John 10:1-21 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. ² But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ⁵ A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶ This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁷ So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³ He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. ¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

¹⁹ There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. ²⁰ Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” ²¹ Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to John 10. This passage records an event that took place some uncertain time after Jesus healed the blind man of chapter 9. More than likely, it happened shortly after the Feast of Booths (of chapters 7-9), and we know it happened before the Feast of Dedication (which was around two months later). I say that because of vs.21 and 22, where it is clear that the healing of the blind man was still fresh on everyone’s minds and the Feast of Dedication had not yet begun.

The event itself is another example of Jesus publically teaching the Jews (likely both ordinary Jews and Jewish leaders, v.19). This time He taught through a parable (or “figure of speech” or allegory). This is surprisingly rare in John’s Gospel compared to the other Gospels. What isn’t rare, however, was the subject matter and the response among the Jews. The subject matter primarily concerned the uniqueness of Jesus to sacrificially lead the people of God to fullness of life; which stood in stark contrast to the Pharisees and religious leaders of the day who were selfishly leading people to death. And the response of the Jews, once they understood what Jesus was really saying was, predictably, confusion and anger.

The passage contains three sections; each helpfully indicated by new paragraphs in your Bible. In the first section (1-6), Jesus tells a parable. In the second (7-18), Jesus explains and expands on it. And in the third (19-21), we find the reaction of the Jews to whom Jesus was speaking.

I’m going to preach at least three sermons on this passage. This week, I’m going to focus primarily on Jesus’ teaching as it was intended for the original audience. As of now, next week, I’m going to unpack the abundant life Jesus came to bring (v.10) and the following week, I’m going to share with you how this passage significantly shapes our understanding of what good eldership and membership look like.

The big idea for this week is that Jesus alone is the means by which we may be reconciled to God and He alone leads God’s people into fullness of life (on earth and in heaven). And the main takeaway for us today is to truly consider Jesus’ voice, both what He has said and how we respond to it in relation to other voices.

JESUS’ COMMAND TO PAY ATTENTION

A brief word to help you tune in…Jesus opens His teaching in this passage with the words, “truly, truly.” This does not mean, of course, that Jesus had a reputation for lying, but He wanted to make sure everyone knew He wasn’t this time. Likewise, it obviously doesn’t mean that the things He typically said were insignificant, and was letting everyone know that this time was different. But if not these things, what then did He mean by “truly, truly”? Why did Jesus talk like that?

I know I’ve mentioned the fact that within Jewish culture/literature, one manner of communicating emphasis was by repeating key word. The most familiar version of this for most of us is probably in regard to God’s holiness. To say that God is “holy” communicates something true and significant. We see that in passages like Psalm 99:9, “Exalt the Lord our God…for the Lord our God is holy!” A passage that described God as “holy, holy” would mean something more serious still about God’s holiness. But to say that God is “holy, holy, holy” (as in Isaiah 6:3, ““Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”) is as significant as it gets (there are no four-times repeated words and “holy” alone is a three-time repeated word in the Bible).

While there are no double holys in the Bible, there are a number of double trulys (24 times in John’s Gospel alone, including the two in our passage). In other words, for Jesus to introduce this passage by saying, “truly, truly, I say to you,” He meant His hearers (and us) to listen carefully. What He was about to say deserved special attention because of its eternal consequences.

So, Grace, once again, listen up!

THE PARABLE (1-6)

Again, our passage opens with Jesus sharing a parable (or a “figure of speech” as v.6 says) with “the Jews”. Let’s take another look at it.

¹ “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. ² But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. ⁵ A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

There’s a lot going on in there. When I first read it earlier this week, my head was filled with questions. They mostly revolved around all the different terms and their analogical equivalents. Sheepfold, door, thief and robber, shepherd, sheep, gatekeeper, and stranger. What are those things and what do they signify? We’ll come to some of that in a bit, but let’s begin with something more basic.

The parable centers around something that would have been exceedingly familiar to Jesus’ original audience: caring for sheep. And yet, what was certainly familiar to those Jesus was speaking to, probably is not to most of us. For that reason, we need a bit of background if we’re to really make sense of what Jesus intended to communicate. So as not to pretend I’m some kind of expert on sheep (even though I once had a best-in-class lamb for 4-H), I want to read you a bit of an extended quote from one of the commentators I read this week (TNTC, Kruse, 229-230).

