Shearing of the sheep

On the Saturday before our convention at Quakertown, the sheep shearer came to remove the wool from the small flock there. A week later, a worker described the shearing process in the night meeting. This is the account of what was said, plus a few of my own observations and connections.

The sheep's wool was filthy. They truly were woolly beasts. Their filth was easily transmitted to any who came in contact with them, too. A week or so before the shearing, my son climbed into the pen with them. He needed to round up some males to send to the butcher. After twenty minutes or so of chasing and wrestling with them, he was almost as dirty as they were.

Finally, the day came when the shearer showed up to relieve them of their load of wool and the accumulated dirt from the last year. He was very comfortable with the sheep and seemed to know exactly how to manipulate them. One by one, he grabbed the sheep by their wool with one hand and their ear with the other. With this grip, he guided them to the spot where they were to be sheared. Then he slipped a hand into their mouth, near the back of their jaw where they have no lower teeth. With this grip, he was able to turn their head around and force them to gently lie down and roll over on their backs, legs akimbo. "Some people just throw them down, " he said, "but this doesn't hurt them and when they reach this position, they usually stop struggling and give up." Indeed, lying on their back with their head resting against him, they seemed to be in complete submission.

They all seemed okay with this except the ram. Rambo was struggling to breath. He wasn't enjoying his haircut. The shearing man explained that a sheep can die in this position if they are too upset. The ram found this submission more than he could take. He was in the position, but it was a struggle for him. The man rolled him around a bit and found a better position for him. His breathing slowed and he finally relaxed.

When it was all done and over with, the dirty, filthy animals that were gone and they were unrecognizable. In their place was white and clean animals.

Moral of the story

• The wool represents our sin. Our sins are not self contained, but the odor of them is repulsive and rubs off on any who we make contact with through our spirit and example.
• God needs our ear to guide us to a place where we can submit. By ear, I mean we need to hear/read his word.
  
• After he has us in place, we have heard/read his word, he can turn our heads/minds so that we can enter into submission. He could throw us down. He could break our will, but our shearer is one who cares about us and wants to guide us into submission.
• When we find ourselves in the position of submission, but chaffing at it, God can make it easier for us. He can turn us again so that we can breath easily in his will.
• Submission requires trust. Once submitted, we have to trust in God to protect us, not to harm us as he removes our "personality of sin."
• When the shearing is completed, we won't be the same person we were before. We will be clean and unrecognizable from what we were before.