The Goats at the Left

Now it's time to put the kaboose on the train and end this trilogy of livestock/scripture evaluation. I appreciate the patience and dedication of whomever has read all of my posts on this issue. Again, I am not claiming to have a doctorate of theology or to have an expert opinion. I am, however, attempting to fulfill the requests of some friends who wanted to hear what I have to say on these scriptures based upon my meditations and experience with sheep and goats.

So at this point, Jesus has separated the sheep from the goats. The main difference I have seen between the 'sheep' and the 'goats' is that Jesus praised the sheep for their faithfulness before they had a chance to claim it. The goats, on the other hand, boldly asserted their innocence when Jesus condemns them. Jesus tells them that they ignored the needs of the lowliest and did not obey the teachings and instructions he left behind for them to follow. They say," Lord, when and how have we failed you?" Essentially, Jesus replies that if they cannot see how they failed, then they must never have known him. Obviously, they never recognized the calling on their life and never understood what Jesus taught. What can be discerned from this is that (at the most basic level), the goats never knew the shepherd. If they had known him, they would have known what to do and it would have been their natural impulse to obey. There was no intimacy. At this point, people sometimes divide in doctrine. Some say,"Once saved, always saved." Others say,"You can lose your salvation easily because of free choice." Some people say that the people whom Jesus is referring to never heard the truth in the first place, so never had a chance to reject it. For sake of unity of the spirit, I'm not going to touch on any of these points.

What I see is that in this 'herd' , Jesus has called forth his sheep and goats. It doesn't appear to me that the sheep are tame and the goats are feral...both call him 'Lord' and both are required to live up to the same standard of holiness. When the goats are called on the floor to give an account of what they did with their time, they are concerned with 'covering their butts'. They become defensive, but in the process reveal that they had no idea who the savior (shepherd) was in the first place. Chances are, they were following the wrong shepherd all along. As I see it, the sheep are the beloved bride of Christ who serves without even knowing she is serving. As I see it, the goats are almost like the wavering hearts of adulterous Israel. Israel had a lengthy history of erecting an altar to the Lord next to an altar for a pagan deity. This seems especially 'goatish' to me, because a goat has no preference for his leader. A goat will not follow unless he feels like it. There is one instance in which you will ALWAYS get a goat to follow you--if you have a bucket of grain. A goat's god is his stomach. A sheep will follow his shepherd with a bucket of grain, but is wary of a stranger with the same goodies. A goat doesn't care.

Now I will try to list some characteristics of goats that would make for a very bad Christian, or (if you wish) a person who has deceived himself into believing he is a Christian:

1) Goats are obsessed with 'position' and 'hierarchy'
The natural order of goats is like a totem pole. In a herd or flock, there is the 'head doe' and all others will vie for the next position until you get to the bottom. The head doe doesn't need to fight for her place because she already has it and everybody is afraid to challenge her. Her natural succession after herself will be her daughters. Beyond that, it is a bitter and constant fight involving butting and biting. When food is involved, the 'least of these' will indeed remain so.

2) The male is no covering for the flock
A male goat is called a buck. During breeding season, he shows an interest in the does, but is indifferent at all other times. He is not protective of them and will attack a doe (even pregnant ones or one that he was just breeding 5 minutes earlier) if the issue of food or safety is involved. He is interested only in himself.

3) Goats are extremely independent
A goat (as I said earlier) cannot be led if he doesn't want to be. I have had many, many goats that would either lay down or plant their feet when I tried to lead them by a rope. Some would rather die of asphyxiation than yield to the master. Now, this isn't to say that goats won't develop an affection for you and even follow you, but mind, it's because they want to. Trying to herd them is much like the old adage of 'herding cats'.

In all of this, know that I like my sheep and goats for different reasons. Sheep or goats alike would make poor humans, and I think God knows this. This is why he chose humans to be humans, right? Sheep make the best sheep around and nothing beats a goat for a goat. As a Daughter of God, though, and a Child of the Most High, I must be careful to 1)be devoted to my shepherd, 2) not be contentious, and 3) to be easily led. I must be oh so careful to 1) never try to engage in a power struggle with anyone, 2) submit to godly leaders and be a decent covering of anyone beneath me, and 3) to never think that I could do things better than the shepherd trying to lead me. I long to stand before my Maker one day and to be on his right hand and to hear how I've pleased Him. I will say to my Lord,"Oh, how I love you", and that's it. No excuses, no regrets, no defense. I want to be a sheep so busy following my shepherd and trusting Him, that contention, selfishness, and independence never even occur to me.

The Sheep at the Right

Wow, this is a hot topic. I've gotten some feedback and I feel compelled to continue this blogging until I'm done.

