Shaun The Sheep & The Farmer
Shaun the Sheep is a stop-motion animated TV series for the BBC (it’s a spinoff of the Wallace and Gromit franchise). It’s a slapstick, silent comedy. Shaun is unusually intelligent for a sheep. Each episode features some conflict in a farm setting that Shaun has to resolve.
The Farmer is a drum and bass-loving Welshman who runs the farm with Bitzer, his sheepdog, at his side. He is completely oblivious to the human-like intelligence (or even the stupidity) of his flock. His disastrous attempts at dating are an ongoing joke of the series.
There are other characters too…
Timmy is Shaun the Sheep’s cousin. He’s the baby of the flock, but is also often at the center of trouble.
Timmy’s Mum wears curlers in her hair, and is rather careless with her maternal duties (she once used Timmy as a paint brush).
Shirley is an eating machine. She’s so big that she often gets stuck and needs the other sheep to push, pull, or even sling-shot her out of trouble.
Then there’s the Flock—a group of nameless sheep who are one big, happy, and slightly dopey family. They like to play and create mischief together, and usually Shaun has to sort out the resulting mess.
The antagonists of the series are the Pigs, and Pidsley—the Farmer’s cat (who dislikes the sheep and thinks they are both stupid and beneath him).
So let me summarize…
We have a combination of stupid and unusually intelligent sheep who have to solve their own problems. And we have an oblivious farmer.
This is NOT a parable of God and us.
Scripture is full of references about shepherds and sheep.
Jesus, in John chapter 10, calls himself the Good Shepherd.
This is a fulfillment of the prophecy from Ezekiel 34 – where God says,
You are my flock, the sheep of my pasture. You are my people, and I am your God. (Ezekiel 34.31 NLT)
In this Old Testament prophecy, God confronts the bad shepherds and concludes by saying, “That’s it! I’ll do this myself. I will be the Good Shepherd.”
Here’s what He said about the bad shepherds:
You don’t build up the weak ones, don’t heal the sick, don’t doctor the injured, don’t go after the strays, don’t look for the lost. You bully and badger them. And now they’re scattered every which way because there was no shepherd. (Ezekiel 34, selected verses, MSG Bible)
And here’s what He promised to do about it:
From now on, I myself am the shepherd. I’m going looking for them. I’ll rescue them. I’ll bring them back. I’ll lead them into lush pastures. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. I myself will make sure they get plenty of rest. I’ll go after the lost, I’ll collect the strays, I’ll doctor the injured, I’ll build up the weak ones and oversee the strong ones so they’re not exploited. (Ezekiel 34, selected verses, MSG Bible)
Wrapping this up…
We are not Shaun the Sheep (or Timmy, or Timmy’s Mum, or Shirley). We are not on our own. We don’t have to solve our own problems.
And God is not the oblivious Farmer.
We have a Good Shepherd. He is more aware of what’s going on than we are. He cares. He loves us. He is with us and He is working in us.
I don’t know about you, but this brings me great peace, rest, joy, and confidence.
I don’t have an oblivious Farmer, I have the Good Shepherd.
You are my flock, the sheep of my pasture. You are my people, and I am your God. (Ezekiel 34.31 NLT)
