Tuesday,
November 3 –
We are
about halfway through the Gospel of John when we come to today’s reading in
John 10:1 – 42. It is a familiar
passage, but there are some things that are often missed in Jesus’ words. Read the passage first and then please come
back and we’ll look at it a second time.
Israel has always been a place of Shepherds and sheep. The message Jesus declares is rich in
imagery, almost like a parable. The
problem with metaphors is to understand the overall message, instead of
breaking apart all of the details. John
Calvin says about this chapter: “Let us be content with the general view
that Christ likens the Church to a sheepfold in which God assembles his people,
and compares himself to the door since he is the only entrance to the Church.” [1]
The
imagery that Jesus uses would have been very familiar to the people who were
listening to him. The “sheep pen” was
not an enclosure that held only one flock of sheep, but more of a communal pen
where many shepherds brought their sheep for the night. The shepherd went home for the evening and
entrusted his sheep to the “gatekeeper” – a watchman - who watched over all of
sheep at night. When the Shepherd
returned in the morning, he “called” his sheep, and recognizing his voice, his
sheep followed him out.
“‘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. But he who enters by
the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The
sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep
follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but
they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.’ This
figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was
saying to them” (10:1-6).
The
contrast is clear. “Truly, truly”
is another way of saying, “Listen, I am telling you something that is true
and you need to know it”. Jesus is
appointed by the Father to Shepherd those who are called by the Father to be
His sheep. The sheep hear him – that is
they have an attentiveness to what Jesus has said. Jesus knows his sheep (John 6:37). All along, Jesus has appealed to people to
open their ears to hear, and their eyes to see.
Some have and have believed, and others have not and rejected him. The thieves and robbers are those who seek to
lead without either a call from God or care for the sheep. The language is
reminiscent of Old Testament passages, such as Ezekiel 34, where Ezekiel cries
out against false leaders who fail to shepherd God’s people. False shepherds are a theme in many sections
of the Old Testament (Isaiah 56, Jeremiah 23 & 25, Zechariah 11). Jesus is speaking from the Old Testament to
charge the Pharisees of failing to be the kind of Shepherds to God’s people. The
imagery keeps moving as Jesus continues to speak about who he is in comparison
to the Pharisees.
“So,
Jesus again said to them, “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 listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be
saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to
steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it
abundantly” (10:7-10).
Those
who served the temple were Scribes, Pharisees, and Priests, but instead of
being God’s leaders, Jesus calls them thieves and robbers. The reason why was they were not called of
God to lead, but got their positions through patronage or money. They don’t care about the sheep except what
they can get from them. In 10:11 – 18,
Jesus makes it clear that he stands in contrast to those kinds of leaders.
“I
am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep… I
am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father
knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 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. For
this reason, the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it
up again. 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” (10:11-18).
Once
again, Jesus uses the “God-name”, “I am” (ego-eimi), linking it first
with “the gate” (10:7), and now with the title of Good Shepherd. He said“I am the door”, and “I am
the good shepherd”. He is the kind
of shepherd who will lay down his life for the sheep…and in laying it
down, will take it up again. This he does of his own volition, and no
one will do it “to” him. No one can do to Jesus what he does not permit by his
authority. The selflessness and sacrifice
of Christ Jesus is in sharp distinction to the Pharisees and the Priests – thieves
and robbers. Lastly, we notice that
this is not just for his sheep at this moment, but also for “other sheep
that not of this fold” – a reminder of John that Jesus knew the Gentiles
would one day believe in him also.
The
title of being “the good Shepherd”, does not disappear from the New
Testament in this Gospel. My brother
Edward noted: “The writer of Hebrews reminds us of the peace we have because
of Jesus. ‘May the God of peace who through the blood of the eternal covenant
brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep…’
(Hebrews 13:20). And, Peter also refers to Jesus as the Chief Shepherd
(1 Peter 5:4a)” [2]
As we
could expect, some believed in him, and some thought he was insane
(10:19-21). A certain amount of time
passes in the narrative as John speaks now of Jesus two months later speaking
in Jerusalem during the Festival of Hanukkah (10:22-23). The “Jews” were, again, probably Temple
officials. They confront Jesus with a
direct question – “If you are the Christ (Messiah), tell us plainly”
(10:24). Jesus’ deflects the issue back to their problem – “Jesus
answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my
Father’s name bear witness about me” (10:25).
Why did he speak like this? The
issue was that their question was not easily resolved with a “yes”, or a
“no”. By the time Jesus arrived the Jews
had established a much different expectation than what God had revealed in the
Scriptures. You might remember that
Jesus – at one time – had walked away from a crowd that he suspected wanted to
make him a King. The Jews were looking
for a warrior-King, one who would conquer the Romans, overthrow their rule, and
set up the Kingdom in Israel. The
Messiah that Jesus was proclaiming did not fit those expectations. Once again, Jesus returns to the familiar
refrain of the Shepherd and his sheep (10:26-27), who “believe in him”,
and “follow him”. But now he adds
more:
“I
give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them
out of my hand. 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” (10:28-30).
Jesus
is going beyond the metaphor of shepherd and sheep. Those who believe, who come to Jesus, do so because
they know him as the one who has come to save them – these the Father has given
to him, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The final words were bold and clear: “We –
I and the Father – are one being” (a more literal reading of 10:30). It is this bold statement that incurs the
wrath of the court authorities. They
want to stone him – accusing him of blasphemy (10:31,33). Jesus points them back to the very Scriptures
they say they uphold (10:34-36). Then he
turns towards them and challenges them to look at what he has done…can they not
see the Father at work in Him?
“If
I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do
them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know
and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father” (10:37-38).
They
do not believe, and seek to arrest him, but he quietly walks away (10:39). When he crossed the river Jordan, a number of
those who “believed”, “his sheep”, came to him. The end of the road has been reached for the
Pharisees and Temple Priests. The Son of
God had stood in their midst to appeal to them, and they would not “see”, nor
“hear” Him. His hour had not yet come,
but when he returns, His hour will have come.
He will enter the city on a donkey, as a King, but would weep over the
city because he knows that he has come to die for them – even though they don’t
believe in Him.
My
brother Edward made a point back in 10:17, when Jesus says, “For this reason
the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again”.
“There
is some irony in what Jesus tells us. In Isaiah 53:6, God tells us the Lord’s
Servant will die in our place (his substitutionary death) even though it is we who have strayed. ‘All we like sheep
have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has
laid on him the iniquity of us all.’”[3]
We who
are God’s sheep have been bought with a price – the blood of the lamb. We have confidence that God will protect us
to the end, and are secure in Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave himself for
us.
Peace
[1]
John Calvin, Commentary On The Gospel According To John – a New
Translation from Latin, page 259
[2]
Edward Pollasch, Ibid
[3] Edward Pollasch, Ibid
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