Jesus the Door, Jesus the Shepherd, ...

“The Door and the Good Shepherd”

(John 10:1-21, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, May 31, 2009)

John 10:1-21 See page 896 in your pew Bibles.

Q: How is Jesus the good Shepherd of His flock?

A: The good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. (John 10:11)

God’s Sheepfold (1-5)

God has a plan. In that plan, Jesus has all the preeminence. If this were a play, Jesus would be playing more than one part. When God tells a story about what He is doing, it is not surprising that Jesus shows up everywhere. In John 10, we are the sheep, and Jesus is the Door to the place of safety, but he is also the Good Shepherd who leads us home.

Before we look at each of these ideas more carefully, it might help us to remember that this is all happening in God’s sheepfold. The sheepfold is the place where the sheep belong. You belong to God in a special way. There are those who would try to keep you from God. They would lead you in some other direction. They pretend to be shepherds of God’s sheep, but they are no such thing. They are thieves and robbers. They will not go into God’s sheepfold through the door of Jesus Christ, nor are they willing to suffer for the sheep. They are not genuine sheep themselves, and they are certainly not the one Good Shepherd of the sheep.

When we get to the final gathering place for God’s sheep, there will be no false Messiahs, false sheep, or troublers of the church there. Christ, through His final ascension into heaven, has been fully received into that place by God. He will open the gate for us, and we will be there with this Good Shepherd. We will hear His voice perfectly, and He will know us perfectly. He will call you by your name like He called Mary in the garden by name after His resurrection. He said, “Mary.” Then she knew Him. She said, “Rabboni,” which means “Teacher.” This is what it will be like for you. He will be your complete safety. You will not follow the voice of some false teacher there. You will know that all is well forever, and He will lead you in the right pathway.

It does not always feel that way right now. We are too easily swayed by an impressive voice, an overpowering intellect, an entertaining remark, or a winning personality. Any shepherd who would distract us from Christ and toward himself is not safe to follow. We need those who are continually bring us back to a voice better than their own, to a heart and a mind that is smarter and more faithful than any other, and to a person who is entirely true.

The Door of the Sheep (6-10)

This way of explaining spiritual truths by talking about a sheepfold, a door, and a shepherd is not that difficult for us to understand as readers of the New Testament, but when Jesus first teaches like this, the people listening are confused about what He is saying to them. Jesus goes on to explain these matters further, starting with why it is that He is the door of the sheep. It is through Christ that we enter into the place of safety and fruitful service. When we enter through the door of the Son of God, we are brought near to Him who can take us in and out, like sheep who are brought out to the place of nourishing food, and are brought in again for their security. The sheepfold door is a figure of speech to refer to the entryway into the salvation that is ours in Christ.

This picture of salvation is further developed because of the contrast of the danger of those who would enter by some other door, some false door. With the door of Jesus we have the fullness of life for which we were created. With some other door, like that represented by the Pharisees or by false Messiahs, we are too near to those who steal, kill, and destroy sheep. Jesus is the true door of the sheep.

The Shepherd of the Sheep (11-15)

Jesus is also the Shepherd of the sheep. We do not think of a door speaking, but a shepherd has a voice, a voice that is recognized by the sheep. The true sheep will listen to the Shepherd. But the Good Shepherd is more than a voice. His is a life that is laid down for the sheep. Jesus is ultimately referring to the cross here, but this laying down of His life for us is about more than His final act of obedience. Everything that Christ does in becoming man, and all of His suffering and humiliation is a laying down of His life for us. A hired hand would have quit long before the cross. As soon as he sees the wolf coming he runs away. The most substantial danger that is coming against us is the just anger of God because of our sin. Jesus sees that danger coming against us, and He puts His own life in the way in order to save us from the wrath of God.

