John 10:11–21 - The Good Shepherd
- Chad Werkhoven
- 12 minutes ago
- 5 min read
You must keep yourself with in earshot of the Good Shepherd.
Gospels: Week 8 — Mercy, repentance, and the Good Shepherd
CONTEXT: Once again Jesus finds Himself in heated conflict with the Pharisees. Jesus has already utilized several metaphors related to sheep - a long held symbol for God's people - in which He casts the religious establishment as posers and even thieves while showing Himself to be the true shepherd of the sheep.
As Jesus continues to talk, His intensity only rises...
John 10:11–18 (NASB95)
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 is not the owner of 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 is not concerned about the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”
19 A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?” 21 Others were saying, “These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?”
Canons of Dordt
Point II, Article 8: The Saving Effectiveness of Christ’s Death
...it was God’s will that Christ through the blood of the cross:
should effectively redeem from every people, tribe, nation, and language all those and only those who were chosen from eternity to salvation and given to him by the Father;
that he should grant them faith...
that he should cleanse them by his blood from all their sins, both original and actual, whether committed before or after their coming to faith;
that he should faithfully preserve them to the very end;
and that he should finally present them to himself, a glorious people, without spot or wrinkle.
Summary
Jesus' familiar claim that I AM the good shepherd comes in a series of seven instances in which John records Jesus appropriating to Himself the holy, divine name the LORD introduced Himself to Moses with from the burning bush: I AM who I AM, which in Hebrew is pronounced Yahweh. So it's no wonder that the religious establishment of the day - men who loved parading the externals of God's law, like protecting His name - were about to blow a gasket.
But Jesus does nothing here to de-escalate the situation. In fact, He keeps ramping things up. It might be tempting to conjure up in your mind a cute and cuddly scene as Jesus here talks about sheep, but the reality Jesus faced in the moment was anything but. He's already accused His opponents of being thieves, robbers and strangers. He goes on in today's passage to set them up as cowardly hired hands, who see the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, allowing the wolves to snatch and scatter them.
So far in His ministry, the crowd following Jesus has done nothing but grow larger and larger. But now divisions begin to occur because of these words. Some of them begin to write Jesus off as having a demon and being insane. Their outright dismissal of Jesus because of His words isn't surprising - most of society has done just that all throughout history, just as they continue to do so.
What's surprising is the reason that others in the crowd give for continuing to follow Jesus: He had opened the eyes of the blind, something that a demon cannot do. That's certainly true enough, but it's as if they totally missed the point Jesus was making. They don't stick with Him - for the time being, at least - because He's the good shepherd, but because of the material things they think that He might do for them.
Why do you continue to follow Him in our divided world?
Dig Deeper
Jesus isn't simply setting Himself up as the protector and provider for His people when He says I AM the good shepherd. He's unpacking His purpose in coming into this world, and it wasn't to just heal a few sick people or calm a few storms. He came to lay down His life for His sheep, a purpose so important that He repeats it twice.
Jesus makes clear that He's not an unwilling victim in doing so. He will be the one to voluntarily lay down His own life. Nobody's going to take it from Him. But His self-sacrificial death won't be the end of the story - it will be just the beginning, for just as He laid His life down, He will take it up again.
Jesus' words here also help explain one of the Bible's most difficult doctrines, which has come to be known as limited atonement. As the Canons of Dordt put it, Jesus came to effectively redeem... all those and only those who were chosen from eternity to salvation and given to him by the Father. Jesus explains that He knows His own sheep, and they know Him.
Jesus teaches here that salvation from the good shepherd is audibly transmitted. That is, it comes to those who hear His voice. This means that, as a sheep, you must keep yourself with in earshot of your Shepherd. Make sure you stay close to it throughout the week by continually immersing yourself in Scripture, and then especially on your day of rest, be certain to gather with the flock to sit under the sound of the Good Shepherd's voice as His under-shepherds proclaim it to you from His Word.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who commanded His Son, the Good Shepherd, to lay His life down and take it up again for us, His sheep;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will stay close to your Shepherd so that you continually can hear His voice;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
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