Originally posted 4/24/20
For the next two days everyone in town was talking about the fight. They all had heard stories about the ancient people fighting to redeem things, but no one had ever seen this in person. The children all finished their chores, the mothers finished their work, and the fathers came home early to get ready to go see the fight. Some said the imposter would win because he was a big fat cheater. The imposter had been nothing but a nuisance since he arrived in their town. He was always scaring the children, and stealing anything and everything he could get his paws on. They were all hoping that the Good Shepherd would take care of all of their problems once and for all.
Finally, the day came for the big fight. The Good Shepherd came with his sword in hand. He believed that with this sword, truth would prevail. The imposter on the other hand, thought he didn’t need a weapon. After all he already had a plan and sharp claws and teeth.
The Good Shepherd and the imposter went to the town square. As they faced each other, you could feel the tension and excitement in the air. As the bell was about to ring to start the fight something unexpected happened. The imposter had his family come to help him win the fight. They all stood around the imposter. In order for the Good Shepherd to even have a chance at fighting the imposter, he was going to have to defeat the whole wolf family. The audience gasped when they saw what was about to happen. How could one guy defeat a whole family of wolves set out for his destruction? The bell rang and the fight began. The Good Shepherd flew around the square and one by one defeated each member of the wolf family. The audience sat, astonished at what was happening. It was as if the Good Shepherd didn’t even have to try to conquer them. Then the most incredible thing happened. The Good Shepherd stood face to face with the imposter and laid down his sword. The imposter stood there for a split second and then with a hatred never seen before, sliced the Good Shepherd across the neck. Blood started flowing like a river out of the Good Shepherd’s neck. Everyone knew the Good Shepherd couldn’t recover from such a horrific wound, but then to their shock, the imposter started to slash the Good Shepherd across the chest and face and kept going until the Good Shepherd was hardly recognizable. The Good Shepherd just stood there and allowed the wolf to attack him. He didn’t even attempt to defend himself. The scene reminded the crowd of the times they had seen the wolves tearing apart the sheep. It was as though the Good Shepherd was becoming like the sheep he loved. The Good Shepherd finally slumped down, and the life drained from his body.
Suddenly, without any warning, a snowflake fell from the sky. At first it was a single flake that landed on the Good Shepherd’s face. Soon, snow was falling from the sky in huge and fast moving flurries. It was particularly strange for snow to start falling since it was the middle of summer. Snow was a normal and welcome sight in the winter months, but snow had never, ever come in the summer.
As the audience all sat silent, they couldn’t believe their eyes. How could the Good Shepherd just give up like that? How could he let the imposter win? Didn’t he realize that the imposter was going to eat every single one of his sheep? He said he loved his sheep, but this didn’t look like love. Nothing about this fight made any sense to anyone. And now snow was starting to fall? It was as if the weather was even weeping over the loss of the Good Shepherd. The audience all got up and hurried home before the blizzard of the century hit them.
Meanwhile, after what seemed like only a moment, the imposter rejoiced and shouted, “I am the champion!” He didn’t even seem to notice the snow falling on his fur as he danced around the body of the Good Shepherd. He was only thinking one thing, “I’m going to eat like a king for a very long time!” He was relieved that he didn’t have to sneak around and steal his dinner. He was on his way to an easy life filled with yummy sheep!
The imposter danced around the square proclaiming his victory until the last of the audience left. It was then that he noticed the snow falling. He stood around looking at the white flakes falling on his fur and realized he was filthy. He needed to get home before the snow got too deep and cleanse himself of all the blood from the Good Shepherd. No way was he going to allow his perfect fur to be contaminated by the blood of that weakling.
The imposter woke up bright and early the next day. He had to go to the courthouse and sign the papers, stating he had redeemed the sheep. Once his signature was on those papers, no one could ever take his prize away. The imposter looked out the window and almost fell over in shock at what his eyes saw. Snow. Snow so deep that there was no way he would be able to get out of his house. He then turned on the news to find out that the whole town was snowed in. Everything in town was going to be shut down. How could the weather be so against him at a time like this? It is summer time after all, how could it even snow anyway? The imposter decided not to worry much about the snow. He was the rightful owner of the sheep, and they will be his once all the snow melted. He figured the snow would be gone by the afternoon. Tomorrow, he will get his hard earned prize.
The following day was much like the day before. People couldn’t wrap their minds around snow falling in summer, yet there it was. Though everyone was locked in their houses, they all tried their best to get on with their life. They were all sad that their friend had died. Questions about what had just happened swirled around each home. Life would never be the same without their friend. People felt lost and confused without the Good Shepherd because he was always such a good friend and was always there to help. People couldn’t stop talking about all the fun times they had with the Good Shepherd, and were brokenhearted that those times were over.
It took three days after the big fight for the snow to finally melt. The imposter rushed to sign the papers to show he redeemed the sheep. His mouth was watering at the thought of how tasty that sheep would be. His favorite meal was baked lamb. He had already prepared the mint glaze that he puts on the lamb. He could hardly wait for dinner tonight. He decided to go check in on his sheep before going to the courthouse. He wanted to make sure they were all still there, and dream about which lamb would be the first to be his “guest” for dinner. As he was walking toward the pen he heard the sheep bleating. The imposter turned the corner to find the Good Shepherd sitting in the middle of the pen with the sheep jumping up and down around him. The imposter couldn’t believe what he saw. Surely his eyes were playing tricks on him. He stepped closer and the Good Shepherd stood up and said, “It is finished.” At that moment the imposter knew his eyes were not playing tricks on him. He really did see the Good Shepherd coming toward him. The shock of this revelation literally scared the imposter to death. He fell over dead. Unlike the Good Shepherd, he could not defeat death.
The Good Shepherd defeated death. The snow that covered his body for those three days slowed down his heart, and allowed his blood cells to regenerate. When the snow melted and the summer temperatures returned, the Good Shepherd awoke from his coma and went to see if his sheep were safe from the imposter. His heart leapt with joy when he saw his precious sheep still in the common pen. The Good Shepherd had defeated the imposter. He had shown true love to his sheep by laying his life down for them. With elation, the Good Shepherd took his sheep back home. Never again did they go with anyone except the Good Shepherd. They knew his voice and followed only him.
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