Most People Watching Viral Video of Sheep This Sunday Will Miss the Hidden Lesson About the Good Shepherd
Jesus told us he is the Good Shepherd, so we are his flock of smelly, stupid sheep.
Maybe that’s not exactly how Jesus meant it. But it’s clear after watching what happens to a stuck sheep that — as is always the case — our Lord couldn’t be more right.
A viral video that recently made the rounds on social media showed a boy working to free a sheep from a deep and narrow roadside trench.
The animal struggled in a panic as the boy pulled it by one leg until the sheep finally was freed.
Once liberated, it bounded forward in a handful of jubilant leaps, only to dive directly back into the ditch.
The video doesn’t show the rest of the story about this particular sheep, but Twitter user Victoriano Aizpurú said it all when he captioned the clip “Yo en la vida” or, “Me in life” in April 17.
Yo en la vida. pic.twitter.com/45QYhU670w
— Victoriano Aizpurú (@urupzia) April 17, 2021
For anyone striving to be a good Christian, this sentiment is all too relatable.
Jesus gave his ultimate sacrifice on Calvary over 2,000 years ago, enduring torture, humiliation, isolation and death for the sake of our sins.
As Jesus said in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
He did just that and left us his church and the Bible to help us abandon our selfish, sinful ways, to pick up our crosses and follow him daily.
Simple, right? Hardly.
So many of us are more like this sheep and its trench rather than like Jesus and his Cross.
So many of us fall into the same sin — repeatedly — and Jesus must drag our sorry souls back from the brink of damnation time after time.
In Luke 15:4-7, the Good Shepherd reminds us of what he’ll do for even the least of us lost sheep.
“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost!’
“I tell you that, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
Jesus patiently puts up with it because he is our shepherd, the one who will search in the darkest corners of our souls to find the one sliver left where he hasn’t been crowded out by depravity and vice.
He will rejoice with the angels over every sin repented and every sinner saved, regardless of how many times it takes us to get it right.
This Sunday, don’t miss the profound lessons hidden in this humorous clip.
No matter how many times we’re freed from the bottomless pit of sin, we’re a decision away from falling right back in — but our loving savior will always be there, ready to pull us back out.
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