This comes from Ann Barnhardt, until
recent market corruption caused her to abandon her business, a commodities
broker in livestock, using her degree in animal husbandry:--
"Long story short: When a shepherd
would go out and search for a lost sheep that had wandered off, when he found
the lost lamb, he would BREAK OR DISLOCATE ITS LEG, and then carry it back to
the flock on his shoulders. This husbandry technique is called "hobbling."
We have all seen that image. Yeah. He wasn't carrying it because it was fun. He
was carrying the lamb because he had intentionally crippled it.
"Why? Why break the animal's leg?
First, to keep it from wandering off again. Second, in order to train it to
stay with the flock. While the leg was mending, the lamb would NOT wander off
and learned to stay with the fold. This was done not just to protect the
straying lamb, but also to protect the rest of the flock. Sheep are very
gregarious. If one is heady and heads off on some tangent, the rest of the
flock might go after it instead of staying with the shepherd.
"You know, KINDA LIKE PEOPLE.
"In terms of the actual breaking of
the leg, you might be thinking that a broken leg would kill an animal or be massively
cruel. You would be wrong. The folks who taught me the cattle business used to
herd and drive wild animals like elk and reindeer up on the tundras of Canada.
One time they came across a large herd of elk and one of the animals had a
totally fractured hind leg. The bone was totally severed and the leg was
flopping completely free as the animal ran with the herd on three legs. When
they came back to that herd a few weeks later, they spotted the animal, and its
leg was almost fully healed. It had a slight deformity, but it was running on
the broken leg. The point is that animals have a massive pain tolerance such
that their perception of pain is fundamentally different than that of human
pain. Additionally, they have a capacity for physical healing that humans
likewise do not have. An untreated compound fracture in a human leg would kill
the human. But animals are different, so the shepherding technique of breaking
or dislocating the leg of a straying lamb would have been standard operating
procedure.
"I looked this up, and sure enough,
up until just within the last century, people understood the symbolism of the
Good Shepherd fairly widely, as many people were still involved in animal
agriculture on roughly the same technological level as that of 2000 years ago.
The Church, and thus the people understood that if God gently guides you back
to the fold, but you keep persistently wandering off and being disobedient to
God's perfect will, endangering not only yourself but the rest of the flock as
well, JESUS WILL PROVERBIALLY BREAK YOUR LEG, hoist you on His shoulders and
haul you back to the flock. The alternative would be to let you get eaten by
the wolves, and entice the wolves to attack the rest of the flock.
"When Jesus says, 'I am the Good
Shepherd,' He MEANS IT. CRACK!
"Finally, this also illuminates the
prophecy in Numbers 9:12 that the Passover Lamb shall not have any of its bones
broken:
"'They shall not leave any thing thereof until morning, nor
break a bone thereof, they shall observe all the ceremonies of the phase'
--Numbers 9:12.
"This was specifically emphasized by
John in his Gospel:
"'For these things were done, that the scripture might be
fulfilled: You shall not break a bone of Him' --John 19:36.
"Jesus is the Lamb of God (Agnus
Dei), slain for the sins of the world (Qui tollis peccata mundi). He was slain
without any of His bones being broken because He is the perfect Lamb, in
perfect union with the Will of the Father, Who never, ever strayed, and thus
His bones, in particular His legs, were not broken."
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It is easy to imagine that the "God's Love Is Unconditional" group will be shocked, confused, and offended by this insight, if they read it at all.
Ann is not a Latter-day Saint so her doctrinal insights are less than perfect. But her glimpse into the nature and total loyalty of the Good Shepherd is instructive for us here.
When Nephi said that "the Lord God . . . doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world" (2 Nephi 26:23--4), I think most of us would see that in a sentimental light, that Jesus is totally supportive of the self-esteem of His children and would not do anything to offend or to hurt them.
But our theme here today brings three passages from Paul to the Hebrew Saints into sharp relief:
1) "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
2) "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
"For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." A scourge, of course, is a whip used to inflict pain. The Lord Jesus was scourged by the specially trained Roman Praetorian guards prior to His crucifixion. See Romans 8:17 for the implications of this stunning point.
And the third Hebrews passage: 3) "For our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 10:31; 12:5--6; and 12:29).
We largely rely on a sentimentalized view of our Savior, the Good Shepherd, our Redeemer. This view prevents us from coming to know Him. We see only the meek and mild Lamb. But He is also the Shepherd. And He takes both roles seriously so as to not leave undone any part of the Father's plan for our safety and salvation.
The Prophet taught that a correct idea of God's character and attributes is essentially necessary in order for any rational being to exercise faith in Him unto life and salvation. We harbor many false or misleading notions that we have heard from the world, from the philosophies of men. The seriousness of Jesus' loyalty and discipleship to His Father is an example for our own loyalty and valiant discipleship. And we must expect to be chastened on the way, for we are not yet as He would have us become. Our submission shows Him that we would be like Him. There is no other way.
Steve
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