Stinky Sheep

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I feel like a stinky sheep.  My mind is blank, my spirit dry, and I’m late submitting this blog. Yes, I feel like a stinky sheep. Baa.

In times like these I’m reminded of the Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:1-17). A shepherdess leaves ninety-nine of her flock in search of the one that was lost.  Finding it, she lifts the bleating lamb over her shoulders and carries it back to town, inviting friends and neighbors to join in her jubilation! (Jesus was addressing this parable to a group of men so, naturally, he used a male shepherd in the metaphor. He just as easily could have referred to a shepherdess, to someone like Rachel, Leah, or Rebekah or many other women of that time who were shepherdesses. But I digress.)

A shepherdess or shepherd holding a sheep close to the body risks rubbing her or his scent onto the sheep, which could lead to rejection by the rest of the flock. We can rejoice in the truth that Jesus the Good Shepherd never rejects anyone. Rather, he marks us with the holy scent of Love forever.

I am a stinky sheep. So are you. How are we being invited to rub off on one another, to be Jesus to each other?

Kathy Flynn, OP

Sinsinawa, WI

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