John 10

The Good Shepherd (John 1-21)

The teaching continues the theme in chapter 9. The Pharisees, blind leaders of the blind, and therefore pretence shepherds, do not enter the sheepfold by the door (which is finally Jesus (v.7)) but are trying to climb in some other way, avoiding facing up to what Jesus is. That is clearly only something done by thieves and robbers. The one who uses the door is the shepherd of the sheep. Jesus is the One Who points to Himself as the door. He is therefore the shepherd of the sheep

The gatekeeper (the Father) opens to Him, and His sheep recognise His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out. When He has brought out all His sheep He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. They will not follow a stranger but will run from him, for they do not recognise the voice of strangers.

The imagery would be well known to all His listeners. The sheepfold, was often constructed of thickets and hedges, but this would appear to be a more permanent and larger, one with walls as well, presided over by a gatekeeper. The fold, the entry way, the gatekeeper who has overall charge of the communal sheepfold when the shepherds are away, the response of sheep to a particular shepherd who knows his sheep personally and has names for each one, all would be familiar.

The message is clear. The sheep recognise the voice of the shepherd and will only follow Him, and He brings out all His own sheep. There are those that have been given to Jesus by the Father and they are the ones who follow His voice and hear Him. Every one of them is safe, for they are His, and He will not let them be destroyed.

But perhaps it is clear to us through familiarity. Those who heard this ‘figure’ (paroimia - ‘it suggests the notion of a mysterious saying full of compressed thought rather than that of a simple comparison’ (Westcott)) did not understand it (v.6).

The shepherd is also a familiar Old Testament picture. God will send David (i.e. the Messiah - Ezekiel 34.23; 37.24 compare Jeremiah 23.4) to be His shepherd, and God Himself is the Shepherd of His own (Psalm 23; 80.1; Isaiah 40.11). Especially poignant is the description in Zechariah 13.7 where His appointed shepherd, who stands next to Him, will be smitten and Zechariah 11.7-14 where God’s appointed shepherd, rejected by the people, receives his wages of thirty pieces of silver and casts them into the treasury. (And there are those who believe that the set Scripture readings in the synagogue laid emphasis on the shepherd passages at this time).

10.1 “In very truth I tell you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold where the sheep are, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.”

Those who do not enter by the entrance are those whom the porter will not accept. The entrance is God’s way in. But men will try to win adherents by many methods rather than submit to God’s method. And what is God’s way in? It is the way of ‘grace’, of undeserved favour, of approach through His mercy and the pattern of sacrifices that He made available, offered in faith and trust, bearing their sin, as they receive forgiveness by faith, and finally replaced by the sacrifice of Christ Himself. He is the way in.

But the Pharisees had turned the way into a way of rules and regulations, a way of hardship and difficulty. A way that barred the route to many. A way that was even impossible for themselves. They did not use the entrance. They tried another way.

10.2 “But he who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.”

John the Baptiser was a shepherd. There were undoubtedly others who were shepherds. But the supreme example was Jesus Himself. It is He Who points men to God through faith in Himself.

10.3 “To him the porter opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

God, the Porter, opens the way for this Shepherd. God is happy with Him and His work. But God does not open to everyone for they would be harmful to the sheep.

And the sheep respond to Jesus’ call. Each of them is known by name and He leads them out. Here we learn the infinitely loving relationship between Christ and those Whom He calls by name, those who respond to Him.

10.4 “When he has put forth all his own he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”

This is the test of which sheep are His. They follow Him. And they can do so confidently, for as they go on the way they know that He is constantly before them. And they continually respond to Him for they know His voice.

Jesus probably had in mind here the prayer of Moses in Numbers 27.15-18. ‘Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out and who may bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep which have no shepherd." And the Lord said to Moses, 'Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him”.’ It is not without significance that the name ‘Joshua’ is the Hebrew for ‘Jesus’. Moses gives way to Jesus.

10.5 “And a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

This is a second test. They have within them a spirit of discernment so that they can discern the false from the true. They know, seemingly instinctively, through the Spirit, the right and the wrong way to go. They may sometimes become confused, but the confusion is never permanent.

10.6 ‘This mysterious saying Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what things they were that he spoke to them.”

They did not have centuries of understanding behind them. So they were puzzled. They did not know what He meant.

10.7 ‘Jesus therefore said to them again, “In very truth I tell you, I am the door of the sheep.”

He makes it plain that in the end there is only one way in. Soon we will have the third of His great ‘I am’ sayings (verse 9). He is the way in because He is the bread of life (6.35), because He is the light of life (8.12). In the end He is the only way to the Father. No man can come to the Father except by Him (14.6).

