Minister’s Message: Living like lambs (in the midst of wolves)

Published 10:30 pm Thursday, July 24, 2025

I keep making the mistake of reading the news. Boy, is it bleak out there. If I’m not careful, anxiety or despair or moral outrage will be the death of me.

While darkness and evil may be amplified in our day because of our technologies, they aren’t new. Jesus had to deal with the very same realities when he walked the earth. What was his strategy? What teaching did he give his followers for facing the world?

There’s a moment at the beginning of Luke 10 in which Jesus sends 70 of his disciples out ahead of him into the villages where he’ll eventually be going himself. As he’s preparing them to face the challenges of what they will face, he gives the worst pre-game pep talk ever.

“I’m sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” Well, if they weren’t nervous before, they are now. We’re Alaskans, so we get how the predator-prey relationship works. In a confrontation between the two, lambs are wolf food 100% of the time. The only chance lambs have of survival is if they have a shepherd watching over them, guarding them, protecting them.

As it so happens, that is exactly what Jesus is implying. They are to be his lambs, he is to be their Good Shepherd. Whatever they face out there in the world, they are to remember who they are and who he is.

They are lambs. They don’t have claws or fangs or venomous bites or hard protective shells. They are not vengeful or spiteful, vindictive or contemptuous. Lambs do two things: They follow and they trust the shepherd who looks after them. Oh, and they “baa.” Three things.

But those three things are what Jesus tells his disciples to lean into as they face a hostile world. As the passage continues, Jesus says to go, proclaim peace and announce that God’s kingdom has come near. Even when they and their message are rejected, they are to remember that they are lambs, not wolves. They are not to return like for like, act hatefully, or play judge. Their job is to trust their Shepherd to care for them and keep bleating out God’s proclamation of peace. That’s it.

Most days, as I’m reading the headlines, that particular message from Jesus doesn’t seem near adequate enough. It is difficult to trust in the Good Shepherd by committing to his message of peace in a hostile world and to hold on to the hope that God’s kingdom is near. Yet, I’m not sure I can call Jesus my Good Shepherd without forsaking my right to be a wolf. I have to own my identity as a lamb and then act like a lamb. I have to insist on complete dependence upon the Shepherd.

At least I don’t have to worry about being anxious, despairing, or morally outraged all the time.

Who knows? Maybe being Jesus’ lamb will be the life of me.

Joshua Gorenflo and his wife, Kya, are ministers at Kenai Fellowship, Mile 8.5 on the Kenai Spur Highway. Worship is 11 a.m. on Sundays. Streamed live at kenaifellowship.com.