This week's topic: I AM the Door, I AM the Good Shepherd (John 10:1-18)
OT Background: Psalms 118:20 (gates = door); Ezekiel 34 and Jeremiah 23 (cf. Isaiah 40:11; Numbers 27:15-18; Micah 5:4)
NT Fulfillment: John 10:1-18
- Are you an office door opened or door closed?
- Why is there a sheep pen door? Or cattle gate?
READ John 10:1-10.
Synopsis: In John 10:1-18, Jesus makes two of the I Am sayings together. He claims He is the both the door through which the sheep enter as well as the Shepherd who knows the sheep and lays down his life for them. The metaphor of the door does not have the rich OT background as shepherding imagery does. But, Jesus is both the only way (door) a person enters into the people of God and the one who gives his life for the life of sheep, whom He knows and protects. He is the one who gathers the sheep and cares for them (shepherd) and He’s also the means by which they enter and are kept safe (door).
Jesus is talking to the Pharisees in this conversation. The claims to be a good shepherd and Israel’s true shepherd was (in part) a rebuke against them. As the influential teachers in Israel, they should have led the people to truth. They should have put the people before themselves. They should serve God’s agenda rather than their own. But the Pharisees are like the bad shepherds in Ezekiel 34 and Jeremiah 23, leading them astray through false doctrine, prioritizing themselves over the sheep, and abusing them. Through this metaphor, Jesus at once lumps the Pharisees into the camp of the false prophets and bad shepherds of the OT while claiming to be the true and good shepherd those same OT passages promised (Ezek. 34:11-16, 22-24; Jer. 23:3-4).
Jesus comes not to pile burdens on but to relieve them and carry them himself. Jesus comes not to scatter the sheep but to gather them. Jesus comes not to devour the sheep but to defend them. Jesus comes to seek out, rescue, heal, and feed the sheep. He will do so because He loves the sheep and they belong to him. This is proven and accomplished by him giving up his life for his sheep.
READ Ephesians 6:10-12 & 1 Peter 5:8
- What is the goal of the enemy/thief/devil?
- What happens to a sheep who is not in the protection of the door?
READ Psalm 138:7, and 2 Thessalonians 3:3
- God is a protector. How have you felt God’s protection in the past?
- How might we, as Jesus’ sheep, learn to be more attentive to His voice, and less easily deceived by those who seek to harm us?
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