Perhaps you have read in John 10:1313The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. (John 10:13) the words, “The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep.” Do you know what a hireling is? It is a person who is hired to do a job. He is only interested in getting the job done so he can have his pay. The story of Robin and his sheep will help you to understand this.
If you had been in Scotland many years ago, you might have seen Robin coming down the hillside with a flock of 274 sheep. He had carefully counted them, because it was his job to bring them across the river in the ferryboat and to deliver them to the new master who had bought them. Robin’s job of keeping all the sheep together was made much easier by his clever sheep dog “Wully.” Wully brought all the straggler sheep back in line.
It was morning when they reached the town beside the river where the ferryboat made its daily crossing to the other side and back again. Robin, Wully and the sheep had been on the road a couple of hours already, but the business of the town was just beginning. The factory chimneys had just begun to pour out their billows of black smoke which settled over the town like thunderclouds. The poor sheep were terrified of the smoke, and they ran off in 274 different directions to get away from it.
Robin did not know the verse in Isa. 53:66All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6) which says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.” God says that we are just like those foolish sheep who ran off. Each one of us has gone astray; each one of us had decided to do what we want. And it’s because we are sinners. And sinners make wrong choices.
What did Robin do after the sheep all ran off? Remember that he was a hireling who was being paid to take the sheep across on the ferryboat, but the sheep did not belong to him. Robin found a comfortable spot to sit down and said, “Wully, go find them.” Wully set off at once, and since he was a very smart dog, he soon had rounded up all the sheep, while Robin sat knitting himself a sock.
Can you see how different this is from the Good Shepherd about whom we read in John 10? The Good Shepherd Himself goes after that which is lost until He finds it. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. He knows each sheep by its name, not by a number that changes each time it is counted.
When the sheep were gathered together Robin counted them... 273. “Wully,” he said, “there’s one missing.” And off went the dog to find the one lost sheep, while Robin sat down again and went back to his knitting.
Robin had not even bothered to count the sheep twice to make sure he had counted correctly. Along came a schoolboy and counted the sheep again for him. “They’re all here,” the boy said. “There are 274.” But Wully was still off searching for a lost sheep.
That number was important to Robin, but not names. If he had the right number he would get his pay, and that is all that mattered. But the Lord Jesus, that Good Shepherd of the sheep, calls every one of His own sheep by name and leads them Himself. You are important to Him and so is your name. You do not need to try to scrape up some importance for your name here. You do not need to have your name written at the top of the list. If you are one of the Lord’s own sheep for whom He died on the cross, then you may be sure that your name is written in the most important place — in the Lamb’s book of life, and it will never be erased.
At that moment the whistle of the ferryboat blew its warning, and Robin did not check the schoolboy’s number again. Somehow he was able to herd the whole flock onto the boat, and off they all went across the river.
The hireling received his pay for the job, and Wully never saw his master again. Kind people must have watched and perhaps fed Wully, because they said that for years the poor dog waited at the wharf and checked every passenger each time the ferryboat made its landing. But Robin never returned.
This is not like the loving Master whom we serve. Some of us are gladly serving the Lord Jesus with the ability that He gives us, and we have His loving promise, “I will NEVER leave thee nor forsake thee,” and “Where I am, there shall also My servant be.”
Will you trust this wonderful Saviour, this great Good Shepherd, this wonderful Master? We have God’s Word and the proof in our own hearts that He will never fail to keep the smallest of His promises, or the biggest!
ML-08/13/1989