We live in a rural part of southern England and many of the fields near us are full of sheep.

One day earlier this year we found three lost-looking sheep wandering aimlessly across the back lawn. The hens we keep honked furiously at the surprise intruders; the sheep glared back at them balefully.

Naturally we phoned the farmer and he came and took the animals away. When you live among sheep you quickly discover how obtuse they can be. Wikipedia claims that “if worked with patiently, sheep may learn their names: and that “some sheep have apparently shown problem-solving abilities.”

However it then admits that this statement “relies on anecdotal accounts,” which sounds like a convenient get-out clause to me. Certainly if I see some sheep either working on Rubik’s Cubes or answering to specific names I will let you know.

All in all, I think we understand that when Mark reports Jesus regarding the crowds rushing to him as “being like sheep without a shepherd” he is not being particularly flattering. So here are three surprising things we learn from that imagery which Jesus applies to us.

Read the article “Jesus Gives Us What We Actually Need, Not What We Think We Need” on christiantoday.com.