<html><body>Part 2<div><br></div><div>Bob</div><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> The problem was, as anyone could see, the shepherds – not just those who were caretakers of the animals while they were out in the fields, although they weren’t completely blameless either; the problem was that those who had responsibility to ensure that the sheep had food, and drink, and a safe pace to bed down for the night, and a reasonable amount of shelter from the wind and the rain; these people cared nothing for the sheep if it threatened their own way of life. They collected sheep as a hobby. They made sure that they themselves were living in as close to the lap of luxury as they could. They wanted access to all the proper medical treatment; they wanted cable TV, and a good phone land-line and a secure WiFi network … well, actually, they simply wanted the best food, the best drink, the best vacations, the easiest means of communication with their friends and relatives. I mean, look at Herod: access to the leading Romans in the territory, music and dancing whenever he wanted it, horses, chariots; oh, and a palace of incredible proportions at Masada where he could catch the breeze in summer to eat the stifling heat. And if this meant that some of the sheep had to be run off on to different, scrubby, almost barren areas of the hillsides; if this meant that he lost sheep because no one cared enough about their safety; if this meant that Herod and those in charge only focussed beyond their noses when they were counting what was in their wallets; what was the big deal. You could always breed a few more sheep.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> But the sheep, thundered Jeremiah, the sheep are the people of God. It doesn’t even matter whether or not they were <b><u>YOUR</u></b> sheep, they <b><u>HAD</u></b> to be cared for, completely, whether they acted, as one translation of the twenty-third psalm puts it, “perversely and foolishly”. The behaviour of the sheep, in this instance, had absolutely <b><u>NOTHING</u></b> to do with what bothered God. In many cases, they didn’t know which side was up and if a shepherd took them to the edge of a cliff, or some other life-endangering situation, they might well jump off. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> How Jesus must have sighed. If only the shepherds, and the owners, and all the folk who had the means to make sure that the sheep were well-cared for had actually done the job for which they’d been taught for almost two thousand years, then Jesus job would have been much simpler.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> And so would ours.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> But Jesus inherited a mess. The sheep <b><u>STILL</u></b> didn’t know which side was up. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Dick Reid can correct me on this, I’m sure – and I don’t know if sheep are counted large or small animals. I suspect that they’re large. But “<span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">To recognize clinical signs of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt none windowtext;">diseases</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>common to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="padding: 0in; border: 1pt none windowtext;">sheep</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and goats, it is important to be familiar with what is normal. </span>Producers should assess the herd or flock’s general health on a regular basis, including vital signs, body condition, and coat.” <sup>1</sup><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> I won’t ask Dick to get up and take a look around to see what’s what, but you get the picture,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> You, I, those whom we can’t see but who are walking past this building at this instant, folk in hospital beds, people trying to get sleep but can’t for whatever reason: the health of every one of us was Jesus’ job in His day, and is ours today.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> The thing that hold me back, though; the things that I hope troubles me and troubles you, is that I, and you, and countless others who <b><u>COULD</u></b> make a difference, often are reluctant to look around <b><u>REALLY</u></b> to see what is happening; who is hurting; who is in danger; who is being threatened or deprived of necessities. We have a pretty fair idea of what is normal in human life. We even talk about such conditions when we read the Declaration of Independence and see the words “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. <sup>2</sup> And we think of what this entails so that our neighbours, and our families, and the sheep in the next county and state, and those across the world may have caregivers who are sensitive and appropriate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> But think again of what Jesus saw. The people were confused; they were neglected; they were abused; they were threatened; that had no hope beyond the certainty that they would die. And the problem that Jesus created was that He said that the people, <b><u>EVERYONE</u></b> had the right from God to expect more than that.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> And <b><u>THAT’S</u></b> what got Him the death threats. That’s what took Him to the Cross. That’s what caused those soldiers and the rabble to be more interested in what they could get for Jesus’ clothes than what was happening to His Body, never mind His Mind. Although He may not have realised it at the time, the only thing about Jesus that was safe was His soul, and even that was troubled because of the failure of the shepherds.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> And what of us? We’re troubled – no doubt about that. There are all sorts of things that press on us, that occupy our minds and our energy. Among the first thing that gnaws at le is that I don’t want to end up on a cross too. No one <b><u>COURTS</u></b> crucifixion, however it’s carried out in 2016. But it still happens – to us, to my friends whom I described at the beginning, to all sorts of people who <b><u>WON’T</u></b> abandon even one sheep, but will ensure its safety, its health, if reminder that it is precious and is loved without reservation – like that one man hanging at Jesus’ side who, in desperation after everything seemed to have gone wrong; that one man who may simply have stolen in order to feed his family and fallen foul of the Roman authorities, we don’t know; that one man who in desperate loneliness turned to Jesus and said, simply, “Help me, please!”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> And that is the call for which <b><u>WE</u></b> must be looking and listening. Who is calling for help? Who seeks to come before the Judge of all, to ask for forgiveness. To say that she or he has tried to listen, to look, to be compassionate, to keep the other sheep safe.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> As terrifying as it is, Jesus is not Judge until He has been threatened, and brutalised by society and authority, and been killed. And it <b><u>MAY </u></b>be, it just may be, that we are called to follow in the same way. I pray that there may be no crosses. Serious crosses, anyway, for you, and for me. But Jesus didn’t give any guarantees.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Oh, and I’m sure that Dick would be happy to check you out as you leave this morning. He’s kind of a gatekeeper – not to keep you out, but to make sure that you ex[erience the greatest pleasure in our Judge’s company!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">NOTES:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">[1]</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/as/as-595-commondiseases.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 181);">Common Diseases and Health Problems in Sheep and Goats</span></a> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(14, 119, 68);"><a href="https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/as/as-595-commondiseases.pdf">https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/as/as-595-commondiseases.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">2</span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_Liberty_and_the_pursuit_of_Happiness"><span style="color: rgb(102, 0, 153); text-decoration: none;">Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness - Wikipedia</span></a> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 102, 33); font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_Liberty_and_the_pursuit_of_Happiness">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_Liberty_and_the_pursuit_of_Happiness</a></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></h3><h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h3><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Bulletin illustrations at<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">“</span></i><i><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Soldiers at the Crucifixion”,</span></i><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> detail, Andrea Mategna, 1431-1506, </span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">San Zeno Maggiore Church, Verona, Italy,</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> from</span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <b>Art in the Christian Tradition</b></span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46161">http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46161</a></span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-size: 9.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></h3><h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">and<o:p></o:p></span></h3><h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></h3><h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Christ in Judgment”</span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"> by Fernando Gallego, ca. 1440-ca. 1507, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-processquery.pl?SID=20161113738708496&code=act&code=act&SubjectBuildingName=Museo+del+Prado&SortOrder=Title&=phrase" title="Find other items with the SubjectBuildingName of Museo del Prado"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Museo del Prado</span></a>, Madrid,<span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"> from<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></span><strong><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-weight: normal;">Art in the Christian Tradition</span></strong><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=47430"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=47430</span></a></span></h3></div></body></html>