Most village families owned a few sheep. The houses of the villagers had small walled courtyards where the sheep were kept. Because each family had only a few sheep, a shepherd for each household was not justified, so several households would have one shepherd to look after their sheep. Often the shepherding was done by a son (or two daughters) from one of these families. If such a person was not available a stranger/hireling was employed. Early each morning the sheep would be taken out to graze in the open country. The shepherd moved from house to house, and because he was known to the doorkeepers they opened their courtyard doors to allow him to call out the sheep. The sheep knew his voice and eagerly followed him into the open country to feed. The walls of the courtyards could be up to six and a half feet high. One who was not the shepherd, who had ulterior motives, would have to climb over the walls because the doorkeeper would not admit him, and, of course, the sheep would not recognize his call and would flee from him.

In this parable, as will become clear in the next few verses, there are three main characters and two main points. The three main characters are the thieves/robbers, the shepherd, and the sheep. And the two main points are that (1) sheep can tell the difference between thieves/robbers and their shepherd and (2) true shepherds care well for their sheep while thieves/robbers mean them only harm.

The thieves and robbers are the Pharisees (and other Jewish leaders). Jesus is the shepherd. And the ordinary Jews are the sheep. The Pharisees were leading the rest of the Jews astray while Jesus was leading them to good pastures. The Pharisees came on their own (misguided) authority, with their own (faulty) wisdom, and for their own (twisted) purposes. Jesus, on the other hand, came on the Father’s authority, with the Father’s wisdom, and in order to accomplish the Father’s will. The genuine children of God, the true offspring of Abraham, recognize Jesus’ voice as the one truly from God. And the genuine children of God flee from that of the Pharisees.

Almost certainly, Jesus had the words of Ezekiel 34 and Jeremiah 23 in mind.

Ezekiel 34:2-5 Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? ³ You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. ⁴ The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. ⁵ So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.

Jeremiah 23:1-2 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. ² … “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the LORD.

This was an important message. Heard rightly, it would have led the Pharisees to repent of their failure to lead as God intended. Heard rightly, it would have warned the ordinary Jew to stop following and instead flee from the treacherous Pharisees. And heard rightly, all would have turned to Jesus to be led to green pastures.

The problem, however, according to v.6, was that Jesus’ message wasn’t rightly heard. Instead, “… they did not understand what he was saying to them.”

THE PARABLE EXPANDED AND EXPLAINED (7-18)

Because those to whom Jesus was speaking did not understand what Jesus meant, He explained and expanded on His parable. As we consider these things, it’s interesting and important to note that Jesus slightly shifted the setting. In His original parable, the setting was inside a village. The shepherd was going around collecting the sheep he was responsible for in order to take them out to the pasture for the day. In vs.7-18, in Jesus’ explanation, the setting shifts primarily to the open countryside, the pasture. I’ll explain why that matters in just a bit. First, consider with me another quote from the commentator I read earlier (TNTC, Kruse, 231).

Here the setting is the open country into which the shepherd led the sheep for grazing, and where in the summer months shepherd and sheep might spend the night. Overnight the sheep were placed in roughly constructed round stone-walled enclosures. The top of the dry-stone wall was covered with thorns to keep out wild animals. Inside the enclosure the sheep were safe so long as the entrance was secured by the shepherd. He slept across the entrance as there was no door and no doorkeeper.

By changing the setting slightly, Jesus was able to expand on the nature of His care for His sheep as well as that of the Pharisees and other leaders. And by offering this explanation, Jesus was able to take what was implicit and make it explicit. Let’s begin to examine this passage by looking at three contrasts Jesus provided between His care and that of the Pharisees.

Three Contrasts Between Jesus and the Pharisees

1. Jesus Protects the Sheep, The Pharisees Cause Harm

In the beginning of this section of the text, Jesus offered His third (of seven) “I am” statements. He explained that He is the sheep door.

⁷ So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

As we just saw, for an ordinary shepherd this meant placing himself at the entrance of the place where his sheep rest. And that had two primary functions. First, it was to make sure that all his sheep were brought in, that none were missing. And second, it was to keep everything else out. As the door, the shepherd would put himself between his sheep and everything else.

