The Good Shepherd

The setting (9:34-41). Jesus spoke these words to the same Pharisees who had cast out the man born blind (9:34, 40). They had pushed a healed man away, and Jesus had gone to find him (9:35). Thief or shepherd (10:1-2). “He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.” The true shepherd has the right to come in, so he comes in openly. A thief has no right, so he climbs. By name (10:3). “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” Jesus' care is personal. He knows each of His own the way you know the face of a close friend. He goes before them (10:4). The shepherd walks ahead, and the sheep follow. Jesus leads His people from the front. Voices (10:4-5). The sheep follow “for they know his voice,” but “they do not know the voice of strangers.” Knowing a voice comes from time spent with someone. The man in John 9 had heard Jesus' voice before he ever saw Him (9:7, 35-37). Learning the voice. Jesus speaks to His people today through His Word. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16). A Christian who keeps hearing the words of Jesus learns to tell His voice from the voices of strangers. Not understood (10:6). “Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.” The Pharisees heard the words and missed the meaning, so Jesus explained it again (10:7). Application. Think about whose voice you hear most in a week: friends, screens, your own feelings, or Jesus. Make time to read His words, so that His voice becomes the one you know best.

I am the door (10:7). Jesus now gave a second picture. In verses 1-5 the shepherd comes in by the door. Here Jesus is the door itself. Both are true: He leads His sheep, and He is the way in. Thieves and robbers (10:8). “All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers.” Jesus was not speaking against Moses and the prophets. He said of Moses, “he wrote about Me” (John 5:46). He meant those who came claiming to give what only He gives, and who used God's people for themselves. “But the sheep did not hear them.” Saved (10:9). “If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.” The offer is wide (anyone) and narrow (by Me) at the same time. Jesus also said, “Enter by the narrow gate” (Matthew 7:13). There is room for everyone, and there is one door. In and out (10:9). “And will go in and out and find pasture.” Jesus gives His sheep both safety and food for the soul. Steal, kill, destroy (10:10). “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” The thief takes what is not his, harms the sheep and leaves ruin behind. False leaders do that to God's people, and sin does it to every life it touches. Many Christians also see the devil here, the adversary who “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Life more abundantly (10:10). “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Abundantly means beyond what is needed, overflowing. Jesus is not promising money or an easy road. He gives eternal life, life with God that begins the moment you trust Him: “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish” (John 10:28). Application. Think about what promises to make you happy but slowly takes from you: time, peace, a clean conscience. Compare it with what Jesus gives. Come in through the Door, and keep finding your pasture in Him.

The good shepherd (10:11). “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” A good shepherd proves his goodness by what he will give. For the sheep means on their behalf and in their place. The hireling (10:12). The Greek word is misthotos (say: mees-thoh-TOS), a hired man, from the word for wages. He is “not the shepherd,” he “does not own the sheep,” and when he “sees the wolf coming,” he “leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.” Why he flees (10:13). “The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.” Anyone who serves God's people only for pay, praise or position will run when following Jesus starts to cost something. Owned and cared for. Jesus' sheep are His own, bought “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19). A shepherd who paid that much will not run from the wolf. Known as the Father knows (10:14-15). “I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father.” Jesus compares His bond with His people to the bond between the Father and the Son. Nothing about you is hidden from Him, and nothing about you makes Him stop loving you. Other sheep (10:16). “And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring.” John explains that He would die “not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad” (John 11:52). One flock (10:16). “And there will be one flock and one shepherd.” Here the word for flock is poimne (say: poym-NAY). Believers come from many places, but they belong to one flock with one Shepherd. They “will hear My voice,” because “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Application. Pray that you will be a sheep who listens, and one day a helper of His flock who does not run. Pray for believers in other countries too.

The Father's love (10:17). “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.” The Father has loved the Son forever, and He loves the Son's gift of His life for the sheep. Lay down (10:17-18). The Greek word is tithemi (say: TITH-eh-mee), to set something down on purpose. A life laid down is a gift that is given, not a loss that is forced on someone. Of Myself (10:18). “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.” Enemies plotted against Him, yet none of them took His life from Him. He gave it. Power (10:18). “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” The Greek word is exousia (say: ex-oo-SEE-ah), the right and the authority to act. Jesus had the right to give His life and the authority to take it up again. Only God the Son could say that. Command (10:18). “This command I have received from My Father.” The Father sent, the Son obeyed, and together they made the way for sinners to be saved. He “became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). Divided (10:19-20). “Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings.” Many said, “He has a demon and is mad.” The evidence (10:21). Others answered, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” A man born blind had just been given sight (9:32). Jesus' words and Jesus' works told the same story. Application. No one stays in the middle about Jesus for long. Look at His words and His works, and decide. If you trust Him, remember that He did not die by accident. He laid down His life for you on purpose, and He took it up again.