John 10:11-21

Hey, everybody. Thanks for being back with us.

Glad to have you on this Tuesday.

We're continuing through the 10th chapter, the Gospel of John.

Yesterday Jesus had some things to say about being the gate.

And today we kind of continue.

That vein started yesterday talking about sheep and shepherding.

And today we move into what I would say Michael is probably

the most beloved image of Jesus.

I am the good Shepherd. And remember,

Jesus in John says seven times, I am and then gives himself a title.

Today we get this one.

Here in verse 11.

And, let me start reading there a read for a few verses,

and then we'll come back and talk it through.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays his life down 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 the hired hand does not care for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd.

I know my own. My own know me.

Just as the father knows me.

And I know the father.

And I lay down my life for the sheep.

I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.

I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.

So there will be one flock and one shepherd.

For this reason the father loves me because I lay down my life

in order to take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.

I have received this command from my father.

Again the Jews were divided because of these words.

Many of them said he has a demon and is out of his mind.

Why listen to him?

But others were saying, these are not the words of one who has a demon.

Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?

So I think it's hard to get past these opening words.

I am the good shepherd without thinking of the paintings.

Jesus carrying the lamb.

The idea of the 100 sheep.

And go to look for the lost one.

This has been one of the signature images I think of Christianity

as it comes to Jesus.

It's it. It's

visible visual.

There's much here, and

I think we have to be careful, Michael, that that doesn't keep us.

The sentimentality of it doesn't keep us from what Jesus is saying here,

especially here in John, where it's not just being a good shepherd.

It's a it's a willingness to sacrifice on behalf of the sheep.

And it and it is a,

a commitment that others do not have.

And so I think we want to be careful as we unpack this, not to be content with,

you know, the old emotional image of Jesus bringing the lost sheep home.

That that's a beautiful idea.

But there's a little more here than that.

There absolutely is.

And I think that that connects

to what we had talked about yesterday at the end of the study there.

And it's a very important bridge into the text for today,

and I want to bring it up here.

We ended on verse ten in the previous study.

Of course, if you missed that one,

I encourage you to jump back, hit the previous button, listen to that study.

But here we are. Verse ten.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly, exceedingly, greatly.

And I just really want to make the point here

that immediately when we start talking about the good Shepherd,

who is the illustration of life and what that life is, you see here

in verse 11 that the good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

So life here, abundant life, the source of it, the fount of it,

is someone who is willing to give up their life for the sake of the sheep.

And that is where we have this amazing kingdom turn that happens

all throughout the Gospel of John.

This book is all about diversions,

about what you would expect right in the beginning.

We start with that idea that light comes into darkness.

We have that sight comes to the blind.

Now, Clint, we have that life is given up

so that life might be extended to the sheep.

And so you're exactly right.

Sentimentality, which it's good to have a comforting image of Christ.

I don't want to take that from anybody, but this is deeper than that.

This is that. Plus far more.

This story is essentially another way

of conceptualizing what Jesus Christ has done.

Yes, we know that Jesus Christ took on flesh like in Philippians.

He left the celestial heights and took on the humble human existence.

Right?

We also know that image of Jesus Christ who is crucified, who dies on the cross.

That's a sacrifice given.

This is another amazing biblical image, one of the many images

that we need to fully understand the gravity of the gospel.

That that life abundantly finds its written source

in the one who is willing to give it up for the sake of those who, by the way,

sheep aren't a particularly grateful animal.

I mean, they don't express emotion, right?

So so the even the image pushes a little against that, that you have Jesus

going out for this creature, that that isn't very good

at caring for itself and caring for it, even though it has an ass.

That's the kind of amazing depth of this image.

Yes, it's meaningful and powerful.

We have lots of sort of cultural images that help us get that mind.

But this this text is theology in a way that we might miss

if we read by it too quickly.

In contrast to

some of modern life,

Scripture is generally unconcerned

with how one feels,

and is typically very concerned with how one acts.

And so the idea here is that Jesus isn't the good Shepherd

simply because he cares about the sheep,

but because unlike anyone else, he will die for the sheep.

He will die for those that he's to take care

of, that he's in charge of that he's charged with.

They know him, he knows them, and he will give up his life for them.

That is that is very different from the idea that good here means

some kind of performative action

that that he feeds them on time and he takes them out for walks.

Good.

Here is so much deeper than the way that we normally hear that word.

I lay down my life for the sheep,

but that is by far what characterizes these words.

I am the good Shepherd.

You know, I don't know what we can do with it.

Michael is,

one of those verses that

has received a crazy amount of attention through the years,

and probably for not the best reasons, but you have here

this next little saying in John, I have other sheep

that do not belong to this fold, and I must bring them all. So

now I've heard that applied to everything

from aliens and extraterrestrials.

