While listening to a talk in church this morning, I was reminded of the parable of the sheep and the Good Shepherd. The parable used sheep to represent those who believe in and follow Christ or the Good Shepherd. There is no question that Christ was (is) a Good Shepherd and there are those who, like sheep, based on the nature of sheep, are led or herded more easily than are many other of His followers. In those cases, the scriptural story or analogy is appropriate and true and may be representative of the ideal for the many who seek to enter into His rest (gain eternal life). I hope to express this thought in such a way as to not offend any of those sheep represented in the parable and most importantly not the Good Shepherd.
There is another way a person could look at the parable, that is to consider why sheep were used as the example. Sheep are generally more docile than are other domesticated animals but they (sheep) are not primarily raised for human consumption as are many of the other domesticated animals. In reality, sheep are a much more valuable breed of animal. Their coats are sheared for their wool once every year and many valuable things are created and made out of that wool. To mention a few: fine warm clothing of all kinds, expensive and finely woven drapes and carpets, etc. The sheep are sheared annually and the shearing does not diminish their value. They just start the process of regrowing their woolly fur coats to be sheared again the next year. There are many primitive societies, even in this day and age, who are totally dependent on their sheep for survival. They are their industry.
The purpose of this thought is not to be contrary but rather to see the parable from another angle. Yes, we may believe, in the Good Shepherd but as individuals we may not feel comfortable being compared to sheep who may follow the shepherd somewhat like sheep do. Too! Our value as humans is not in the annual shearing of our valuable wool, we do not have any! Our value is in the fact that we are the spiritual children of our Heavenly Father and followers of the Christ from whose image, we were created. Unlike sheep we do not follow the Shepherd because He feeds us and protects us from wild and hungry wolves or from thieves who break through and steal from the fold. We have agency and we can choose to follow the Shepherd because we believe and have faith in Him. With that agency, we also have the option to go a different direction. Sheep following the Good Shepherd is the ideal but as long as we are agents living in a diverse world – the ideal is like many other ideals (nice but not too often reached). We were literally created as His spirit children, meaning we look like Him and have a similar purpose for being here on this earth. Learning that purpose may be the greatest challenge we have. Man is a little lower than are the Angels, our goal and purpose is to learn the plan (The Plan of Salvation) and to live obediently to it. If we are successful, one day we can become exalted and live where Christ and our Father live.
Being compared to sheep is an appropriate comparison, in the sense that we follow the Master because we know him. To ‘follow’ should be, and is, our choice. That choice, to follow, increases as we study and strengthen our spiritual testimony of the one we are following.