Or, It's Good to Be Sheep
Scripture: John 10:7-10
Date: February 3, 2013
Speaker: Sean Higgins
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John’s Gospel is the gospel for life. He wrote so that we would believe and that by believing we would have life. God loved the world and sent His Son so that all who believe would have life. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Him. Here is says He is the door, the gate to life and abundant life.
The phrase “have life and have it abundantly” in verse 10 is crucial even though unembellished. We will be benefited by considering abundant life as the shepherd’s goal for all His sheep.
Jesus establishes the blindness of the Jewish leaders and contrasts His authority with theirs in this passage. He irritated the religious establishment by giving sight to the man born blind and put the Pharisees on edge. Their leadership style incorporated threats and pressure and fear. When the blind man took all that they could dish out, they kicked him out of the synagogue. Jesus found the man and revealed Himself as the Messiah. He was also revealing Himself as the Good Shepherd.
Chapter 10 continues the discussion from the end of chapter 9. In verses 1-5 Jesus used a figure of speech about sheep in a sheep pen. He introduced us to robbers and thieves and strangers, a gatekeeper, and a shepherd. Though the illustration itself was obvious, the application was not for the Pharisees. They didn’t follow what Jesus was talking about as verse 6 summarizes.
In verses 7-18 Jesus continues to explain and expand the initial picture. It’s all Jesus; John records no responses from the Jews though he does summarize their reactions in verses 19-21. Two images stand out: “I am the door” (verses 7-10) and “I am the good shepherd” (verses 11-18). Both images were introduced in the first paragraph of the chapter and now Jesus combs the tangles out of the wool.
For sake of interpretation, Jesus is not unfolding the figure of the fold in verses 1-5. He’s more riffing on it, teasing out implications of different parts. In verses 1-5 we—who can see—see Jesus as the shepherd. Jesus will identify Himself as the shepherd in verse 11 and following but first He calls Himself the door. That’s unexpected if for no other reason than that a door is not a person.
I’m breaking down the passage based on the following observations. The first division observes “Truly, truly” in verse 1 and in verse 7, plus verse 6 summarizes the leaders’ failure to understand. The second division is verses 7 through 18, but within that section there are two different “I am” statements; “I am the door” verse 7 and “I am the good shepherd” verse 11. We’ll consider verses 11 and after next week. There are two points in verses 7-10 this morning as Jesus says “I am the door” twice, verses 7 and 9.
Jesus picks up a key distinction already mentioned in verses 1-2: thieves and robbers don’t use the door.
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. (John 10:7–8, ESV)
First, Jesus deals with the religious leaders. He repeats Truly, truly because they’re not listening. So…again means that He is developing the contrast in light of their confusion.
Jesus claimed: I am the door of the sheep , the third metaphorical “I am” statement so far in the Gospel (“I am the bread of life” 6:35 and “I am the light of the world” 8:12). Not only can we see Jesus in the role of shepherd and gatekeeper, but He Himself is also the door. In other words, He is the exclusive entry point, the only way in.
It confused me for a while why He would call Himself the door. In particular, I wondered how the door contrasts with the thieves and robbers. “I am the door and All who came before me are thieves and robbers .” How are those opposites? They’re not. The point is that true shepherds use the door. Since Jesus is the door and they’re not using Him, they’re not true shepherds. Because they refuse to acknowledge Jesus, because they do not come into the fold by Him, they are the thieves and robbers coming in another way.
Israel’s history was filled with false shepherds (Ezekiel 34 is one example), those who fed themselves and fleeced the sheep. The very ones Jesus was talking to were protecting themselves and their power rather than caring for sheep. The man born blind was the primary case in point. There were a few exceptions to all who came before me , men such as Moses and Abraham whom Jesus said spoke of Him (see John 5:46-47; 8:39-40). They knew the Messiah was the only gate to God, the only entrance to life, the only mediator between God and man. But these religious leaders did not belong with the sheep because they ignored the only door of the sheep.
The last statement in verse 8 almost seems unorthodox: but the sheep did not listen to them . Here is additional, not to mention radical, confirmation that “you just know.” If you discern and distinguish, you are a sheep. Likewise, if you are a true sheep, you will discern and distinguish. You won’t believe everyone. You won’t follow deceivers. It’s a supernatural work of God that is super. I mentioned last week, we talk about how stupid sheep are but, for all their simplicity, they know their shepherd. Jesus states the fact here as a sign of sheep strength. True sheep recognize false shepherds because they belong with the Shepherd.
Jesus repeats His identity as the door and moves His attention from true shepherds who are restricted to enter through Him to true sheep who do the same.
