John 21:16 Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

!!!!!!! NEWS FLASH !!!!!!!

What kind of questions does this raise in your mind?

"Is this for real?" "How could and why would all these sheep jump off a cliff?" "What made them do it?" "Where were the shepherds?" "Did they all die?"

Questions, questions, questions. Yes, this account is for real reported all over the world in recent days. Here in our prosperous and ultra busy America we read about the sheep and go on as if it's really no big deal - and - it isn't to us, but to the poor families that owned the sheep it was a great financial loss. We may even get a little critical and say, "If these sheep were so precious, why didn't the shepherd's watch them better?" In all reality, the shepherd's were off 'having breakfast'....left the herd...' to graze while they had breakfast..' so the news account states.

Now, no one is faulting the shepherd's for eating, they were hungry-everyone gets hungry, everyone has a right to eat!

All the sheep did not die - only about 450 - the rest fell on top of the others and thus were saved by the pile under them!

One of the members of the families said in essence - there was nothing they could do....."They, ( the sheep) were all wasted!"

The article describes the reaction of the shepherds by saying they were, "Stunned....."

Somehow - it seems these shepherd's may have been a bit careless...If they knew sheep at all....that they wander off...and have a tendency to NOT be very alert, why did the shepherds not place themselves between the sheep and the cliff that represented danger if the sheep were capable of jumping off a nearby cliff as they ended up doing?

Were the shepherds careless? Were they ignorant of the behavior and characteristics of sheep? Were they new at shepherding? Just what was their problem?

Really it does not matter now what their problem was - the 450 sheep are dead....and the shepherds are wondering how this all happened so fast and they were......'stunned'.

What made these particular sheep run off the side of a cliff? No one has brought this question up per the news report, we can speculate all day long. If we were to quess, given some knowledge of sheep behavior, we would have to say something came into their grazing zone and they 'reacted'.

Are sheep dumb? Not really, they do what sheep are suppose to do, not as we do or as a dog does or a horse would do. So dumb in relation to what?

It's a fact sheep can not take care of themselves as well as having a shepherd watch over them.

Trained shepherds are gentle with their sheep and know not to make sudden, irratic moves or loud noises. They will talk to the sheep not yell at them.

Shepherds know to lead sheep - not drive them.

Jesus instructed Peter in our passage of scripture to, "..........take care of

my sheep."

Many times in scripture Jesus referred to His followers as sheep...

Sheep need special care....one cannot take care of a sheep the same way one takes care of a dog or a cow. It seems sheep need preventative care actions such as should have taken place in our news flash account.

How many 'shepherds' of Jesus' sheep are taking preventative action to protect the sheep?

Placing themselves between the dangerous cliff and the herd of sheep? How many are off ..."Eating breakfast?" and will be 'stunned' when the sheep take off - after being startled by something or someone and plung head long to their death?

Shepherds.....those in the position of taking care of the sheep....have a grave.....grave responsibility.

But......how many are off eating breakfast - although it may be a legitimate activity....instead of tending the sheep properly?

We see sheep getting into 'death' situations everyday.....Shepherds are handling the sheep carelessly. Leaving them on their own....feeding the sheep once or twice a week and that sometimes with a 'borrowed' sermon or an 'outdated' sermon, therefore not taking care that a Word from the Lord to His people is current for their particular situation.

I thank the Lord I have had some wonderful - caring - loving shepherd's in my life as a Christian. I never expected them to 'hold' my hand every minute of the day or be there to consult about every little decision I made, but they were there with genuine concern when something would come up that they were needed. They faithfully expounded the truth and held nothing back because they feared God more than man or repercussions from church board members.

They were not in the ministry as shepherds for the money, but willingly gave what they had to a needy person and lived in various houses that God provided but never having owned one themselves. There never was a message printed in the bulletin that read, "Please remember that your pastor is a family man too....only call after regular church hours in an emergency."

In a way this is fine, but what shepherd tends sheep only during business hours? And what shepherd would live in a multimillion dollar house while the sheep live in a pasture 'out there?'

What shepherd leaves his sheep for days and weeks periodically to 'undershepherds'(?) while they go off on vacation and after that a conference and after that and after that?

Once I even attended a church..... where the pastor 'shut down' the church the weekend of - 'hunting' season! No, after this incident God led me to another church.

How do you as a shepherd stack up? Or how does the shepherd of the flock you find yourself in - stack up?

Are they 'really' a shepherd doing what God expects of them and doing as well as what sheep do naturally?

Shepherds will give account for all the sheep in their charge not just some of them or the ones they like or the ones that don't stray.

Let's be a Shepherd watcher......and if you as a shepherd or the shepherd of the flock you find yourself in does not 'tend to the business of shepherding' properly......watch for the 'Chief Shepherd' is.......

1 Peter 5:2-4  "Tend the flock of God that is your charge, not by constraint but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly, not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd is manifested you will obtain the unfading crown of glory."

MKL

07-13-05