If there's a good answer to this, it probably means Gentiles.

Probably.

John is here looking

in the in the church of his day is looking at the reality

of extending the gospel past the Jewish hearers.

And maybe Jesus is here indicating that,

because I will bring them in also and they will listen.

So there will be one flock, whoever Jesus has in mind there.

And again, there have been lots of speculations about who that would be.

The point is that they are going to be one fold under

one shepherd, the good shepherd, and then,

again, the

last part here makes me smile because I think of all the gospel writers,

these would be the words most compelling to John.

No one takes my life for me.

I lay it down, I take it up again.

Nothing ever happens to Jesus by chance.

Nothing outside of his control.

He makes the decisions about even his life and death.

And and John would love these words.

I think given the rest of the gospel, these fit in really well.

Yeah.

And the key linchpin of that here we see right the end.

I lay it down of my own record.

I accord I have power to lay it down.

I have power to take it up again.

Jesus and the Gospel of John is all ways empowered.

He's always the one who has the ability to do what needs done.

So in this gospel, then the fact that Jesus

is the Shepherd who goes out to care

for the lost and the least, that that's a choice that Jesus makes.

That's not an obligation.

It's he's not forced into that position that he's not in some way coerced.

No, Jesus is doing this because he has chosen to do it.

He has the power to make that choice and then to fulfill the needs of that choice.

And I also just want us to to really be clear here

that there would

to keep us from going astray, I think, to keep us from broadening out,

even though we don't exactly know what this other sheep language is about.

Don't miss verse 17, friends.

For this reason, the father loves me because I lay down my life

in order to take it up again.

John is giving you the shorthand here.

Hey, it ain't about figuring out who the other is.

It's about the fact that Jesus is laying down his life.

John is saying to us, hey, this is the main point.

Don't lose the path for the thing that Jesus is trying to teach here.

So I just think, Clint,

this is another example

of one of those texts where people come to the Gospel of John

and they find one thing that may sound really, really interesting

or a little off the wall, and then let their imaginations run wild.

And the thing that they miss in that action is the deep spiritual

hope and truth that comes from this text. Right?

It's the promise that at the end of the day,

Jesus is willing to give up everything so that we ourselves

might not only see what the kingdom looks like,

but that we might receive from him the gift that then he will call us

to give to others.

The witness that we will have as we share with others the truth of what we receive.

And this is the amazing way

that John paints the language that that Jesus is using this sheep shepherd

image to help the people see the extent, the inversion of what Jesus is willing

to do, as opposed to what other earthly shepherds may not be willing to do.

And here John sets that up with, I think, clear distinction.

Yeah.

And then as we move toward the end of the passage, we get kind of

where we always get that there now has to be a decision made about Jesus.

Jesus says a divisive word.

He he presents a case

that some here one way and some here another.

And so he tells us, verse 19 again, the Jews were divided.

Some of them said, he's a demon. He's out of his mind.

We've heard that.

And the other said, these are not the words of one who has a demon.

And then harkening back to chapter nine, can a demon open the eyes of the blind?

And so,

at every turn, I, I, I

don't want to overdo this, and I hope we don't beat it into the ground.

But at every turn in the Gospel of John, when Jesus does or says anything,

there is this aftermath in which there are two camps, and it's John's way.

I think of continually keeping the question

of who is Jesus and what do you believe in front of the reader?

And I think it's it's well done.

It's consistent.

We've pointed out to you with trying not to overdo it,

but no surprise we end this passage with it again.

Don't you think, though, that

this conclusion, if we can separate ourself a little bit,

don't you think it is a surprising conclusion to a modern here?

Because with our images of Jesus, you know, those big stained

glass windows of Jesus with the sheep over his shoulder, right?

This is a such a comforting, touching image.

I think we're all, if we're going to be honest,

a little surprised once verse 19 rolls around.

Whoa. The Jews are divided.

They're claiming that he has a demon.

There's a strong response, right?

I mean, this happens all throughout John, so we're not surprised by that.

At this point.

But one thing that should hit us is what

Jesus is saying to that original audience,

which clearly they heard was a kind of critique.

Right?

This is not just comfort, this is also challenged.

Jesus is also calling out the people who claim for themselves

to be shepherds and say, but the truth is, you're not willing to die for the sheep.

In fact, we go back to our conversation yesterday.

You are sneaking in, not through the gate.

You're sneaking in through other ways.

And who comes in through the fence?

Well, that's robbers, right? That's the villain.

And so here we are beginning to see

that this image, which I think in the modern world, we almost exclusively

think of as being a comforting image, a very pastoral, caring image.

We now discover here that it's also

an unbelievably challenging and pointed

claim against those who would stand against Jesus in his revelation.

