Greetings to you in the name of Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Why did Jesus call His people sheep? It is said that sheeps are those animals who do not think but blindly follow the lead of their Shepherd. So, does it mean Jesus wanted His followers to blindly follow Him?
Thank you Ms. Annet for these questions, and I would love to answer your questions using the scripture as I always do.
To answer questions as such, we first have to understand the context and the meaning of the words used by Jesus, also relating it with His other teachings and commandments!
So grab your Bible, a book and a pen because we have to do some serious reading and make some comparisons and observations while switching between passages from the Gospel accounts!
Now, we are going stick with “John 10” while keeping “Matthew 10:16” as a foundation verse and as we build up our study tower on “John 10”, we shall refer a few other passages and verses too.
The answer to the question of “Why” Jesus used the word sheep while addressing His followers is very simple. Let us not forget that Jesus was highly regarded as a ‘Rabbi’ (meaning – A Teacher), during Jesus’ earthly ministry,
Read –
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” – John 3:1-2
So while addressing His relationship with His followers or His diety, Lord Jesus often used metaphorical words, not just sheep, but also vine and branches, bread of life, living waters, door, light, salt, way, etc., in His teachings to help His audience understand His message, which sometimes they did and sometimes they didn’t !
Read –
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. – John 10:1-6
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” – Matthew 5:1
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” – John 14:6
“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” – John 9:5
Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” – John 10:24-30
Yes, sheeps don’t think but blindly follow, kind of true, But sheep does not follow the ones they dont trust enough unless oppressed. And we must note that, in all of Jesus’ time on earth, (i.e., His Birth, Life, Ministry, Death and Resurrection) never once it occured that Jesus oppressed anyone to follow Him, infact people were given a free choice to follow Him, meaning – Nobody was forced to follow Jesus, and could leave Him anytime they wish to!
Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” – John 6:60-69
And so in John 10, Jesus is seen explaining His leadership and His diety and His relationship to His followers and Jesus used a term to describe Himself first, and then His followers, which is, “I Am a GOOD SHEPHERD”, So if He is the Good Shepherd, what does that make His followers? – A sheep? Yes?
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. – John 10:9-11, 14
Now there are two points here –
Firstly, I know this could sound like a silly reasoning to anyone who is not a Christ-believer but let us consider that even if we are to follow Jesus blindly like a sheep, it wont be of harm because Jesus is a Good Shepherd and also “Jesus wants us to follow Him blindly” and I will explain what the statement highlighted in bold means, in a while, so stay with me!
Secondly, In John 10, Jesus mentions twice saying, “MY SHEEP hear my voice, I know them, they follow me!” and he mentions it twice to show that any sheep that is lead by other shepherds other than Him is not going to hear His voice and He does not know them! ( Here He is talking about ignorant people who are willfully standing away from Him)
Now let’s talk about the statement I mentioned in bold in the first point –
Yes, Jesus did want us to follow Him blindly – as in with complete faith and as a whole, just as He gave Himself completely and as a whole to us!
But not blindly – as in not knowing the truth! And we surely know that Jesus did not want us to blindly follow Him without knowing the truth because all 4 accounts of the Gospel shows us the truth of Jesus as He Himself revealed to us.
So, Jesus didn’t want to us follow Him blindly (not knowing the truth) but blindly (with complete faith and no doubts).
And also being a sheep doesn’t necessarily means following blindly. Being a sheep also symbolises other qualities like humbleness and obedient and innocence and trusting the shepherd more and “self denying” – which brings me to two important sections of the Bible that everybody ignores because it is a direct command of Jesus and very hard to keep up with –
“Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” – Luke 9:23
“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” – Matthew 10:38
‘God is always present’ but everytime you seek to know the truth and understand the reality it becomes difficult because in times like ‘you want to seek the truth and understand the reality’, devil comes into action because he wants to us to blindly believe his lies!
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. – 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
(Note – lower case g in god stands for devil and upper case G for God Almighty in the verse above.)
Ms. Annet, I believe that I was able help you understand why Jesus used the term “Sheep” to address His followers.
Also let me know if any of you have any questions or find something interesting during your Bible study.
God be with you all, Peace.
YEHOSHUA 
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