander. The shepherd has to be watchful whenever his sheep are in treacherous terrain, for they will invariably wander off and some of them will get into serious trouble.
I read something recently that caught my attention. It was about the Dead Sea Scrolls. You’ve heard of those ancient scrolls, haven’t you? The Dead Sea Scrolls is a large collection of manuscripts . . . many of them copies of Old Testament books . . . which date back to the first century. Before these scrolls were discovered the earliest Old Testament manuscripts could only be dated back to the 10th century. In Biblical scholarship terms it was a hugely significant find.
Do you know how they were found? In the mid 1930s a shepherd boy was looking for lost sheep in a valley near the Dead Sea. The valley wall had many caves and the boy was throwing rocks into the caves to scare out any sheep that were hiding. When he threw a stone into a certain cave he heard a pot smash. On investigation he found hundreds of sealed pots with manuscripts well preserved inside. They became known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. (2)
Isn’t that classic? A major archaeological find occurred because sheep are prone to wander off and get lost! Of course, sheep are not the only creatures of God that wander.
I read recently that, according to one reputable source, every day in America 2,300 people are reported missing! You heard it right: 2,300 people are reported missing in this land every day.
“Some are displaced by hurricanes and others are abducted by a distraught parent. An old man, his mind long gone, simply walks away, and teenagers, tired of abuse and chaos at home, flee for what they suppose will be a fresh start. Some people fake their death, and others are taken with criminal intent. There is a military category: missing in action.” (3)
That happens to far too many people: missing in action. “The Timothy Report” carried a story of one such young man. He was 19 years old when, without explanation, he disappeared into the woods in Maine. He lived alone for 27 years, living on what he could steal from camps in the area. People in the area had never seen him, and they weren’t even sure he existed, that he was only a legend. They called him “The North Pond Hermit.”
Now they know his name is Christopher Knight, and police estimated he committed more than 1000 burglaries. When he was arrested in April of 2013 after being caught on a surveillance camera, he spoke to a police officer, the first human being he had contact with since a brief hello to a hiker on a trail in the mid-1990s. (4)
What happened to Christopher Knight? Who knows? Maybe a mental condition, maybe he had become alienated from his family. We’re not told what led him to lose himself in the Maine woods.
Other people lose themselves in other ways. Some choose unsavory companions, some take up risky habits, like snorting cocaine or some other habit-forming substance. Some fall victims to violence. But some seem to just wander off, like sheep without a shepherd . . . perhaps looking for greener pastures. The interesting thing is that many of these people have no interest in returning home.
Sir Thomas Beecham, British conductor and impresario, was conducting a rehearsal of Handel’s Messiah. Beecham said to the choir, “When we sing ‘All we, like sheep, have gone astray,’ might we please have a little more regret and a little less satisfaction?” That’s how many lost sheep are today--little regret and totally satisfied.
God sees us as sheep without a shepherd. It saddens Him to see us flounder about with no sense of direction, no sense of purpose, no sense of hope. Sheep are prone to wander.
Sheep are also quite fragile. Sheep are naturally defenseless. They must be watched continually. They need protection at night. Predators continually try to infiltrate the flock to kill the sheep. Sheep are short sighted. They can only see 6 feet ahead.
“No matter how many times you bring wayward sheep back,” says one writer, “they are prone to wander off again because they can’t learn from their mistakes. That’s important because sheep are defenseless and dependent. They don’t have much of a bite . . . no natural defense--no claws, no horns, no fangs . . . not even a stink bag like a skunk. To make matters worse they are top-heavy and their legs are spindly. This makes them slow. Plus they have no camouflage, so when they are being chased by a wolf they are out of luck . . . unless there happens to be a store that sells racks and racks of wool sweaters nearby. Sheep are also susceptible to all kinds of diseases . . . they will eat too much if you let them and get sick. They are definitely not your king-of-the-forest types.
“And finally, sheep are easily frightened and confused. It doesn’t take much to scramble the simple mental yolk of a nervous sheep. They’ve even been known to plunge straight over the edge of a high precipice in a panic, one following right after another.” (5) Sheep are fragile and quite vulnerable--like many people.
We have heard much about sexual abuse over the past couple of years. It is about those who prey upon the vulnerable like wolves prey on sheep.
