“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.”
In this passage, Jesus offers a third parable about sheep. In the first one (John 10: 1-6) Jesus is the shepherd. In the second parable (John 10: 7-10), Jesus is the gate to the sheepfold. In today’s passage, Jesus is again the shepherd, but this time he draws a distinction between the good shepherd and the bad shepherd.
Therefore Jesus said again, ”Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
In the first parable (verses 1-5) the key elements are a shepherd, a gate, sheep, and the thief. In this second parable, we have the gate, the sheep, and the thieves. It is getting harder to ignore the obvious point Jesus is making. Instead of speaking of himself in the third person, he changes tactics and speaks in the first person: “I am the gate…” There are only two other groups in this parable; the sheep and the thieves. Where does that leave the Pharisees…? Even they must have been able to pick up on that!
Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. ”Very truly I tell you Pharisees…” but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
Understanding requires a willingness to see something that you have not seen before. Sometimes being able to “see” something you have not seen before requires letting go of your present point of view – at least for a moment or two.
The Pharisees held firmly to the point of view that they were God’s chosen people and that they, in particular, were chosen to keep control of the rules that others had to live by. Jesus did not follow their rules (man’s rules) and instead followed rules that they did not recognize (God’s rules).
For the Pharisees to understand what Jesus was telling them, they would have to at least pretend for a moment that Jesus could be who he says he is. If they could have done that, they might have been able to understand what he was saying to them.
But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.
Jesus continues the parable about the sheep with this verse about loyalty. It seems to me that Jesus is talking about a level of relationship that is not intellectual. Sheep are not known for being deep thinkers. Can you imagine sheep thinking abstract thoughts? A sheep wouldn’t be composing Shakespearean plays or pondering mathematics. A sheep just is.
And yet, a sheep knows who to trust and who not to trust. Jesus said, ”Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19: 14) There is a kind of similarity between sheep and little children. While neither one is going to have deep thoughts, they are clearly able to tell the difference between someone they trust and someone that they do not trust.
This weekend we are babysitting our youngest granddaughter. She is only about one year old, and yet she has the spirit of a Viking and a voice to match. She is not happy that Mom has left her alone for the weekend with someone who is not Mom. If a little child and a sheep can know who to trust, why should it be so hard for you and I to know the same thing?
Life as an adult is complicated. We sometimes listen to the wrong voices and think wrong thoughts. We move away from the simplicity of childhood and get lost in the cacophony of competing voices that surround us as we get older. Sheep and children don’t have that problem. Yet Jesus tells us that the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who simply know.
The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.
This little story is a parable. Jesus is offering his listeners insight into the truth about who he is. In the story, we see the relationship between the shepherd and his sheep illustrated by the familiarity of the shepherd’s voice. Like a fingerprint, each person’s voice is unique. The sheep, whether they can see him across the sheepfold or not, recognize the voice of their shepherd.
“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.”
Chapter 10 of John’s Gospel might be called the Sheep Chapter. Jesus talks a lot about sheep in the next few verses. Back in the time of Jesus, the Jewish diet was relatively simple. Lamb was a main source of protein as many foods we take for granted today were considered unclean under the Mosaic laws.
Sheep were also a very important part of temple worship. The Levitical laws had many instructions related to the preparation of sheep for sacrificial offerings, what parts would be burned completely, what parts of the meat could be eaten by the priests, and whether or not an ordinary Israelite could eat of the meat.
Jesus said, ‘’For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, ‘’What? Are we blind too?” Jesus said, ‘’If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”
The prophet Isaiah quotes God as saying:
”As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)
This verse comes to mind as I ponder the meaning of Jesus’ words. It seems to me he is speaking metaphorically about blindness and sight, but he has also just healed a blind man and so he illustrates his point literally.
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, ”Do you believe in the Son of Man?” ”Who is he, sir?” the man asked. ”Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, ”You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, ”Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
The man born blind had never seen Jesus. He had heard his voice, but that was before Jesus knelt down to put mud on his eyes. He heard his command to go and wash, but he had no idea what to expect. He was just doing what he was told.
To this they replied,”You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
You know that you have won the argument when your opponent gets so spittin’ mad that they resort to calling you names and throwing you out. It is instructive to read between the lines here and see how the man who was formerly blind responds.
“We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” The man answered,’’Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing’’
Do you remember who is speaking here? This was a poor blind man begging beside the road when Jesus found him. When asked why he was born blind, Jesus replied, “… so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
