I Am the Good Shepherd, I Am the Door
This week, Geoff came to speak to us about more of the I AM sayings of Jesus.
In John 9, we have an account of a blind man who was miraculously healed by Jesus. The religious leaders of the day were angered by the event and threw the man out of the temple area. This is the context of today’s passage.
1“I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! 2But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”
6Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, 7so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before mea were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved.b They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. 10The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. 12A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. 13The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.
14“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, 15just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.
17“The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. 18No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”
19When he said these things, the peoplec were again divided in their opinions about him. 20Some said, “He’s demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?” 21Others said, “This doesn’t sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
(John 10:1-21)
There are many references throughout the Old Testament to God being the Shepherd and the people of Israel, the sheep. The most famous of all is Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd”, a passage read my millions through the ages.
Each one of these prophecies points to Jesus, who is now announcing Himself as the fulfilment, THE Good Shepherd. A good shepherd knows what’s best for his sheep, knows the best place for food, shelter and water. Sheep follow a good shepherd and a relationship of trust is built. For us, as Christ’s sheep, we are called to follow Jesus and His will.
Sheep aren’t easy to look after, as there are millions of parasites. They don’t know they’re sick until it’s too late, and they hate having anything done to them to stop them getting sick. A good shepherd carries on regardless and always goes above and beyond for the sheep. It’s the same with Christ for us. As sinners, we still go our own way, yet Jesus never stops chasing us, never stops working in us, bringing Christ-likeness and fruit of the Spirit into our character through blessing, trial and discipline. Sheep need boundaries to keep them safe, and it’s the same with us. Discipline is not the same as punishment. How much better if the sheep obey the shepherd. We need the boundaries of God’s Word to give us freedom, and sometimes a rebuke to keep us on the right path.
Sheep respond to their shepherd and run to them. In Jesus’ day, most families would have a few sheep for meat and milk. At night, sheep from many different families were put into a sheepfold to protect them from wolves and other predators. When a sheep’s owner came to collect it in the morning, the sheep would run to the owner immediately and respond to the call of the owner. As Christians, if we bother to listen, the Good Shepherd is always speaking to us through His Word and various other means.
Sheep are stupidly independent and yet brainlessly follow each other. In Luke 15, Jesus talks about the parable of the lost sheep, and the shepherd carrying the lost sheep home on his shoulders. This sounds very cute, but in reality, carrying a dirty smelly wriggling kicking sheep is a very difficult task. Jesus humbled Himself more than we could ever understand. In the most undignified way, He laid down His life to bring us to God. He chose to lay down His life on the cross and take it up again three days later, to save us from sin and give us everlasting life, because He loves us. He chose to do this for the joy that was set before Him, because He loves us and longs for us to become part of His flock.
The Jewish leaders who threw the man out of the temple also knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. There are many references in the Old Testament about the lazy and greedy leaders that didn’t shepherd the flock of Israel and allowed people to wander from the truth. These are wolves who climbed into the sheep pen without going through the door. This is also a warning to the present day church, as we have people preaching false Gospels of health and wealth, prosperity and ease, while Jesus said we should take up our cross daily and Paul said that we should always carry in our body the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have clergy that tell people that everyone goes to heaven when they die, that hell isn’t real and we don’t need to worry, that Jesus only came to bring a message of love and acceptance, a message of love without judgement. When we have false teachers preaching things like this, the church loses its life and power. This is a warning we all need to heed.
Jesus also says that the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. In Jesus’ day, the shepherd would lie in the gate of the sheepfold to protect the sheep from any wolves that tried to enter. This leads us onto Jesus’ claim that He is the Door. Doors keep us safe, warm, keep thieves out, they’re a statement of boundaries and ownership. Jesus is the living door to the Father. He is the only way we can access God. God could only reveal Himself to us by becoming one of us, by laying aside His infinite majesty and becoming a man. Nobody can come to the Father except through Jesus.
Jesus is the door to salvation. We’re all born as sinners, falling short of God’s perfect law. Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty of our sin so that if we believe in Him as our Lord and Saviour, we will have eternal life, otherwise we will be eternally separated from Him in hell.
He is our door to abundant life. Until we come to know Christ, our spirit is dead and we can only live for ourselves. When we come to know Christ and live for Him, we become like fruitful vines, bearing bunches of fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control. We are able to live a life shining for Jesus.
Jesus is the door to everlasting life. We know we will die one day, and everlasting life doesn’t start the day that we die, it starts the day we are born again.
Jesus is the door to heaven. Our bodies will wear out, but one day we will leave them behind and become safe with Him in heaven.
Jesus longs for us to come to Him through the door and into His care as the Good Shepherd. Please consider the claims of Jesus and trust Him as your Lord and Saviour.