Mother Sheep Sacrifices Her Life to Save Her Lamb from a Tiger
William Faulkner tells the story of a mother sheep who had warned her little ones, “Do not go near the river, for a bad tiger lives there, and he will kill and eat you.” One lamb kept toying with the thought that the grass near the river seemed to be greener than anywhere else and that his mother must be mistaken about a tiger being there.
Finally, his curiosity and the desire for greener grass led him near the river bank. After grazing for some time on the luscious grass, he scampered down to the water for a drink.
Suddenly, he heard a gruff voice saying, “What are you doing, drinking from my river and muddying my water?” The disobedient lamb began excusing himself, but the tiger came closer saying, “I’m going to kill and eat you.”
As the tiger sprang toward the helpless lamb, the mother sheep ran between them, taking the death dealing blows of claws and fangs in her own body. Thus, one disobedient lamb was spared and scampered up the river bank to safety.
Isaiah 53:6 says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him (i.e., on Christ) the iniquity of us all.”
From a sermon by C. Philip Green, The Way to Greatness, 12/31/2009