This Sunday is Good Shepherd
Sunday. It is also Vocation Sunday.
Being a deacon, I know a
little about vocation. But to be honest, I don’t know much about sheep. My
family raised cattle.
Many years ago my
grandfather brought home a full bred Hereford bull calf for my grandmother. In
a romantic way only country folks could appreciate, He named it after her. It
grew into a 2000 lb. bull named Daisy.
When he brought it home, it
was orphaned, abandoned calf - so small. It was not weaned, my grandmother
bottle fed it. It loved my grandmother. It followed her around like an
overgrown puppy, even as a grown bull. It would come when she call.
When it was time to feed
the cattle, she would yell, D-a-i-s-y!! And, it would come running. But it
would not be the first in the line of cattle. That big bull was not the lead
cow.
The lead cow was an old
black and brown cow with one horn that came down across it face and one curving
the same way over the top of her head. She would come running. After her would
be the bull and all other cows running to follow the lead cow.
They would only come
running when my grandmother called for them.
We tend to be like these
cows or sheep.
Sheep live a flock
mentality - for protection, for comfort, and for blending-in. Cows live in a
herd mentality. Sheep don’t want to stand out in a crowd. Cattle always follow the lead cow. Ain’t that just like us?
Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
The
sheep know the Shepherd’s voice.
Sheep and cows both can
fall to the temptation of a greener pasture or cooler water. Chasing temptation
one sheep or the lead cow will change direction and the rest follow for
protection, comfort, and blending-in.
We’re just like that.
Temptation catches an eye of someone influential and we follow. The temptation
of greener grass, new things to explore, or something pleasurable leads many astray
and it becomes the popular.
Temptation pulls us from
the shepherd and all he offers. We become lost.
There are three sources of
temptation: the world, the flesh, and the devil. But, we don’t recognize
temptation. We are intelligent educated beings. We make mature informed
decisions, like:
- Like eating tide pods….
- Like our life choices, life styles, and life decisions….
Adam and Eve made an
informed decision. Judas Iscariot made an informed decision. Pontius Pilate
made an informed decision.
Information found in the
empty promises of the world, desires of the flesh, and the lies of the devil. Lies we are too weak to resist.
We don’t have the strength
of Jesus. That’s why he is the Good Shepherd. His flock is built around him. He
will not abandon us. He keeps us together, on the right path, in the right
pasture, and in his protection. We know his voice and presence.
Even though we want Jesus
so much, like sheep we still wander away in the temptation of sin and become
lost. Or like cattle, we can follow the wrong lead cow. We go astray.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
He says I know mine and mine know me. His
life was our salvation, so that we would know him. Jesus is the cornerstone on which out salvation
is achieved. He gave his life for our salvation so that we know him. So we will
follow where he leads.
No matter how lost, how
tempted, or how much we have strayed: deep inside, we still know his voice. We
still know he is our salvation. Everyone who believes in him has forgiveness
of sins through his name.
On this vocation Sunday, (take
this in the best way) pray for more good lead cows that run to the master voice
and bring us with them.
Pray for those called to a
religious life. Pray for vocations where more hear the master voice and run to
it. Pray that the rest of the flock or the heard will follow them.
Be good, be holy, and be a
lead cow running to the master voice, preaching the gospel by the way you live
and love. Amen.
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