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. (John 10:9–10, ESV)
The phrase by me or “through Me” (NAS) comes first in the original sentence: By me if anyone enters . He is the gate, the door to the fold. The image is different than in verses 1-5. There the fold or pen had multiple flocks, here there is one flock. There it was important to be called out but now going in is important, then in and out.
This also makes identifying the pen difficult. The pen isn’t death; we don’t want to enter death let alone go in and out of death. The pen doesn’t appear to be Israel either. That interpretation is tempting since later Jesus says that He has “other sheep who are not of this fold” (verse 16), meaning Gentiles. The point appears to be that Jesus is the access point to whatever is good and it is good to be in His fold. Sheepership (compared to membership or maybe pensheepship?) has its privileges, but all the benefits come through Jesus.
The first list of benefits come in verse 9. He will be saved . The emphasis is on safety, protection, defense. Enter in through Him and receive Him as protector. And will go in and out emphasizes freedom. There is belonging and access. Will find pasture emphasizes food and provision. There is safety, freedom, and provision in Jesus and only in Jesus. What do these three things enable? At least confidence, peace, an unbreakable connection to one who can do something about what you need. In Jesus is SECURITY. Jesus will talk about how no one can pluck one of His sheep out of His hand or His Father’s hand in the latter parts of chapter 10 (verses 28 and 29). It is good to be a sheep. More than getting out of trouble, which we do, we get into life.
On the other hand, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy . This is an harmful trifecta. The thief’s intentions are destructive and selfish. The thief comes to steal , he takes what doesn’t belong to him. He comes to kill , which could be translated “slaughter” as in animal sacrifice. Many false shepherds have sacrificed sheep on the altar of ego. And he comes to destroy , he breaks apart and ravages the fold.
Jesus summarizes His intentions at the end of verse 10. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly . This isn’t different than coming to save and lead in and out and provide pasture, it just gets more play in the memory verse rotation.
Jesus came to give life. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). Multiple times in John his coming and His life-giving belong together. We usually think about this as eternal life, which we should, but we shouldn’t think that eternal life means only later-and-forever life. The entering in and going out and finding pasture is not a promise for sheep in heaven only. These are advantages for His sheep now and an “enduring possession” (Lenski, 720).
Have life and have it abundantly is not saying that your best life is now, but it is abundant life now, at least beginning now. The verb may have is repeated to push the point. Abundantly is exceeding the normal amount, remarkable, not normally encountered, more than you’d expect, overflowing. So Jesus says in verse 10 that He came so that His sheep would have more life than necessary. He wants His sheep fat.
What does that look like? In context, who had abundant life? Who was the object lesson in front of them all who heard Jesus’ voice and followed Him even when thieves and robbers were set to destroy him? Isn’t it the man born blind? In what ways did Jesus give him abundant life? Getting his sight resulted in his parents alienating themselves from him. Getting his sight caused him to see the ugliness of the leaders. Getting his sight and saying how it happened caused those leaders to cast him out of the community. In some ways he was more alone than ever. How in the world can we say that he had more life than necessary?
We can at least say that he got more life than he deserved. He wasn’t owed sight, physical or otherwise. It wasn’t sin that caused his blindness but he wasn’t sinless. He deserved death and got life. All who enter by Jesus have more life than they deserve.
He also was pursued by Jesus. For the rest of his life, maybe even now in heaven, he gathers little groups together to tell them his story. “Jesus came to find me. He heard that I was rejected and He pursued me.” Jesus didn’t give Him sight and leave him alone. Forever the man will remember his Shepherd’s gracious pursuit.
His abundant life was not visible to the religious leaders. But he had security. He had the joy of knowing the Shepherd. How much would you pay for Messianic attachment? You couldn’t purchase it if it could be purchased. What would you pay for the same sort of backbone that the man born blind demonstrated with the religious leaders?
A thought for shepherds: Too many shepherds have too low a view of sheep. Shepherds who are eager to criticize sheep do not appreciate how much Jesus blesses His own. Jesus gives His sheep discernment and confidence and abundance of soul. Under-shepherds should be hopefully helpful in believing that the gospel is powerful for the fold. Perhaps they are irritated that the sheep flourish more apart from needing their blessing.
A thought for sheep:
The LORD is your keeper;
the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The LORD will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
(Psalm 121:5-8)
There is no disappointment for anyone who walks through this gate into Christ’s fold. He is no life miser. He wants His fold to flourish. It’s good to be sheep.
Jesus saves us for something. He saves us for life.