John 10
-Jesus now takes
up His discourse on the “Good Shepherd.” He states truly, truly, that he who
does not enter by the door into the sheep fold, but tries to come in another
way, is a thief and a robber. The One who enters by the door is the actual
Shepherd of the sheep. “To Him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear His
Voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out.” He went on to describe
how the true Shepherd puts forth all His own and goes out ahead of them with
the sheep following because they KNOW His Voice. The sheep will not follow a
stranger. They will flee from him, since they don’t know the voice of a
foreigner. As Jesus used this figure of speech to produce a spiritual implication,
the Jews did not understand the things He was proclaiming. So Jesus said to
them again in a more plain language:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the
door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the
sheep did not hear them. I am the Door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be
saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal,
kill, and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd;
the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and
not a Shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and
leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired
hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd, and I KNOW
(emphasis mine) My own and My own KNOW Me, even as the Father knows Me and I
KNOW the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep,
which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My Voice;
and they will become one flock with
one Shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life
so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it
down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority
to take it up again. This commandant I received from My Father.”
This statement produced another division in His audience.
Many were calling Him insane with a demon inside Him, which they warned others
not to listen. Others, however, were saying, “These are not the sayings of one
demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he (John 10:1-21)?”
Remember, the context of this monolog was surrounded by Jesus’ healing of the
blind man, which was explored in chapter 9.
-It was at this time that the Feast of the Dedication took
place in Jerusalem. This is what we now know as Chanukah, which is the “eight
crazy nights” that Adam Sandler sings about. This Feast of Dedication commemorated
the miraculous cleansing of the Temple under Judas Maccabeus in 165 B.C. after
Antiochus Epiphanes had defiled the sacred grounds by sacrificing a pig on the
altar of burnt offering. It is celebrated towards the end of December, usually,
on the Hebrew calendar and is also known as the Festival of Lights (for more
see: http://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/article_cdo/aid/102911/jewish/What-is-Hanukkah.htm).
So, as the text says, it was winter when Jesus was walking around the Temple
area in the portico of Solomon. This is when the Jews gathered around Him and
questioned Him to tell them plainly if He was the Christ. Jesus answered them, “I
told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s Name,
these testify of Me.” He uses the sheep metaphor again as He continues, “But
you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My Voice and
I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will
never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My Hand.” He went on deeper
into the psyche of the Trinity, “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s Hand. I and the
Father are One.” At this, which they took as blasphemy, they “picked up stones
again to stone Him.” Jesus stood His solid ground undeterred and unafraid, “I
showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning
Me?” The Jews retorted in their ignorance, “For a good work we do not stone
You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a Man, make Yourself out to be God.” Jesus used Scripture to
prove His point and teach them some things they were unaware of, “Has it not
been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are Gods (Psalm 82:6, see also Exodus
4:16; 7:1)’? If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the
Scriptures cannot be broken), do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and
sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of
God’?” He continued, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;
but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you
may KNOW and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” At this
He eluded their grasp and went away unscathed beyond the Jordan to the place
where John the Baptist had originally been baptizing and spent time there away
from the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem. But many came to Him in that place
proclaiming the validity of John the Baptist’s statements towards this Jesus,
and “many believed in Him there (John 10:22-42).”
-*Application*- First,
have we listened to the Good Shepherd and became part of His fold. Sheep wander
and are extremely fragile when left on their own. They need a shepherd and so do
we, which is found in Jesus Christ alone. To hear His Voice, simply trust in
Him, and He will reveal Himself. He desires us and wants us as those “other
sheep (John 10:16)” that will become one with Him and the Father. Secondly
today, we who may be leaders in the church or Christian ministry, or maybe just
in our own families, need to heed the principles laid out here for being good under
shepherds that do the work of the LORD here on this earth. Don’t be a hired
hand and flee at the sight of trouble. Instead, we should lay down our lives
for the good of the flock and be very strong and courageous (Joshua 1:9). Obedience
in the Scriptures has to do with coming under the hearing of the one in
authority. Let us do that with our Heavenly Father and teach those we have been
given charge of to do that as well.
Verse to Memorize:
John 10:10
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