So this is another Johannine way, I think, of helping us

understand what Jesus's breadth of claims that actually were.

He he was trying to make it clear

that it's either you're all in on who Jesus claims to be,

or you're someone who is standing outside

of that way, that you're someone who can't see the revelation and you're blind.

And I think that the ending of this text is a fascinating question

that John leaves us with.

I put into the words of these divided people,

can a demon open the eyes of the blind?

And we know.

And John blindness is never just physical.

So that question that can,

who can be the one to open a physical eye, but who also can open

the spiritual eyes of the people to see the truth of who they are?

Well, of course, no one could do that except God himself.

And that's exactly

the answer to that question that John's opening to us and inviting us

to consider and ponder based upon what's come before in this book.

Yeah, I think, you know, you have to

you have to pay attention to what comes

where and the fact that the Jews are divided.

It's not a surprise that the exact line before that is, I have received

this command from my father and you either accept

that as yes or you stand against that as no.

And and this occasions again, a divide and it's.

And we're not done with that.

In tomorrow's passage,

we will continue to to play some of that out.

It's fascinating, I think, to people who grow up in the church,

and I count myself chief among them, how much of the Gospels

are devoted to the divinity of Jesus Christ?

The revelation of Jesus Christ as as the Son of God,

the fact that Jesus over and over and over again

has this language of I received this command from my father

that for people who pray the Lord's Prayer potentially every day

for for people who have become accustomed to the language of father,

I don't think that this strikes us

with the same kind of force that it would have in its original reading

in the first century or the early second century.

There's just this reality that the Christian church understood

the depth of the claims

that were being made about Jesus Christ, that God took on flesh,

that the light of the universe had a human frame, that just

that Jesus was the Shepherd who came, and that that shepherd was God himself.

And not some human teaching, some, you know, good moral teaching that

that the claim embedded in this is a divisive claim.

We know that because of the text itself, John goes out of his way

to make sure we have ample illustrations to prove that point.

But Clint, I think if we were to hear it with its forced today,

we would continue to find it divisive that what Jesus has to say

is a very, very specific and clear point.

And the gospel writers, John does this so exceptionally well,

wants it to be clear that we can't sneak out from underneath

that, that this is what Jesus says, and this is what Jesus says means.

So the question is, so then what do we believe?

And yes,

do we say this often?

I think so I hope that it doesn't become boring.

I hope it just simply emphasizes.

John clearly believes that we need to hear the force of that.

And so John presents it through many, many, many different lenses.

I think in our modern experience, we've carved out

a sort of third way about Jesus, where people could say

he's a good teacher, he's a religious man, he's a nice guy.

He he's not

this or that.

And and that really is outside of the Bible.

I think when you read the New Testament, Michael, you

you have clear decision to make.

Jesus's. Yes.

What Christians in Scripture and Jesus

claims for himself or he isn't.

And I think John helps us maybe clarify

that the Bible doesn't see a lot of middle ground

that would allow you to say, oh no, he means good things.

He's just misguided or misunderstood.

That it's it's more stark than that.

The choice is very much clearer than that in the gospel.

And and maybe it's good to be reminded of that once.

In a while.

I think the scholarly response to that would be, I think that's really the,

uncontroversial sort of reading when you read Scripture as it comes to us.

I think maybe the only scholarly response that you would have to that is, well be

because the church has crafted the Bible to say it that way.

Right. Or some kind of critique like that.

But the point that the Bible is trying to make.

Yeah, yes, it comes through abundantly clear

that earliest generation and then this wouldn't be disputed.

Those earliest generations of Christians believe that this was an essential part

of the family's story, that this needed passed down.

And so it comes to us.

And then the question that remains is people 2000 years

removed, entire continents away, world

changing, history that's happened

before, you know, every generation.

Will we wrestle with these questions?

Will will we engage with who Jesus claims to reveal and who Jesus claims to be?

And and John holds that opportunity in front of us

and and hopefully that this conversation doesn't sound boring,

a repeat of of previous refrains that we've made.

Hopefully it helps us to see it from another perspective.

Yeah.

And I don't mean to insinuate that you can't believe a third thing about Jesus.

I mean, I think there are people

who who claim those other ideas.

I just don't think they're biblical ideas.

I think when the Bible presents Jesus, it presents this choice

that he is or isn't and doesn't allow much

in the way of options in between those two polls.

That's where we find ourself today.

Of course, we need to continue tomorrow, so thanks for spending your time with us

as we continue this study, the Gospel of John, we turn to verse 22 tomorrow.

Till then, give this video a like if it's helped you, it really helps others

find it in their own study of the Gospel of John.

Certainly.

Subscribe if you want to stick with us through this study

or other studies like it, and until we see them, I'll be blessed.