10.8 “All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.”

There have been false Christs and false teachers, under whatever guise, but they did not gain wide acceptance by the true people of God. The ‘all’ refers to those who in one way or another have taken advantage of the people’s expectations, pointing in the end to themselves rather than to God. Thus it refers to those who have sought to replace Him as a Saviour by propounding other ways of salvation, something that Abraham, Moses and the true prophets never did as He has previously made clear (John 5.39,46; 8.56).

They include the Pharisees who point to another way of salvation through keeping the Law in accord with the dictates of the Rabbis, false Messiahs who have periodically appeared, false prophets who point elsewhere than the true way, of which many are mentioned in the Old Testament (e.g. Jeremiah 50.6; Ezekiel 34.2-10; Zechariah 11.15-17), false priests who emphasise the ceremonies more than their meaning, or other religious figures of any kind who offer salvation apart from Christ.

10.9 “I am the door. By me if any man enter in he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”

‘I am the door of the sheep’ (v.7). Jesus is both the good shepherd and the door. Very often this would be literally true of a Middle Eastern shepherd. Once his flock were safely in the sheepfold he would lie across the entrance acting as the protecting door. But the main stress in Jesus’ illustration is on the door as being the only way in, although later he will refer to the shepherd who acts as protector and gives his life for the sheep (v.11).

‘The door of the sheep’, rather than of the sheepfold, stresses the personal nature of His attentions. He is their personal protector.

Those who respond to God, coming through Jesus Christ, will find a saving welcome. They will become acceptable to God through Him.

‘Go in and out and find pasture’ - once they have entered through the door they can freely enjoy the benefits and protection provided by their Shepherd.

10.10 ‘The thief does not come for any other reason but that he may steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

The thief is now contrasted with the shepherd. The thief is pictured in terms of a thieving wild beast who breaks into the fold to ravage the sheep. The thief ‘comes only to steal, kill and destroy’ (compare Jeremiah 23.1-2). The men who are pictured in this description would not have thought of themselves in this way, but sadly this was the result of their behaviour. The way the Pharisees had treated the healed man, blind from birth is one example of their depredations. He discerned between the different voices and followed the shepherd.

But, says Jesus, ‘I have come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly’ (v.10). He is the Bread of life (6.35), the Water of life (4.13-14; 7.37-38), the Light of life (8.12), now He is the lifegiving Shepherd. To receive that life by full commitment to Him is to enter and be saved and to enjoy abundance of life.

10.11 “I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

He is good in contrast to the bad shepherds. He does His job thoroughly, watches over His sheep constantly, has deep affection for them and in the end is ready to give His life for them.

As we know, this is what in fact He did, but His listeners would not know that, although they would recognise the picture of One Who had deep concern for His sheep. 10.12-13 “He who is a hireling, and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling and does not care for the sheep.”

The way of the good shepherd is in contrast with the hired shepherd who is not known by the sheep, for the hireling is careless as to their welfare and flees when danger comes (v.12). This is because the latter does not have any affection for the sheep (v.13). They do not reject the shepherd, but to them there are more important things than Him and His sheep, the way of self-seeking.

We are not to try to decide who is a hireling and who is a thieving wild beast, although the murderous element among the Pharisees, and the later persecutors are included in the latter. The pictures cover all who profess to speak in God’s name but fail to fulfil a true ministry, some because they reject the Way in, others because their hearts are self-seeking, really fixed on something else. There have been many such through history, and alas, there are many such today, often even revered as they tear the hearts out of the sheep.

10.14-15 “I am the good shepherd, and I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep’.

The relationship between Jesus and His own is likened to His relationship with the Father, and nothing could be closer than that. What an incredible privilege that is. The idea is of an intimate, personal two-way relationship which cannot be broken. He knows them. They know Him. It is like the relationship between the Father and the Son.

Then He emphasises that He will indeed lay down His life for the sheep. For their safety and their deliverance He must suffer and die, such is His love for them.

10.16 “And I have other sheep which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they will listen to my voice. And they will become one flock and one shepherd.”

Jesus here refers to the Gentile (non-Jewish, non-Samaritan) world, not according to the Jews included in the promises to them, although having a promise of secondary blessing through their ministration in the future. But Jesus sees the Gentiles as part of the one flock, and of equal importance. At this stage the shepherd has widened to include His disciples, for it is they who will mainly carry out this ministry. (Just as the Servant and the Son of Man are titles that refer to Jesus and to the people of God). But it will, of course, be through the empowering of Jesus.

