John 10:1-21

John 10:1–21: I Am the Good Shepherd

John (and other books of the Bible) didn’t have chapters or verses, these were added after, but this passage is a continuation of the previous passage, not a separate story. This is important to point out since we sometimes pay a little too much attention to the delineation of chapters, but if you look at the quotation marks—yes, the actual punctuation—you’ll notice that the beginning of 10:1 is actually a continuation of Jesus speaking to the Pharisees in Chapter 9.

Passage

Some of the Pharisees have just asked Jesus (in the previous chapter) whether they are “blind,” and he has said that they are—and that them thinking they’re not blind is what really makes them blind. Now he tells them a parable, to explain things more fully:

“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.” (verses 1–5)

Unfortunately, they don’t understand him. So he takes the unusual approach of actually explaining his parable to them—something he usually reserves just for his own disciples:

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. 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 does not own 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 cares nothing 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.” (verses 7–18)

As is so often the case, after Jesus’ teachings, his listeners are divided: some of them think he’s possessed and that he’s insane, and should therefore be ignored; others say that these aren’t the words of a demon, and furthermore demons don’t open the eyes of the blind.

Thoughts

I was once warned about the dangers of delving too deeply into every word and phrase of Jesus’ parables because of the danger of over-analyzing them, taking things literally that Jesus meant figuratively (or vice versa), and distorting the original intent Jesus had in delivering these parables. This one in particular I often think of: which is it, is Jesus the door or is he the shepherd? (Answer to rhetorical question: both.) So I’m going to go into verses 7–18 and try to think about Jesus’ meaning(s) in delivering this parable, but I’m also going to try not to overanalyze it.

V.	Text	Thoughts
7–10	“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.”	What does Jesus mean by “door” here? I’m taking this pretty literally: Jesus is the means by which we enter into a relationship with God. How do we get to God? “Through” Jesus. I think he’s being hyperbolic when he says that “all who came before me are thieves and robbers”—I think there were genuine leaders of the Jewish people before Jesus who would have brought them closer to God—but we can say for sure that anyone who claimed to be the way to God was a thief and a robber.
11–13	“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 does not own 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 cares nothing for the sheep.”	Jesus switches up the metaphor here because he’s not only the means by which the “sheep” get to God, he’s also the one who protects the sheep. He’s not just a regular shepherd, he’s the good shepherd—someone who actually cares about the sheep, and wants what’s best for them. Not all shepherds—not all religious teachers or leaders—are “good” shepherds; some don’t care for their flocks. Given the context, it’s not a stretch to see Jesus as talking directly to the Pharisees on this point; they may claim to have superior knowledge, but do they actually care about the people they’re trying to lead?
14–15	“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.”	The [good] shepherd knows his sheep, but his sheep also know him. If they’re really smart sheep (which is an odd thing to say because sheep are notoriously dumb), they’ll remember that the good shepherd has laid down his life for them. There are times when things seem rough, and we don’t know what to do, and wonder if God will take care of us, but we have to remember that we know Him. The Son laid down His life for us.
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.”	Did Jesus’ Pharisee listeners know, at this moment, that he was talking about Gentiles? Did they consider this blasphemy, or did it go over their heads?
17–18	“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.”	I don’t want to take the “this is the reason the Father loves me” part too literally, as if God the Father was looking over God the Son’s shoulder, waiting to see if He would perform His task properly, and then said, “Ok, You’ve laid down your life: therefore I love You.” We’re in time, and God exists outside of time. The members of the Trinity love each other because they’re God, and worthy of love, and the Son being who He is is why He did what He did, and was worthy of love. Even as Jesus says this, he hasn’t actually died yet; but it’s coming, it’s what Jesus came to do, and it’s as good as done. Even though He could stop it, if He wanted—He has the authority over his own life, something nobody else in history has had—but that’s not even on the table for Jesus. It’s why He’s worthy of love. If God the Father feels that way, we should feel that way all the more.

Recently I’ve been listening to a particular preachers’ sermons, and he’s been talking a lot about how dumb sheep are, and how insulting it is that Jesus keeps comparing us to sheep, but he’s doing it on purpose. Sometimes sheep just have to trust that the shepherd knows what He’s doing—that He knows more than we do. I’m not just advocating for blind faith—we should be reading and wrestling with the Scriptures and sharpening our intellect—but, at the same time, when all else fails, and when I can’t figure things out, knowing that the Shepherd is good, and that He laid down His life for me, should help me to trust Him.