Let me just tell you something first off about farming...it's a lot more separation than you might think. First, when God formed the world, everything was together. There was no separation between 'wild' and 'domestic'. After man sinned and fell, he began to have to labor for his food and thusly began agriculture. I don't know what the first domesticated animal was, but let's just assume it's sheep since we know that Adam's son, Abel was obviously the caretaker of them. So now, we have a shepherd, and he's separated his sheep from the sheep of the wild. He now controls the genetic lineage of this particular strain of sheep. He has called out a family of sheep from it's wild ancestors that roamed on rocks and simply followed it's God given instincts. Now, let's assume that about the same time, man domesticated some goats. Let's say he found some great goats and separated them from the wild goats in the wilderness and he controls now this strain of goat genetics and they are 'his'. He can easily farm these two animals together. Their basic and nutritional needs are extremely similar. These animals, kept together, are his flock. There is only at one point that they need to be separated, and that is at breeding time. Why? Well, because a ram will try to breed a female goat in heat. God laid down specific laws about crossing animals throughout the Old Testament. He considered it an impurity and forbade cross-breeding. If a ram breeds a goat, what you get is called a 'geep'. It is a cursed animal and is likely to die at birth (which is why you might have never heard of it). Anyway, that is the time for separation within the flock from the separation from the wild.

Now, the sheep in the passage from the previous blog (Matthew 25:31-46) are rewarded with the glory of heaven and the favor of the Son of God. They tended to the needs of the lowly. This is actually(to me) not the most remarkable part of the passage. To me, the greatest and most beautiful thing is that they almost didn't seem to know they were doing it! When Jesus told them all that he noticed them doing, they were puzzled. They were simply about the business of loving their savior. When somebody has an intimate relationship with Jesus, love is more natural than nature itself. There is no striving to impress.

Now, I will try to tell you what I have observed about sheep:

1) Sheep develop a true love for their shepherd.

Many times, I have visited another person's flock of sheep and heard a shepherd softly call to his sheep and the sheep come. One man I knew would gently just mutter,"Here, sheep. Here, sheep." Another man actually called his sheep "babies", and they came. When I buy a new sheep, it takes me months if not years for it to get used to me because it was so used to it's old shepherd.

2) Sheep are not contentious

When I feed my animals, the only ones who do not fight for their share are the sheep. Especially my ewes will go to where the food is, but they will not push another ewe aside for her share. When it is time for resting or birthing or anything, a ewe will tend her own spot and not vie for another sheep's position. The only 'fighting' animal in a flock of sheep is often the ram. However, a ram doesn't attack his own ewes, he will attack a person or dog or whatever that he feels threatens the well-being of his ewes.

3) Sheep are easily guided

When you need to round up your animals, it helps to have animals that flock together and move as a unit and move precisely where you want them to go. Sheep do this. They do not need to be prodded to go where you need them. I've never had to shove one or even touch one to get it to go where I need it to go. My husband can guide them where he wants them to go at night simply with a flashlight, because they run from the illuminated spot. Bullying a sheep by shoving will not get it to go where you want it to, it will only succeed in terrifying it and making it want to flee from you for the rest of its life.

Tending sheep is only successfully done by people who will handle them with lots of patience (because they are dumb and fearful) and those who move slowly and softly. My Savior is the Good Shepherd and he tends perfectly. If things startle me, it wasn't him. If something attacks me, it wasn't him. He has separated me from the wilds of the world and called me his own. He tended me on green pastures and then sent me back out into the world as a sheep among wolves; but He comes with me. I was separated from the world to be taught how to be in it. Now I am to call to the wild sheep to come to the Shepherd as I have; to call them from the Wilderness and into the Fold. I trust my shepherd to not let my enemies overcome me. Wolves prowl and smell my flesh and long to pounce. If I flee from my shepherd, they will surely overtake me. Softly, he speaks to me, softly he says,"Here, sheep" and I follow.

There is much more about sheep that I'm sure I could share and much much more that I'm sure I still do not know. If God has revealed anything to you, feel free to share.

Blessed Sheep and Damned Goats?

I've had many, many, many people approach me with a certain verse once they find out that I raise both sheep and goats. The verse that they come to me with is Matthew 25:31-46. Okay, so it isn't one verse, it's many. Many people have been almost angry at this passage because it favors sheep and basically damns goats. Since goats are just a little easier to love, it's confusing for people. My 'concise' answer to people who question me on this is that goats would make bad Christians. However, I'm blogging here to try to expound instead of shortcutting my way through explanations forever. Of course, we must keep in mind that it's metaphorical and referring to people and not literal sheep and goats.

