The Good Shepherd
The Good Shepherd
John 10:1-21
Main Idea: Jesus is our good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.
I. The Voice of the Shepherd (10:1-6)
The conversation from chapter 9 continues into this passage, and Jesus invokes common first-century images for his hearers: shepherds and sheep. Jesus presents himself as the “Good Shepherd” contra the “false shepherds” (the Pharisees / religious leaders) who are “thieves and robbers,” using spiritual violence to harm the flock of God (cf. 9:34; Jer. 23:1-4; Eze. 34:1-10). They prove themselves to be false in both their motives and their methods.
Jesus comes to fulfill the promise that God himself will shepherd his people (Eze. 34:11-16; Isa 40:11). The shepherd proves himself to be “true” because his “sheep hear his hear voice… and the sheep follow him” (10:3-4). Ancient shepherds went out “before” the sheep, not driving from behind, in order to gently guide them to safety (cf. Rom. 8:14).
How do we hear and respond to the distinct voice of our Good Shepherd and “flee from thieves and robbers” (10:5)?
God’s Spirit (1 Cor. 2:11-16)
God’s Word (Heb. 4:12; 2 Tim. 3:16)
God’s People (Col. 3:16)
II. The Invitation of the Shepherd (10:7-10)
Since they "did not understand what he was saying” (10:6; cf,. 9:40-41), Jesus expands his metaphor: “I am the door of the sheep.” In the Ancient Near East, shepherds would often lie down across the only entrance to the sheep pen, functionally serving as the “door.” The only way in and out was through him (cf. 14:6).
As the “door” of the sheep, if anyone enters through faith in Jesus, they will find three things:
Salvation (10:9a)
Safety (10:9b; cf. Ps. 23:2-3)
“When a man is in Christ, he can hear, as it were, the devils howling like wolves, all fierce and hungry for him; and his own sins, like wolves, are seeking to drag him down to destruction. But he has got in to Christ, and that is such a shelter that all the devils in the world, if they were to come at once, could not harm a single beam of that eternal refuge.” ~ Charles Spurgeon, “The Only Door”
Satisfaction (10:10; Ps. 23:1): “abundant life” is less about having stuff and far more about having Jesus. John 17:3: And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
III. The Care of the Shepherd (10:11-18)
The Good Shepherd’s care for his flock is:
Protective (10:11-13)
This level of protection and care was needed for the flock because sheep were both vulnerable and valuable. Unlike the “hired hand” who is just performing a job, Jesus cares for the sheep as his own, with his “rod” and his “staff” (Ps. 23:4).
Personal (10:14-15)
Jesus grounds his personal knowledge and intimacy with the sheep in his eternally perfect relationship with the Father. The relationship between Jesus and the Father is unending, unsearchable, and omniscient, and this has spilled over in love to the sheep that belong to the fold of God.
“Think what this comparison says about the relationship between Jesus the good shepherd and those so mercied as to belong to his flock. No one could know us better than Jesus, who knows every time we have hated, everything we have contemplated, and the filth we have articulated. And he loves us anyway. No one has been with us longer than Jesus, who with the Father knitted us together in the womb of our mother. No one has been truer to us than Jesus, telling us what we did not want to hear, always true to the truth. No one has shown more commitment to our good than Jesus, traveled further to redeem us, suffered more indignity, endured greater pain, made better promises, and in every way shown himself worthy of all we have and are. Oh, how he loves us!” ~ James Hamilton, ESV Expository Commentary (John)
Pursuing (10:16)
Jesus' shepherding work is also “outwardly” focused and missional; while he begins by gathering his flock from the Jewish people, he has “other sheep who are not of this fold,” speaking of the Gentiles. Jesus emphasizes that he must bring them in also, so there is “one flock, one shepherd.”
Propitiatory (10:17-18)
Four times in this section, Jesus emphasizes that he is the Good Shepherd precisely because he will “lay down his life for the sheep” In this atoning, sacrificial, propitiatory act, our Good Shepherd voluntary becomes our "sacrificial lamb” on the cross, who then conquers sin, death, and evil once and for all as he “takes up [his life] again.”