The following story comes from Sheila Walsh, a conservative Christian writer. I picked up this quote from her from Facebook. It reminded me of an encounter I had with a Mexican shepherd many years ago in a bar in rural Colorado. I could not tell the man's age because he was so weathered, but he was much older---and much wiser---than I was. He told me a story of having had to wrap himself in a bloody and dirty sheep skin on the prairie late at night in order to save a lamb. I don't remember if he was successful or not, but I remember that he wept as he told the story.
Sheila Walsh is intending to tell a story of Jesus and saving grace, and I think that she does this well. But as I think about the Mexican shepherd in the bar and this story I also think about how the Shepherd Jesus uses disguises and human beings to do the work of salvation, and I am reminded that there are saints in this world who step in and give. I am also reminded that the story holds up if we take the parable or simile out of it. Animals are also the work of God's hands and have souls.
Sheila Walsh wrote:
Every once in a while, a ewe will give birth to a lamb and reject it. There are many reasons she may do this. If the lamb is returned to the ewe, the mother may even kick the poor animal away. Once a ewe rejects one of her lambs, she will never change her mind.
These little lambs will hang their heads so low that it looks like something is wrong with its neck. Their spirit is broken. These lambs are called “bummer lambs.”
Unless the shepherd intervenes, that lamb will die, rejected and alone. So, do you know what the shepherd does? He takes that rejected little one into his home, hand-feeds it and keep it warm by the fire. He will wrap it up with blankets and hold it to his chest so the bummer can hear his heartbeat.
Once the lamb is strong enough, the shepherd will place it back in the field with the rest of the flock. But that sheep never forgets how the shepherd cared for him when his mother rejected him. When the shepherd calls for the flock, guess who runs to him first? That is right, the bummer sheep. He knows his voice intimately. It is not that the bummer lamb is loved more, it just knows intimately the one who loves it. It's not that it is loved more, it just has experienced that love one on one.
So many of us are bummer lambs, rejected and broken. But Jesus is the good Shepherd. He cares for our every need and holds us close to His heart so we can hear His heart beat. We may be broken but we are deeply loved by the Shepherd.
-Sheila Walsh, "Loved back to life"
