Parable of the Good Shepherd — John 10:1-21

  • A beautiful parable, but what is the point and why does it make people so angry?
  • In the context of the previous story and particularly the O.T. background in Ezekiel it becomes clearer.
  • But the most important question is how it applies to us now?

 

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“Flock of sheep”

Flock of sheep
  • Commonly taught that there are no parables in John
    • Actually there is just one

John 10 – I am the Good Shepherd

  1. “I tell you the solemn truth,
    the one who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.
  2. But the one entering by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3To him the doorkeeper opens,
and the sheep listen to his voice.
His own sheep he calls by name
and leads them out.
  1. When he has brought out all of his own,
he goes ahead of them,
and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.
  1. But a stranger they will never follow , but will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”
  1. Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
  1. So Jesus said again, “I tell you the solemn truth,
    I am the door for the sheep.
  2. All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
  3. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture.
  4. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.
  1. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
  2. The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep,
sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees,
and the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters.
  1. Because he is a hired hand and does not care about the sheep.
  2. “I am the good shepherd.
(I know my own and my own know me
  1. just as the Father knows me and I know the Father)
and I lay down my life for the sheep.
  1. I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold. I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock and one shepherd.
  1. This is why the Father loves me
because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again.
  1. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will.
I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again.
This commandment I received from my Father.”
  1. Another sharp division took place among the Jewish people because of these words. 20Many of them were saying, “He is possessed by a demon and has lost his mind! Why do you listen to him?” 21Others said, “These are not the words of someone possessed by a demon. A demon cannot cause the blind to see, can it?”
  • Why does it get such a strong reaction?
  • Here are some pictures of folds:

“Small Fold”

Small Fold

“Michmash fold”

Michmash fold

Three aspects:

  1. The True and False Shepherds
  2. The True Sheep
  3. The Self-sacrifice of the Good Shepherd

1. The True and False Shepherds

  • This is why they didn’t like it.

Ezekiel 34

  1. The word of the LORD came to me:
  2. Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them — to the shepherds: “This is what the sovereign LORD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock?
  3. You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep!
  4. You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled over them.
     
  5. They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast.
  6. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them.
  7. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:
  8. As surely as I live, declares the sovereign LORD, my sheep have become prey and have become food for all the wild beasts. There was no shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock, but fed themselves and did not feed my sheep,
     
  9. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:
  10. This is what the sovereign LORD says: Look, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from their hand. I will no longer let them be shepherds; the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore. I will rescue my sheep from their mouth, so that they will no longer be food for them.
  11. For this is what the sovereign LORD says: Look, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out.
  12. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day.
     
  13. I will bring them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign countries; I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and all the inhabited places of the land.
  14. In a good pasture I will feed them; the mountain heights of Israel will be their pasture. There they will lie down in a lush pasture, and they will feed on rich grass on the mountains of Israel.
  15. I myself will feed my sheep and I myself will make them lie down, declares the sovereign LORD.
  16. I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick…
    …
  17. I will set one shepherd over them, and he will feed them — namely, my servant David. He will feed them and will be their shepherd.
  18. I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken!
    …
  19. And you, my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are my people, and I am your God, declares the sovereign LORD.”
  • Those are wonderful promises at the end, and we will come back to them
  • Also we have to see the context of John 10.
    • The previous chapter has an amazing healing of a man born blind
    • Jesus put mud on his eyes, and he washed them and could see
    • So the Pharisees arrested the man for the crime of having been healed
    • John 19:24–39
  • God is angry when people are abused like this
    • God’s heart goes out to them
    • If you have been mistreated, God’s heart goes out to you if you have been.
  • Are there still “thieves and robbers”?
    • In John’s first letter he warns them about them and says:
    • “many false prophets have gone out into the world” 1 John 4:1
  • One of the main characteristics from the Ezekiel passage is making excessive amounts of money off God’s people.
    • Do we still have those today?
  • But I think this includes anyone in society who says they are trying to help you but are actually trying to rip you off.
    • Businesses
    • Advertising
    • Entertainment industry
    • Politicians
  • Not everyone is bad, but none of them are true shepherds
    • None of them can deliver!

2. The True Sheep

  • In the middle east, even today, sheep follow the shepherds.
  • Quote from Historical Geography of the Holy Land

“On the boundless Eastern pasture…

…the shepherd is indispensable. With us sheep are often left to themselves. I do not remember to have seen in the East a flock without a shepherd. In such a landscape as Judea, where a day’s pasture is thinly scattered over an unfenced tract, covered with delusive paths, still frequented wild beasts, and rolling into the desert, the man and his character is indispensable.…

(G. A. Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 25th ed. [London: Fontana] 210—11).

“On the boundless Eastern pasture… cont’d

Sometimes we enjoyed our noonday rest beside one of those Judean wells, to which three or four shepherds come down with their flocks. The flocks mixed with each other, and we wondered how each shepherd would get his own again. But after the watering and the playing were over, the shepherds one by one went up different sides of the valley, and each called out his peculiar call; and the sheep of each drew out of the crowd to their own shepherd and the flocks passed as orderly as they came”

  • The response of Timothy the cat:

Timothy

Timothy
  • What does this mean, that true sheep are the ones that hear Jesus’ voice?
  • In Hebrew, the word for hear and respond is shama
  • Shama story:
  • Many of Jesus’ parables are about hearing
    • “Take heed how you hear!”
  • This is how you become a Christian!
    • You recognize that Jesus’ words are the words of truth
    • He calls and you come
    • Something in you knows that he really is the Good Shepherd
  • He is calling you this morning:
    • Simply tell him you want to follow him instead of following the thieves and robbers
    • and ask him to make you one of his sheep

Mark 4

  1. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
  2. And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you.
  3. For to the one who has, more will be given…
  • If you are faithful with a small amount, Jesus will give you more
  • e.g. Gordon wants to get more from his daily Bible reading...

Hearing Jesus

  1. Practice listening to what he sounds like
  2. Make sure you are following the Shepherd in what he has already spoken
  3. Be open to correction or redirection

3. The Self-sacrifice of the Good Shepherd

  • Look at what God says:
    • v10b—16a

Ezekiel 34

We have such a wonderfully good Shepherd!

  • He had given his life for us
  • We are secure!

Our Response

  • Very clear if you are not a follower of Jesus
    • Jesus never turns away sheep that come to the door of the fold and want to be let in
  • If you are one of his sheep, you need to have a felt sense of his presence now as your shepherd.
  • I’m going to read v10b-16a again and I want you to just allow the voice of Jesus to speak to your heart!

Psalm 23

  1. A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
  2. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
  3. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
  4. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
  5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
  6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

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