Better than the best and bravest sheep shepherd, Jesus knows and protects those who belong to Him, who have been entrusted to Him by the Father. And because He does, Grace, we can rest well in the certain knowledge that no true sheep will ever be left out and no ultimate harm can ever befall those of us who are brought in.

This means that the safest place you can be is with Jesus. To be with Jesus in the midst of the fiercest war is safer than an open, flowery meadow without Him. When we find ourselves in treachery, we cling to Jesus’ promises; especially His promise of presence (I am with you always). Jesus will protect us as we teach and obey all that He commands and believe all He promises.

This means what you think it means. It means that it is safer to be fired for holding fast to Christ’s commands and speaking the good news in love than keeping your job by violating your conscience. It means that it is safer to stand up for what is true when your friends tell lies about God or His world than it is to remain quiet. It means that it is safer to take the gospel into hostile lands even unto death than to remain silent and comfortable at home. It means that when the society around us falls into soft atheism, therapeutic deism, or outright rage against God, it is safer to be with Jesus and scorned by everyone than to capitulate to the godless. And it means that it is safer to defy a hostile government commanding you to disobey God than it is to go along with its treachery.

This is why Jesus can say, knowing full well that all who follow Him will be persecuted (John 15:20), that “⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” And “¹⁰ I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” and “¹¹ I am the good shepherd”.

Jesus will protect His people, not from every hardship (as we saw two weeks ago), but from every ultimate hardship; from every hardship that will not end. Following Jesus in this life is not safe in that it will be entirely marked by comfort, but in that through Him, every discomfort will soon end forever. Jesus indeed laid down His life to ensure this.

Remember, Grace, the greatest harm that Jesus will protect you from is greater than anything in this world. It is from the wrath of God which we deserve in our sin. He laid His life down to protect us from every lasting hardship, and ultimately from the everlasting hardship that comes from our having fallen short of the glory of God. And then He took it back up that we might rise with Him into everlasting life.

On the other hand, the Pharisees, and “⁸ All who came before [Jesus] are thieves and robbers…¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” The key is in recognizing that by “all who came before me,” Jesus meant all who set themselves up against Him (as in the Pharisees, and the Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, and on and on before that). But the same is true of all have come after Jesus (as in secular governments, false religions, disordered ideologies, and anyone/thing that claims that which belongs only to Jesus).

To drive the point home, Jesus likened all who would deny Him as King to a hired hand (rather than an actual shepherd) in the face of a wolf.

¹² He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³ He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

Thieves and robbers may look mean or they may look well-meaning. They might have sharp tongues or smooth talk. They might look to take by force or they might attempt to woo. They might do harm immediately or only later. In every case, though, they come “only to steal and kill and destroy” in the end. We cannot be indifferent or causal, therefore, about false teaching or teachers—whether in or out of the church. The things bad pastors, theologians, philosophers, politicians, professors, and anyone else with a platform say are deadly. As one of our esteemed members likes to remind us, “Bad doctrine hurts people”.

Jesus protects. The Pharisees and anyone who sets themselves up against Jesus harms.

2. Jesus Leads to Good Pastures, the Pharisees to Bad

Not only does Jesus protect His sheep from harm, but he also leads His sheep to blessing and nourishment and refreshment. That’s what’s found in good pasture.

⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.

And

“¹⁰ I came that they may have life and have it abundantly”

We’ll consider this in much greater detail next week when we look at the abundant life Jesus came to bring. For now, I want you all to see plainly that Jesus only ever leads to that which is best for His sheep. And in contrast, as we’ve already seen, the Pharisees and all false teachers only ever promise things we want (at least in our flesh), but only lead to that which we don’t—suffering, poverty, and ultimately death.

One takeaway here is to follow Jesus and avoid false teachers. But another is to lead others to Jesus and not to good-sounding, but misguided pastures. We must be careful to follow Jesus’ example and not that of the Pharisees. We must be careful to speak only that which is good for building up and not for leading astray.

