So I am reading the Sunday NYT, and in the magazine there is an essay of the sort common both there and this time of year, about the writer’s complex family religious interactions and how to have a holiday dinner that makes everyone feel warm and happy and cherished and tolerated and blah-dee-blah-dee-blah. Whether by extremely artful writing or sheer squee happiness, it contains many layers of humor.
I may not have the right answer but I suspect it may have to do with Christians identifying with Jesus’s “flock” in many contexts. Not that many Christians really behave that way, but it’s an idea some aspire to at least.
The notion of the “Judas Goat” helps that sheep thing along.
I’d steer clear of that other thing sheep are noted for, if I were you.
Jesus is often referred to as the Lamb of God. In fact the paschal lamb from the Passover story in the Torah is often interpreted by Christians as presaging Christ’s sacrifice.
The Jesus-lamb symbolism is deep and a bit disgusting, but in a traditional, homey way, so pretend you don’t notice.
A big aspect is the idea of the Paschal Lamb, which was a sacrifice made to G-d on Passover, originally so they could sprinkle its blood on their doors so the Big V-welless -ne wouldn’t kill them along with the Egyptians, and then annually to commemorate the happy occasion. In this rendering, Jesus is the Lamb of God, sacrificed to God to take away the sin of the world. Lambs aren’t usually whipped half-dead and then nailed to a few pieces of wood out in the desert, but as long as God doesn’t start wetting the bed we’ll be fine.
This lamb is associated with lions. Why? Lambs are innocent and pure. A dead lamb who returns from the dead after three days is as a lion, who, in being slain by death, slays death in turn, a foretaste for those with foreskins of how Jesus will return to save us all in the End of Days.
The other association which is at all common is Jesus the Good Shepherd, a righteous and vigorous defender of His flock, fore-ordained to lead all good Christians away from evil and into rebirth, often through baptism. Good Shepherds redeem debts, defend their charges, and are worth their salt in general, leading all of the faithful to Rapture.
With the bonus slam for non-Christians who think Christians are a bunch of sheeple, blindingly following the church without thinking about it. Wake up, sheeple!
