For the context of this parable, please read the previous blog: “An Open Letter to the YMCA“.
A wolf walked into a barnyard. The rooster was first to sound the alarm. The pigs huddled. The sheep scampered. The chickens clucked. All the commotion brought the farmer running.
“No worries,” said the wolf to the farmer. “I’m a sheep.”
“You don’t look like a sheep,” insisted the farmer. “You’re a wolf.”
“I’ve heard that all my life,” replied the wolf to the farmer. “I used to believe it. In fact, I’ve tried real hard to believe it. Now I know that’s not who I am.”
“That’s absurd,” said the farmer. “You have the eyes and teeth of a wolf. You walk like one. You talk like one. I bet you eat like one.”
“Nonsense,” assured the wolf. “I may look like one but I don’t feel like one.”
“Feel?” the puzzled farmer shot back. “What do feelings have to do with it?”
“Feelings have everything to do with it. It’s my reality. What you see isn’t who I am. I really am a sheep inside,” promised the carnivore. “Trust my feelings,” he continued. “I know myself better than you. You don’t know me. Come to think of it, stop judging me. Let me be me.”
“I’m not convinced, wolf. Feelings easily betray,” said the farmer in a tone suggesting he knew from his own experience. “Besides, I have a responsibility to protect my chickens, pigs, and sheep.”
“But I’m harmless,” insisted the wolf.
“Perhaps you are,” allowed the farmer, “but that’s not a risk I’m willing to take. Nor do I wish to encourage your faulty assumption. In fact, may I buy you a hamburger? I’d like the opportunity to try and reassure you of your wolfness.”
“I’m not sure what that word means, farmer. But I am open that your concern for me and your barnyard is genuine.”
So, off the farmer and wolf went for lunch. We don’t know how their conversation went but what we do know is peace returned to the barnyard. And the sheep, the pigs, and the chickens were reminded again how thankful they were for a farmer willing to do his job.
Pastor Rich Hamlin
January 21, 2016
Thanks for the lesson from the wolf in sheep’s feelings.
Magnificent, Pastor!! I would love the Y to read this.
Excellent! Thank you Pastor Rich…sharing with all my Facebook friends.
Great Parable !! The Chair of the Committee who refuses to even allow Washington State Rep. Graham Hunt’s House Bill against the transgender issue to even have a hearing in Committee needs t read that Parable. She also needs to be held responsible publicly for her refusal to do so. Sexual Predators and Child Molesters will soon be taking advantage of this outrageous law that was put into place by Gov. Inslee and his hand picked Human Rights Commission of politically correct fools without a vote of “We the People !!!
Perfect analogy, even a child can understand!!! So sad to see the direction the world is going!
Excellent parable and so clearly presented. Thanks, Pastor Rich!
Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs….the wolf is always the villain. Why do we have to vilify (and then celebrate the vilification) of our transgendered neighbors? Regardless of how we might feel about recent decisions at the YMCA and state legislature, it doesn’t seem helpful or appropriate to malign our transgendered neighbors who, as individuals, likely pose no threat to us. This is the kind of stuff that is destructive to the credibility of our message to anyone outside the church (and to many inside the church). Couldn’t the parable be just as effective and illustrative if it was a duck who thought she was a horse? Or a cow who thought he was a chicken? Why a wolf?
I thought about what animal to use and went with wolf because of the potential danger posed by a man in a girl/woman bathroom/locker room. A duck or similar animal doesn’t convey that message.
I can see how a duck wouldn’t convey the message of “potential danger,” but I fear that labeling them as wolves is alienating and attaching an incredibly negative association to people who don’t deserve it. I don’t feel it’s those who are trans that we need to be concerned about, in regards to being potentially dangerous: they are no more potentially dangerous, no more like wolves, than any of us. I believe that those who would use the policy as a way to hurt and abuse others are the ones who are the wolves. If only we really could tell who the wolves are by what they look like on the outside.
Pastor Rich’s blog article here is built upon his previous blog “An Open Letter to the YMCA.“
Wolf, cougar, lion….all beautiful animals with the ability to attack unsuspecting prey. That is the point.
Very thankful we have a Pastor who is willing to stand up for what is right. No politically correct platitudes, just God’s word.
Enjoyed this parable Rich. I look forward to being in your flock once again. We will be there in November, Lord willing