3. The Sheep Listen to and Know Jesus, but Not the Pharisees

The third and final contrast is perhaps best recognized when we ask a question that I hope is already rattling around in your minds: Am I one of Jesus’ sheep? How can I know if I am a true sheep following the Good Shepherd, or a false sheep, following a false shepherd? How do I know if I am being protected and led to good pastures or if I’m being deceived and led to slaughter? Jesus gives two straightforward answers.

First, as we saw before, true sheep listen to Jesus and recognize His voice. True sheep can tell the difference between the truth of Jesus’ word and all the other noise out there. And second, true sheep truly know Jesus and are known by Jesus. True sheep don’t merely know about Jesus or appreciate certain aspects of His teaching or leadership. True sheep know Jesus and Jesus knows them in the same kind of way that Jesus and the Father know one another.

¹⁴ … I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father…

And in contrast, true sheep do not listen to false teachers. By God’s grace, true sheep recognize the voice of imposters and flee.

⁸ All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

So who are you listening to, Grace, or who are you tempted to listen to, instead of Jesus? What voices most influence your understanding of what is good, beautiful, and true? Who is it that functionally most shapes your desires? Political pundits? Secular artists? A parent or friend? Some cumulative collection of nuggets you’ve picked up throughout your life? Movie/television actors? Commercials? Immature Christians? Your own semi-sanctified common sense?

Grace, make no mistake, something or someone is forming your view of God, yourself, the world, and your place in it. What things other than Jesus are doing that? Whose voice is most compelling to you?

Similarly, do you know Jesus’ voice well enough that you recognize it quickly? Do you trust it enough that you eagerly come to it without fear, every time He calls? Are you able to recognize right interpretations of God’s Word and wrong ones? Do you trust in Him to lead you only to good places? Do you love to find His commands and obey them in the knowledge that they are truly the path of life and joy?

These are the kinds of questions that Jesus’ parable is meant to cause to form in our minds. John helps us to see the many destructive effects listening to the wrong voices had on God’s people. May we learn from them as we press further up and further into this passage

Sheep Beyond Israel

In v.16 Jesus expands on the goodness of His shepherding.

¹⁶ And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

This is such sweet news for us, Grace. The Apostle Paul unpacks this in greater detail in Romans 9, but the upshot is this: the true children of Abraham are not those who are merely of Abraham’s gene pool, but of his faith. In other words, the covenantal salvation of God is not ultimately for the physical offspring of Abraham (ethnic Israel), but for all who would hear His voice and follow Him as Abraham did (eschatological Israel). We, as non-Jews, can be adopted as true sons and daughters because Jesus is the one True and Good Shepherd and He has one flock of faith. Awesome!

The Good Shepherd and the Father’s Love

Combined, then, all of this is what it means that Jesus is the good shepherd (the forth of seven “I ams”) and it is the reason for the Father’s perfect love for Jesus.

¹¹ I am the good shepherd.

There is no greater shepherd. There is no shepherd who knows, leads, feeds, or protects his sheep better than Jesus. Even as there is no shepherd who has paid a higher cost to gather and keep his sheep than Jesus. We’ll consider this more closely in two weeks.

And combined, all of this is why the Father’s love rests perfectly and permanently upon Jesus, His Son.

¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

What’s more, Grace, as we lay our lives down in faith and follow Jesus as the Good Shepherd, this same love of God rests perfectly and permanently upon us, His sons and daughters. Awesome!

THE PARABLE RESPONDED TO (19-21)

Finally, in vs.19-21 John records the response of the Jews to Jesus. Their response makes it clear that some, evidently, were not yet his sheep, while the rest wondered if His voice might, in fact, sound familiar.

¹⁹ There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. ²⁰ Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” ²¹ Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

The question that leaves us with once again, Grace, is whether or not you hear Jesus’ voice. When you read your Bible, is it increasingly sweet and life-giving? When you encounter Jesus commands, are they increasingly the desires of your heart? When you read of His offer to come and find life, are you growing in your trust in the truthfulness and goodness of that offer? Likewise, will we be a church marked by what’s easy or by following our Good Shepherd wherever He leads, no matter the temporal cost? Will we together acknowledge Christ as Lord of all or make excuses for pockets of self or worldly-rule? We see here that the only safe, life-giving place is through the door of Jesus, who is indeed the only Good Shepherd. May we hear His voice and follow Him.