We the Sheep

In those strange days before the stay at home order went into effect there was a sense of quickening in the air, a tension, like a guitar string wound too tightly and ready to break. My wife and I walked around a store, passing people who had to peer around stacks of toilet paper to steer their shopping cart. And it felt like everyone was just shy of breaking into a run, ready for anything, fight or flight operating just under the surface but with no one to fight and nowhere to run.

I doubt I’ve seen such evident desperation so inexpertly disguised.

In Mark 6 there’s a moment when there are so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples can’t even get a word together. They sit down to a meal and never have a chance to take a bite.

They try and sneak away, escaping into a boat. Jesus and his disciples head for a place where they can be alone for awhile.

But the crowds anticipate the move. It says they ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.

These people ran, they ran miles , a huge move of them, hiking up their robes and circling round the Sea of Galilee to get to where they thought Jesus might be next. They were desperate.

Jesus steps out of the boat, sees the huge crowd, and the bible says: he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

IMG_0621.jpg

Sheep without a shepherd are aimless. They wander. They run. And they’re always on guard, watchful, afraid.

More than ever before, I understand this phrase. This week I watched a man wander up and down a grocery aisle and then finally come to a stop. He didn’t even appear to be looking for anything; he just looked lost, confused, aimless. I passed a woman, and in the moment her eyes met mine over the mask she as wearing, I saw fear.

Are we like sheep without a shepherd? The crowds in Mark were shepherdless, but they also did something lost sheep almost never do: they ran toward the shepherd. They ran toward Jesus. They ran toward the one who could calm their fears, stop their wandering, and satisfy their desperation.

Where will we run?

IMG_0623.jpg

Comments

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Feel free to reach out if there's anything you need.

    NICK BENOIT © 2024. All Rights Reserved.