Text Box:           The same word is used in today’s reading in Revelation, and in the reading in John. The word is “surrounded.”  In John, Jesus is surrounded by the Jews.  That’s probably shorthand for the Jewish leaders.  They surrounded Jesus to trap him.  They want to trap him in some questions, so they surround him so that he can’t get away from them and has to answer their questions.  Their whole goal is to catch Jesus in something he says.  In the Revelation passage, there is a completely different scene, using the very same word.  In Revelation Jesus is surrounded by the angels and the elders and the four living creatures.  They don’t surround Jesus to trap him, but to praise him.  And what glorious praise they raise:  “Truly blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever.”  (12)            We delight to praise God, too.  We have this wonderful relationship with God.  It’s a Shepherd/sheep relationship.  The Lord is my shepherd, I will lack nothing.  As the shepherd makes sure his sheep are cared for, our Good Shepherd cares for us.  He leads us in green pastures, beside still waters.  So he provides food and water for us.  He refreshes us.  He restores my soul.  How peaceful!  What an idyllic picture.            How I love the picture of Jesus holding the little lamb.  What a picture of love, what a picture of peace, what a picture of contentment.  Don’t you love it?  Well, not everyone loves that.  We don’t always appreciate being treated like sheep.  I’m not some soft woolly creature who has to be cuddled.  I can stand on my own two feet, I don’t need a shepherd to care for me.            Unfortunately, whether we like it or not, we are defenseless sheep.  There are wolves that prowl.  In Acts 20:29 we hear Paul tell the people, “I know that after I leave fierce wolves will enter among you and they will not spare the flock.”  As much as we like to think of ourselves as independent, without any need for help, if we go it on our own, we leave ourselves wide open to the wolves.  It may look like we’re making it on our own. But the Good Shepherd is caring for us, providing for us, protecting us.  We can’t make it alone.            For many of us, we have no problem being God’s sheep.  We love the Lord.  We’re thankful that he cares for us.  We want to stay close to our Good Shepherd.  God leads us into green pastures.  We enjoy what he provides for us.  But we’re eating grass and come right up to the line God told us not to cross.  Just past this line, there is such beautiful green grass, really nice looking grass.  We eat right up to the line.  Every once in a while just a blade of grass from the other side gets pulled up with some of the grass on this side of the line.  God can’t really blame us for that, can he?  It’s just a little bit, anyway.  After a few blades of grass are accidentally taken, we think, what difference does it make if we stand on this side of the line, but just eat a little from the other side of the line.  You can see where this is going.  After a while, by degrees we have wandered far away from our Good Shepherd, and far away from his love, his care and his protection.            The story is told of a flock of wild ducks that were flying in formation heading south for the winter. They formed a beautiful “V” in the sky and were admired by the people below.  One day Dandy, one of the wild ducks in the formation, spotted something on the ground that raised his curiosity. It was a barnyard with a flock of tame ducks. They were waddling around the barnyard quacking merrily and eating lush corn right off the ground.            Dandy liked what he saw and thought. “It sure would be nice to have some of that corn without all this flying around.” So after thinking it over Dandy left the formation of wild ducks and headed for the barnyard.  He landed among the tame ducks and started eating the lush corn and waddling around quacking merrily. The formation of wild ducks continued their journey south but Dandy didn't care. He thought to himself, “I'll rejoin them when they come back this way in a few months.”            Several months went by and Dandy looked up and spotted the flock of wild ducks in formation heading due north. The “V” formation looked beautiful way up there and Dandy Duck was tired of the barn yard routine. He longed for the freedom of the formation.  Eagerly he thought, “It's time to leave and join up with all my friends.” So Dandy flapped his wings furiously but was unable to get airborne. He had become complacent in the barnyard where everything was done for him --- he gained weight from the lush corn and did not have the strength in his wings to take off.  Dandy tried and he tried. He flapped his wings as hard as he could and finally got off the ground --- he was flying too low and slammed right into the side of the barn. He fell to the ground with a thud. He thought to himself, “Next year --- I'll just wait until they come back and fly south in a few months. Then I'll be stronger and trimmer and I’ll fly up to meet them and become a wild duck once again.”           Months passed and when the “V” formation of the flock flew overhead Dandy heard his friends call to him. Once more Dandy Duck simply didn't have the strength to join his friends. Every fall and spring he watched as his friends flew over head. His friends would call out from the “V” formation but Dandy just couldn’t get off the ground.  Eventually Dandy no longer paid any attention to the wild duck “V” formation flying overhead. No longer did his friends call out to him as they passed because Dandy had after all become a barnyard duck.           Dandy got caught exploring “greener grass” on the other side of the fence. He thought he would just "check out the other world" for a while and then leave when he was ready. But he couldn't do it. He was trapped.  Sin is a trap like that. Sin has a way of changing me into someone I don't want to be. Eventually I lose touch with who I really am: Jesus’ little lamb.  That’s when I become just another ordinary barnyard duck in this world.           This would be really sad if this is where it all ended.  But our Lord doesn't leave us there.  To go back to our Lord’s image, our dear Good Shepherd has loved us so much that he did something dramatic.  The Shepherd became a Lamb.  He became one of us.  He became a lamb, so that he could sacrifice himself for us.  He became a Lamb so that we can be washed clean in his blood.  Remember how Revelation 7:14 says, “These are the ones who have... washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  Jesus, the Lamb slain for us, makes us completely clean through his blood.            The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep.  Our Good Shepherd became a Lamb for the very purpose of laying down his life for us, his sheep.  He became a Lamb so that he could defend us against the wolves, against Satan and the rest of the devils who would love to tear us limb from limb.  Our Good Shepherd loves us so much, that he became a Lamb to rescue us wandering sheep.  The Good Shepherd became a Lamb.  That’s a beautiful picture of God’s love.   

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