He lays down His life for those He knows. Jesus says here, “I know my own and my own know me.” He is not just speaking of his original disciples and friends. He is talking about you. If you are his own child, then He knows you, and you know Him. We may feel that we know nothing of Christ, but if we are the sheep of the risen Lord, then He knows us, and we shall know Him. There will be this relationship of knowing between Jesus and His followers, just as there is a relationship of knowing between God the Father and God the Son.

The Charge of the Father and the Response of the Son (16-18)

This blessing of knowing Jesus and being known by Him was not something for Jewish believers alone. Jesus speaks here of “other sheep that are not of this fold.” He would bring these others into God’s sheepfold. This is what has happened over these many centuries. Through the translation of the Scriptures and the sending of those who would preach the Word, the good news of the Good Shepherd is being proclaimed in all kinds of places. Who is behind these many efforts? Jesus is. In speaking of these of these other sheep He says, “I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.” He has made them all to be one flock with one Shepherd.

What is this Voice that we hear? It is not a secret word of hidden things, but a revelation of the most important love, the love of the Father for the Son in His sacrificial labors. Because the Father loves the Son in the Son’s giving up of His life for us, now we are loved by God in Him. Jesus received a charge, a call to arms, from His Father. He was charged with this sacred mission: to lay down His life in death, and then to pick it up again in resurrection. He had the authority to do this, and this is what He freely did for you.

A Division in Judaism (19-21)

These words added fuel to the fire of division among the various under-shepherds of Judaism who heard them that day. Some were incensed by the exclusive claims of Jesus, claims that they thought were outrageous, even insane. They insisted that Jesus was demon possessed. This group especially included those who were against Him for healing on the Sabbath and for His general lack of enslavement to the religious traditions of Pharisaic Judaism. These under-shepherds, claiming to represent God and Moses, would have vigorously kept people from following the one Good Shepherd of the Sheep. They hated the news that Jesus called good, the news that He would fulfill all of what the Scriptures had promised concerning the Messiah.

There were other under-shepherds there that day, even among their number. They were listening to the words of Jesus and considering the fact that He had opened the eyes of a blind man. Our passage ends with their question: “Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” Jesus was overturning works of evil everywhere. He was not on the team of Satan and His demonic host. Jesus was bringing life where there was death. Those who came to the conclusion that these words about the sheepfold, the door, and the shepherd were not the words of one who was oppressed by a demon were moving in the right direction. They were acting like true sheep, those who hear the voice of the Son of God, the Good Shepherd. Christian Judaism in the first century would have many such true shepherds, and their message would be about Jesus Christ, how He laid down His life for us, and how He picked it up again, and about what all that means for our hope of being in a place of perfect security and fruitfulness, hearing the voice of the Lamb of God, and following Him. Their conflict with Pharisaic Judaism was not a small dispute concerning ceremonial practices. They disagreed about Jesus.

Anytime someone would claim to be a minister of God, but would be unwilling to go through the door of Christ himself, or would insist on drawing people to his own voice, his own intellect, or his own personality rather than to Jesus, such a man is no minister of God at all. He is distracting people from the way of life, no matter how many interesting observations he may have about all kinds of things. Jesus is the only Good Shepherd. True under-shepherds lead people to Him. He laid down His life for us, and He picked it up again.

The way of Jesus Christ is not an evil way. It is not a self-righteous way. It is not a way of hate. It is not a way of fear. It is not a way that is first about us. It is a way that is a Door of life in a world of death. It is way of a Shepherd who knows His sheep by name. It is a way where we hear His voice in the Scriptures, we believe Him, and we follow Him. It is a way of love, love that is willing to suffer. It is a way of resurrection life, since God is not content with anything less than sharing the most pleasant place of sweet fellowship and freedom with His sheep. Every town needs at least one Door like that, a Door for those who will hear and follow the Good Shepherd.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What do we learn about Christ from the metaphors used here?

2. What does He reveal about false Christs and false teachers?

3. What are to we to understand about the agreement between the Father and the Son from these verses?

4. What are the key issues that will animate 1^st century Judaism after the death and resurrection of Jesus?