The Asses Tending the Flock

On my way home tonight, I drove past a field filled with goats and few sheep.

I don’t know how familiar you are with them, but sheep aren’t all that bright. In fact, they’re pretty stupid and they can smell pretty bad especially if you get them wet. They’re also pretty docile, and tend to go along faithfully to wherever the shepherd leads them.

Goats, on the other hand, are clever but destructive. They will chew up and destroy everything in their path without much thought. They’re smarter than is probably good for them, and can get into all kinds of mischief if they’re not protected from themselves.

Know what Texans use to protect flocks from the outside world that wants to devour them?

Jackasses.

They might look plodding, harmless, and kind of goofy, but I hear tell that they’re hell in a fight. They’re well known for stomping to death any  predators threatening their flocks.

Remember these guys the next time that you’re complaining about the guys our own shepherd has put in charge of his flock, and feel tempted, even for a moment, to call them…well…jackasses. It could be that you’re right.  That might be exactly who they are. It could be that our Popes have been as clever as a Texas farmer, and that those plodding, maddening, silly-looking  fellows are much more fearsome than you’d ever imagine they could be.

 

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  -Matthew 25:31-32