Matthew 25:31-46 says," When the Son of Man comes in his glory, accompanied by all the angels, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates sheep from goats. The 'sheep' he will place at his right hand and the 'goats' at his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you made me your guest, I needed clothes and you provided them, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the people who have done what God wants will reply,' Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you our guest, or needing clothes and provide them? When did we see you sick or in prison, and visit you?' The King will say to them,' Yes! I tell you that whenever you did these things for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did them for me!' Then he will also speak to those on his left, saying,'Get away from me, you who are cursed! Go off into the fire prepared for the Adversary and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave me no food, thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, a stranger and you did not welcome me, needing clothes and you did not give them to me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they too will reply,'Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, a stranger, needing clothes, sick or in prison, and not take care of you?' And he will answer them,'Yes! I tell you that whenever you refused to do it for the least important of these people, you refused to do it for me!' They will go off to eternal punishment, but those who have done what God wants will go to eternal life."

Let me just say now, that these reflections are how I understand things and I don't claim to know it all. Mostly, I want to share this these thoughts with all of my friends because this is a passage that I believe all of us would do well to meditate upon. Thinking of eternity is healthy. In future posts, I'm going to talk specifically about why Jesus calls his true followers the sheep and the false 'followers' goats. In this post, I'm just going to open this can of worms and let them wiggle a little bit. Obviously, Jesus has called forth ALL of his followers to him for judgement.These are all creatures that have acknowleged Jesus as 'Lord' in some way because that is what they call him. However, the 'sheep' Christians are those who had spent their lives serving others and obeying the precepts that Jesus taught while here on earth. The 'goat' Christians are those who called Jesus their Lord but didn't obey and were obviously ignoring the needs of those around them. I'm going to split up the next two blogs into "The Sheep on the Right" and "The Goats on the Left". I will talk about how sheep have certain characteristics that Christ needs in our hearts and goats have certain characteristics that would indeed make for a bad Christian! Hope you'll have the patience to follow because I've done a lot of study and meditation on this topic!!

Bouncing Dams

I haven't had to do it this year, but it's always something looming over my head as kidding season approaches. Have you ever bounced a dam? Probably not. What is dam bouncing, you are probably asking? It's something you do when you don't know what's going on....

A dam is simply a mom goat. When a goat gives birth to multiples, they should be in a somewhat rapid succession. When you don't know if she's done or not, you have to bounce her. You oh so gently (hopefully, she won't understand what you're up to ) wrap your arms around her middle and squeeze, hard, in an upward motion. By now, she knows what you're up to and she hates you for it; but hopefully you've figured out if there's another baby in there or not. If there is, you'll feel a large, hard lump in there when you squeeze.

Here's the other thing: even after you've bounced your dam, if she's got a baby in her and is having a hard time, it's up to you to get the thing out! Here's where I go into the house, wash really good (trim my nails if there's any more than the slightest stub) and march back into the barn with a determined attitude. If I'm smart, I've brought a latex glove because things are about to get sloppy. By now, momma goat is eyeing me warily and takes a few steps away. Usually, we have a large and furry audience blocking her, so she doesn't get very far. Anyway, once I wrestle her back to the ground, I wait for a contraction and reach inside. As has always been my luck, I feel legs. Once I have two that seem to match, I can guide them out the birth canal. I can't forget to feel for the face, though. If I leave the head turned backward, baby will either stay stuck or break it's neck. I know it's still alive when it bites my finger; somehow baby always resents my involvement. Probably he's cranky from the 'squish and squeeze' that's been going on for a few hours.

All but one time, I've had luck guiding the kid out from here. There was a time that I had a kid get REALLY stuck. I had the lack of foresight to breed a first time mom to my largest buck, and even though the kid was all lined up to come out of the birth canal, he wouldn't. Feet were out, nose was out...baby wouldn't budge. What do you do now? Improvise. I grabbed a rope and tied it around the kid's exposed feet and pulled. Nothing happened. I guided gently downward and PULLED! Nothing happened. At this point, I figured I was about to turn momma inside out with one more tug, so I backed up and thought. This time, I grabbed the feet and twisted, then pulled. He must have had a stuck shoulder or something, because with the turning motion, he came out.

Why do I tell this story? Well, because I think God bounces dams. I think I'm a person with a life inside of me that needs to come out and add to the life around me. I think God takes the unpleasant task of approaching me in my pain to squeeze and test to see what I've got inside. I think he will humble himself to reach inside of me and patiently work with me. Even if I eye him down with lack of trust and lack of confidence, he will accomplish what he came to do. I am His and His will be done. In my agony, he will reach inside of me and battle what stubbornly holds onto my insides. If it needs to come out, my good God will see it done. I thank my Good God for bouncing me.