Sheep

Tend my sheep..

John 21:16

Most of us don't know much about sheep these days. Here in Japan you rarely see one, & in big cities in England the situation isn't much different. But I'm a Sussex lad. Outside the town of Worthing where I went to High school, are green hills full of sheep.

Sheep is a common insult these days, thrown at anyone seen as too trusting of an authority figure, whether it be the media, a political party or the Church itself. So what did Jesus mean by it?

Here, He not using it as an insult. Rather, He is encouraging St Peter to focus on caring in a pastoral way for the early Church. Which Peter does. Catholics believe the Pope is the direct successor to St Peter. Those of us in other Protestant or Orthodox churches may not be quite so trusting of Papal authority, but we still see Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Basically, my position is, if you think you aren't a sheep, and the Church are the bad guys, you are probably in Satan's pen, & he is probably fattening you up for slaughter.