God's Preserving Love

As Christians, our desire to please Jesus can make us particularly susceptible to listening to someone who will tell us what Jesus wants us to do, but Jesus himself warned that not everyone who used his name was doing so sincerely. So how can we tell the difference between people who are cynically using Jesus’ name to manipulate us, people who sincerely but wrongly believe that Jesus has given them a message, and people who have heard a word from the Lord?

Today’s text is about removing confusion regarding identity of the one who leads, protects, and provides for God’s people. Many claim to be God’s designate for that role. But our text says that only one such claim is genuine. Only one individual can make us God’s people and give us the life that God offers.

Our text focuses on the shepherd imagery in regard to Jesus. He is the one who claims his unique role in God’s plan to be the one who fulfills God’s promises in finality.

Jesus the Entryway -

John 10:1–10 NRSV

“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go 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.

The Hebrew people were a pastoral people. From the beginning, the patriarchs were nomadic herders of sheep and goats. The image of the gate of the sheep pen illustrates the difference between those who intend to harm the sheep and the one who cares for them. A sheep pen is an outdoor area bounded with a low stone wall. Sheep can be kept there overnight for safety. The gate is the opening in the wall. It is guarded in such a way so that sheep do not wander out and predators do not enter. Any person or creature who enters by climbing over the wall is clearly not the sheep’s protector.

We keep in mind that Jesus makes this point after his rebuke of religious leaders in , . His implication is clear: those leaders who claim to decide who belongs to God’s people and who does not are the ones who come in over the wall.

What plans should a church have in place for dealing with “a thief and a robber” as Jesus uses that phrase?

The details in the opening text provides a view of the contrast between the shepherd and those who do not care for the flock as the shepherd does. The gatekeeper is the assistant shepherd who guards the opening to the sheepfold. He recognizes the true shepherd and gives him access. Likewise the sheep recognize their shepherd’s voice. Only the shepherd leads the sheep out to safe pasture.

When daylight comes, it is time to exit the sheep pen for food and water. To get the sheep to the needed nourishment, shepherds of the biblical world do not drive their sheep from behind, but lead them from the front. The sheep do not recognize the voice of others, so they view them as a threat. These sheep are like the man healed of blindness. In contrast with his parents, he had refused to cower before the religious leaders but responded to Jesus instead. Bad things happen when wrong voices are heeded.

What are some things churches do to ensure that their teachers speak with the voice of Christ?

Jesus opponents (the Pharisees) are nearby, listening to him teach. But as he has said before, they are blind to the truth because they claim that they can see. They cannot believe that God has authorized anyone other than themselves to speak for him and to lead his people. Thus, they refuse to listen as Jesus paints the portrait of the shepherd. They will not admit that instead of being shepherds who cares for the sheep, they are more like thieves who fleece the flock.

By the use of very truly, Jesus solemnly emphasizes that he is speaking a vital truth. Jesus’ claim to be the gate for the sheep may be surprising until we understand that shepherds often block entrances to sheepfolds with their bodies. They do so by lying across the opening at night so that nothing gets in or out without their consent. Jesus is making the audacious claim that he alone decides who belongs with God’s people and who does not. The religious leaders do not make that determination. No one does but Jesus.

There can be only one chief shepherd. Anyone who pretends to be him is in the category of thieves and robbers. In verse 9, Jesus repeats his claim to be the gate - the only way to enter the flock of God’s people. The one who enters Jesus’ sheep pen will be saved, that is, be kept safe from harm. As the sheep are led to and from the sheep pen, they find pasture needed to survive and thrive. The shepherd’s gift to them is life, and they have it only because of the shepherd.

What are some specific ways our church can better express the truth that Christ is the only means of access to eternal life?

In verse 10, Jesus reveals the actions of the thief. Jesus reveals the self-interest of the thief. Thieves, by definition, do not act in the best interest of the sheep. They cover up truth and bring death. But the true shepherd does the opposite. He doesn’t take, but gives. Jesus gives life where others give death. He protects and provides for the flock. Jesus give not just what is necessary for survival but what results in life in its divinely intended fullness.

In what specific ways can and should the nature of a Christian’s abundant life in Christ be apparent to others?

Jesus the Good Shepherd -

John 10:11–15 NRSV

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care 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.

Jesus now changes the metaphor slightly, making in the process a claim as the Good Shepherd. Jesus is Israel’s promised messianic king, who not only leads, feeds, and protects the sheep, he also willingly lays down his life for them. But time will be needed for the meaning of this statement to be made clear. When Jesus is arrested, Jesus will insist that the soldiers let his followers go free as he surrenders himself willingly. His death will not be a case in which someone else take his life; he will lay it down himself. It will be an act sacrifice that serves as a ransom for many.

In verse 14, Jesus refers to himself again as the Good Shepherd, emphasizing the fact that he knows his sheep. The knowing is reciprocal: those whom Jesus knows as his sheep know him as shepherd in return. Jesus knows the difference between true believers and those superficially impressed with him and his miracles.

What are some specific ways to exhibit confidence that Christ knows us as his sheep?

As the one who comes from Heaven, Jesus knows God the Father, the one who abides in Heaven. And as Jesus does and claims to be what only God can do and who he alone is, Jesus shows that he knows God because he is God. Jesus’ authority is greater than that of any other, in his own time or in any other.

Conclusion

Today’s text is both disturbing and reassuring. It is disturbing because we prefer to think that there are many ways to find God. Yet Jesus says that he is the one who is the shepherd, the gate to the sheep pen. Apart from him, there is no abundant life.

But that message is also reassuring. We do not need to discover our own path to God. We do not need to work a plan by which we find real life for ourselves. We need merely to listen tot he true shepherd and follow him. He leads, provides, and protects. We follow receive, and trust. That is the way of abundant life, the way for true sheep of the good shepherd.

Prayer

Our Creator, you made us and we are yours. Thank you for giving us Jesus’ loving leadership. Without Jesus, we would be lost. Open our ears that we might hear Jesus speaking to us clearly. Open our hearts, that we might desire to go wherever he leads us; in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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