‘They will listen to my voice’ - this is a firm rebuke to those who should have listened and have not done so, as we have seen in earlier chapters. In contrast to them there will be those among the despised Gentiles who will be more fully responsive than those who should have heard.

‘Them also I must bring.’ It is a divine urge, a divine necessity. God’s love is for the world (3.16).

‘And there will be one flock and one shepherd.’ In Christ there are no grades, all are one in Christ Jesus. Jew, Samaritan or Gentile, black, yellow or white, male or female, all are equal in His sight and are to be equal in each other’s sight.

10.17 “This is why my Father loves me, because I lay down my life, in order that I might take it again ”

The Father is as interested in and concerned about the sheep as He is, and responds in full measure to His Son’s action in giving His life for the sheep. But that will not be the end, for when He has died He will take back His life by resurrection. Thus, unlike in the natural world, the sheep will still have their Shepherd to watch over them, (and because He has risen they too will rise again at the last day).

10.18 “No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it again. This commandment I received of my Father.”

Now Jesus makes clear that what is to happen is not finally in men’s hands but in His. ‘No one takes it from me, but I lay it down by my own decision and choice.’

‘I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it again.’ ‘Exousia’, translated power’ has in fact a wider sense, it includes the idea of freedom to do so as well as the ability and power. It is totally under His control.

Through all that is to happen Jesus will retain full control. The Judaisers may think that they are in control. They may plot and scheme as they will. But He is not in their hands. Everything is in His own hands. He has the power to live or die as He chooses, and if He dies He has the power again to raise Himself.

‘This commandment I received of my Father.’ In all this He will be acting according to His Father’s will. It will not be easy, and at times He will long that He could withdraw (‘not my will, but yours be done’ (Mark 14.36), but He will obey His Father by His own choice. And by His own power He will rise from the dead. (Elsewhere we are told that God raised Him from the dead (Acts 2.24; 1 Corinthians 15.15; Ephesians 2.6) but here we learn it was in His own power. Of course there is no contradiction. When He raised Himself it was God Who was raising Him. The Godhead act as one.

10.19-21 ‘There arose a division among the Judaisers, because of these words. And many of them said, “He has a devil and is mad, why do you listen to him?”. Others said, “These are not the sayings of one possessed with a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?”

His words cause division between the Judaisers. It is often overlooked that they were not all against Jesus. Some were clearly almost convinced that He was from God. Some said, ‘He is demon-possessed and mad. Why listen to him?’ But others said, ‘These are not the words of a demon-possessed man. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind’. The latter echo their own officials, ‘no man ever spoke like this man’ (8.46). They are impressed both by His teaching and His actions, especially the opening of the eyes of the man blind from birth. The growth of belief among some of the Judaisers is an interesting aspect of John’s Gospel, but they were ever the minority.

The Feast of Dedication (10.22-42).

10.22 ‘And it was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter.’

The feast of dedication was a winter festival and celebrated the rededication of the Temple in 165/4 BC by Judas Maccabaeus, after it had been desecrated by Antiochus Ephiphanes. The Jews saw it as an amazing act of God on their behalf, and it would be a time of great expectation as they hoped that He would act on their behalf again to bring them political freedom.

It was winter’. This comment is probably intended to be seen as significant (compare 13.30). The summer days had passed and the chill of winter was on Jesus’ ministry. The mention of the Feast of Dedication may be intended to hint that there is about to be a new purifying of the Temple by its destruction and replacement with the new Temple of God, His people.

10.23-24 ‘And Jesus was walking in the Temple, in Solomon’s porch. The Judaisers therefore came round about him and said to him, “How long will you take away our life? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly”.’

So when the Judaisers find Jesus walking in the Temple area in Solomon’s collonade they gather round Him, saying ‘How long will you keep us in suspense?’ or, literally, ‘How long will you take away our life?’ The idea behind ‘taking away their lives’ is that He is withholding from them what is their very life (compare Lamentations 4.20), the opportunity of following the Messiah, thus keeping them in suspense.. It is significant that it is in fact the other way round. They are seeking to take away His life. Yet in the end they are right, for they may in the end lose their very souls at His hands.

What their full intentions were we do not know. Perhaps there were some who were becoming convinced that He was a man sent from God of some kind or other, without actually committing themselves to Him. These were probably ready to commit themselves if He proved to be the kind of Messiah they were looking for. But there were others who inwardly hated Him and were seeking His downfall. These were trying to get Him to claim to be the Messiah and cause unrest to spring up among the people, a sure way to ensure He was arrested and put to death.

It is interesting that here these Judaisers confirm the fact of the ‘Messianic secret’. The fact that Jesus did not portray Himself openly under the name of ‘the Messiah’.