Laura Davis, who writes about sexual abuse, tells a story from her childhood. She recounts how at one time when she was a child there were many contractors around their house. There was one who tried to molest her. Fortunately for Laura, she told her mother. Her mother became furious. She went directly to the man and began hitting him with her broom. She ordered him from her house, and he was fired on the spot.
For Laura Davis, this was a defining moment (one which, sadly, a lot of victims do not have). Her mother’s anger had been the means of her protection. She felt loved and safe. She felt important because her mother had taken this kind of action.
In this case Laura’s mother was serving as a shepherd to her child. I wish every parent was that forceful when dealing with a predator. God is angry when anyone tries to harm one of His sheep in any way. (6)
That is why God sent Christ to be our shepherd. “I am the good shepherd,” Christ says in John 10:14. “I know my sheep and they know me.” This is the Good News for the day. The Creator-God not only looks upon His children with compassion, but He has moved into the world to redeem those who are lost--to become the Shepherd of the sheep. Even more that that, He became the lamb slain for the sins of the world.
In his book, A Turtle on the Fencepost, Allen C. Emery tells of the night he spent on the Texas plains with a shepherd who was keeping two thousand sheep. The shepherd prepared a bonfire for cooking supper and providing warmth. The sheep dogs lay down near the fire as the stars filled the sky.
Suddenly Emery heard the unmistakable wail of a coyote with an answering call from the other side of the range. The dogs weren’t patrolling at the moment, and the coyotes seemed to know it. Rising quickly, the shepherd tossed some logs on the fire.
When Emery looked out at the sheep he saw thousands of little lights. Emery writes, “I realized that these were reflections of the fire in the eyes of the sheep. In the midst of danger, the sheep were not looking out into the darkness, but were keeping their eyes set toward the shepherd.” (7)
That is what you and I need to do. Keep our eyes set to the shepherd.
In John 10:27 Jesus said that his sheep hear him and follow him and that he knows them. Those of us who live in the western world don’t have an accurate picture of what it means to be led like sheep. Western shepherds drive their sheep from behind the flock, often using dogs to bark at their heels. Eastern shepherds, like those in Bible times, lead their sheep from in front.
Author Neal Andersen tells about watching a shepherd lead his flock on a hillside outside Bethlehem during a visit to the Holy Land. The shepherd sat on a rock while the sheep grazed. After a time he stood up, said a few words to the sheep and walked away. The sheep followed him. It was fascinating! Andersen says the words of Jesus in John 10:27 suddenly took on new meaning: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (8)
So often in our modern world the noise of life muffles the Shepherd’s voice. But still the shepherd calls. He knows each of us by name and he cares for us as if there was no one else on earth to care for.
Jesus told a parable in Luke 15 about a shepherd who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. What does he do? He leaves the ninety-nine in the open country and goes after the lost sheep until he finds it. And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and heads toward home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” Then Jesus says, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
What we need to see is that Christ’s love is at the same time universal and highly individualized. The good shepherd loves all his sheep while at the same time he loves each individual sheep as if it were the only sheep in the world to love.
The point is that people often wander from the flock. But there is One who is our Good Shepherd--always seeking to rescue us and bring us back into the fold if we will allow Him to. A favorite hymn says it this way,
“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.” (9)
Are you feeling a little lost today? Maybe you feel more than a little lost. The Good Shepherd is here this day seeking to help you find your way. He wants to put you on his shoulders and take you once more to a safe place. Listen closely and you will hear him call your name. Amen.
1. Contributed. Source unknown.
2. The Rev. Dr. Dwight A. Moody, http://day1.org/4402-where_is_jesus.
3. Fadiman, Clifton. Bartlett’s Book of Anecdotes (Kindle Locations 1895-1897). Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.
4. http://www.timothyreport.com/.
5. Mark Adams, http://www.redlandbaptist.org/sermon/i-am-the-good-shepherd/.
6. Rodney L. Cooper, Holman New Testament Commentary--Mark: 2 (Kindle Edition).
7. http://www.jrtalks.com/2Corinth/2cor4v13to18.html.
8. Neil T. Anderson, Victory over the Darkness (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1990), pp. 103-104.
9. Hymn: “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Pastor and hymnist Robert Robinson penned these words at age 22 in the year 1757.