Living Among Wolves (Part II)

In my first post on this subject I discussed the outward characteristics of wolves. Wolves are predatory by nature and sheep are their prey. Those sheep who do not graze in the world as craftily as snakes meet the fate of perishing through their lack of knowledge. It is therefore important, as a sheep, to be on one's guard. This bears reminding since sheep can forget that not all are sheep - a fact that a wolf never loses sight of.

However, to leave the discussion merely at a description of the wolf nature and an admonishment to be wary misses another import aspect of this parable and therefore leaves the thought incomplete. That fact is this: all sheep were once wolves. Some wolves become sheep before they begin to hunt and others after they have slain a mighty throng. But all sheep were once wolves who through a mystery that angels long to peer into have become sheep: an experience which, like all births, is both painful and joyful.

Sheep therefore, in a sense, walk between two worlds. The first world is a prey-predator relationship where self-preservation, diligence, and caution are the driving motivations for action. The second world is another plane of relationship where compassion, pity, and sacrifice are the driving motivations for action. In the first one, a sheep flees from a wolf once recognized as such. In the second world, a sheep approaches the wolf with fear and trembling and bares its neck for the slaughter.

We are reminded to live in the first world by the proverbs, the psalms, the epistles of the apostles, and so on. We are reminded to live in the second when we see the Messiah break bread, declare it to be his body broken for his friends and then had it over to his betrayer whose feet he has just washed. So how do the sheep know which path to take when? Because the sheep hear and know the voice of the Shepard and where he leads they will follow, even where they do not wish to go.