Possibly, in the excitement stirred up by the feast, had He made the claim to be the Messiah firmly and clearly they would have sided with Him against the Romans. There were, as we know, many who were impressed by Him. But either way this was not what Jesus had come to do.

10.25 ‘Jesus answered them, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these bear witness of me’.

They have not listened to what He has been saying, nor rightly interpreted His amazing acts of power. They will possibly follow Him if He takes up the sword, but not when He heals men and opens the eyes of the blind, not when He calls men to receive life and become transformed. These are the works that He has come to do. They declare what kind of Messiah He is, as based on Isaiah 61.1. (While this did not specifically refer to the Messiah, Jesus happily applied to Himself all references to the coming of a future figure who would bring about God’s purposes as part of the Messianic expectations).

10.26-28 “But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me. And I give to them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will be able to snatch them from my hand.”

What they need to do is to forget their preconceptions and acknowledge Him as He is, and fall into line with His words. But this they will not do because they are not of His sheep.

Those who are destined to be His are revealed by their response and by their actions. They have an ear to hear. They have a will to obey. As His sheep they are known to Him personally, and they receive eternal life and listen to Him and obey Him. They do not fit Him into their own pattern, but submit themselves to His will and purpose. And their reward is that Jesus will give them eternal life and full certainty and security.

But two dangers always face sheep. One is that they will wander off and become lost, and perish of starvation and cold, or at the hand of wild animals. The other is that, while the shepherd is not watching, wolves will snatch them away and devour them. Neither is possible for His sheep, for He keeps them and watches over them constantly, and if necessary seeks them until He finds them (Luke 15.4). They are totally secure in His hands.

It is interesting that Jesus likens His people to sheep. They are helpless creatures, rarely aggressive, and unable to cope on their own. Thus does Jesus demonstrate the total dependence of His own on Himself as the shepherd. They are to be trustful and quiet like sheep, while not failing in their responsibility to follow Him, even, if necessary, to a cross (Mark 8.34; Matthew 16.24).

10.29 “My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand’.

This security is made all the more certain because the One Who is Almighty, His Father, has given them to Him and watches over them. No one can snatch them from His hand. Those who are truly His and have been destined to receive life as a result of the Father’s choice and gift, are eternally secure. But their certainty lies in the fact that they are hearing His voice and following Him. On the one hand He keeps them safely, but on the other their lives reveal that they are being kept.

(There are a number of minor variations in the ancient authorities on this verse but the general sense is clear).

10.30 “I and the Father are one.”

‘One’ is not in the masculine but in the neuter, thus indicating that He does not mean one person. He and His Father always act in perfect unity. Thus when He protects His sheep, so does His Father. When He saves them, so does His Father. All their acts are in synchronism. While the stress is on their unity of action, however, this very fact demonstrates His unique status. Who, who was not divine in essence, could so synchronise with the Father?

10.31 ‘The Judaisers carried stones to stone him.’

Some of the Judaisers recognise what He means and are inflamed. This is blasphemy! Whatever their motives at the beginning they have lost control, for they pick up rocks to stone Him. But this is not the way in which He must die, so He seeks to calm the atmosphere.

Stones would be available in the Temple area because building works were still in process. The verb suggests they went across to where these were going on and brought the stones back with them. Or it is even possible that they already carried them ready for this moment which they have precipitated.

10.32 ‘Jesus answered them, saying, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” ’

Jesus answers their anger. His words are subtle and to the point. He draws attention to what they cannot deny, the miracles He has publicly wrought which all men agree are good and are from God. They cannot deny them, and yet these testify of Him.

10.33 ‘The Judaisers answered him, “We are not stoning you for any good work, but for blasphemy, and because you, being a mere man, claim to be God”.’

Modern men argue about the Aramaic and the Greek as to whether Jesus was really claiming to be God, but these scholarly men who know and speak the language have no doubts. They know what He is saying. And according to their viewpoint they are right, but only because they have not listened to His words and considered His works and followed Him in full recognition of His status. There is no question that Jesus has made clear His unique position ‘on the divine side of reality’, and that at least they have recognised. And had their hearts been right they would have acknowledged Him.

Notice how easily they dismiss the works. All others marvel at what He has done, but not these men. Their minds dismiss them almost before they happen. To them the theology of words is more important than the signs that reveal Who Jesus is. Their minds are fixed in the past and unchangeable. They cannot believe that Moses can be superseded.

However, His hour has not yet come so He challenges them to rethink.

10.34-36 ‘Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods’? (Psalm 82.6). If he called them gods to whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world ‘you are blaspheming’ because I said I am the Son of God?’

