John 10:1-21--I Am the Good Shepherd

John 10:1-21
English Standard Version

I Am the Good Shepherd
10 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

​19 There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

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I love this passage and this "I AM" that Jesus calls Himself here.  Jesus is going to contrast Himself, the Good Shepherd who cares for the sheep that belong to Him, with the Pharisees who are nothing but hired hands who do not care for the sheep and they let the sheet get devoured by wolves.  Jesus also calls Himself The Door to the Sheepfold here.  He is the only way into safety and security and the only way out to green pasture.  All those who belong to Him know His voice and follow Him and He knows all the sheep who belong to Him and He will not lose one of the sheep that the Father has given to Him.

This passage not only tells us about Jesus, but it also tells us a lot about authentic Christianity.  Those who belong to Jesus know His voice and listen to it, and they will not listen to the voice of a stranger that they do not know.  In the same way we should hear and obey the Word of the Lord and should not listen to false teachers, false prophets and false apostles, or false Christs.  We also see that Jesus has sheep that belong to Him that are in many different sheepfolds (many different people groups make up the people of God).  All of these people know and understand the voice of their Good Shepherd and listen to His voice and follow Him.

The Pharisees and other Jewish leaders understood that He was saying that they did not belong to Him or to God the Father if they did not listen to His voice and follow Him and that He was calling them bad/fake shepherds that were merely hired hands in it for the money and for themselves and had no interest in protecting the sheep that had been entrusted to them.  They again tried to stir up the people to say that Jesus must be demon-possessed while others said that it would be impossible for a man to do such things such as giving sight to the blind if He were not of God.  In this way Jesus' message was divisive in that it made people make a choice about who He was and there was no middle-ground for them to stand on.