‘Law’ is here used in the wider sense of the Scriptures, God’s instruction. The description ‘your Law’ brings out the great emphasis they place on them. The phrase in the Psalm pictures God sitting among the judges of Israel, calling on them to deal justly and protect the weak. Thus they are, as it were, standing in the place of God. They are the council of God, giving God’s verdict, speaking God’s words. They are, as it were, ‘gods’.

So even weak, mortal men (and the Psalm makes clear that is what they are (v.7)) can be called ‘gods’ when they hear His word and act and speak in His name. They are acting in unity with God. Furthermore God is delivering His word through them. So the application of the term ‘god’ to such a person is not looked on as blasphemy. Indeed it is Scriptural. (Jesus reinforces this by reminding them that by their own interpretation not a single passage of Scripture (he graphe) can be broken but must be held in its entirety).

Not that Jesus is just comparing Himself with these men. He is the One ‘whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world’. He is not just a man hearing God’s word and passing it on. He has been uniquely set apart by God and sent into the world to deliver God’s word. Indeed, as we know from John 1, He is God’s word. He is the Son of God, a messianic title given deeper significance by Jesus. Thus He has even more right to have the term ‘god’ applied to Him. Why then do they accuse Him of blasphemy?

So the contrast between these judges and Jesus is apparent. The word came to them, but He is the Word. The judges were selected from among the people and consecrated but Jesus was uniquely prepared above and consecrated, and then sent. The judges were ‘sons of the Most High’ but He is the Son of God, the only-begotten.

It is clear that Jesus is now seeking to stop their precipitate action by confusing them with words and making them think again. On the whole the time for reasoning with them is past. He has made clear the truth about Himself and they have rejected it. So let them go away and think over all He has said. Perhaps then they will see that He is in fact greater than the judges who receive God’s word and act for God, greater than the kings of Judah who stood in for God on earth. But that has been revealed in His teaching and His ‘works’, not by the application of the term ‘God’. Yet He does not want them just to go away and say ‘Oh, he is just a man after all’ so He continues.

10.37-38 ‘If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do do them, then believe the works even though you do not believe me, so that you may know and go on knowing that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father’.

Look at what I have done, He says, and think about it. Ask yourselves where I have received this power from, and why I am doing what no one else has ever done. Jesus knew all along that to blatantly claim to be God would be futile. He would have been ridiculed, arrested and stoned to death, or treated as a madman. First He had to demonstrate Who He was by His acts of power and His depth of teaching. Then He had to wait for it to dawn on them little by little.

So let them think again over all He has said and done. Then let them recognise that this can only mean one thing, that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father. There is an essential unity between Him and His Father which can be expressed in no other way. They are one. Thus having disarmed them by using their own exegetical methods, He now reaffirms His uniqueness.

So He has declared, “I and my Father are one”, that He is the One Whom His Father ‘sanctified (set apart for a holy purpose) and sent into the world’, that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father, that He has power to lay down His life and take it again. Has He not done what they asked, revealed clearly that He is the Messiah, even if not the type they were wanting?

‘Know and go on knowing.’ This is the aorist and present tense of ginosko - that you may come to know and go on knowing. However, in place of the latter verb ‘and believe’ has fairly strong support in the manuscripts. The point, however, is the same. He wants their complete response.

His words have succeeded in their purpose. They have puzzled the Judaisers sufficiently for them to calm down a little. But that does not mean that they believe Him, for they once more try to arrange for His arrest.

10.39 ‘They sought again to take him and he went forth out of their hand.’

They did this by some of them leaving and arranging for Temple police to make the arrest, but once again He escapes them. While the crowds are with Him they will have a difficult time finalising an arrest without a riot. This is why later they will recognise that they can only do it in a lonely place late at night, in Gethsemane.

10.40 ‘And he went away again beyond Jordan, into the place where John was at first baptising, and there he abode. And many came to him, and they said, “John, indeed, did no sign, but all things whatever John spoke of this man were true.” And many believed on him there.’

Meanwhile Jesus leaves Jerusalem and crosses the Jordan to where John had originally baptised Him and others, and there He remained. Perhaps He drew strength from thinking about His experience at that time, and the word that His Father spoke to Him then.

‘And many came to him, for they said, ‘John performed no miracle, but everything that John said about this man was true’. The powerful testimony of John is bearing its fruit. Though most of the Judaisers will not listen, those whom the Father has given to Him will come to Him. And here are some of them. Their comment that John performed no miracle is due to their recognition that here is a greater than John. Their belief is in contrast with the wavering of some of the Judaisers.