24.10 | One Door; One Shepherd
John 10:1-21
‘There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”’
John 10:19-21
For many people, Jesus is an interesting historical character. His teaching was good, His miracles make nice stories, and He had a kind of anarchistic bent against the powers of the day that gives Him a revolutionary vibe. Few people overtly hate the idea of Jesus.
Our cultural problem is a more insidious one. The problem of our society is less outright opposition of His message; it is simply apathy. It is dilution. It is the tendency to pick those parts of His teaching that easily resonate, whilst leaving out the extremities of His actual claims.
And yet, look at the imagery of His words.
Jesus paints a picture of a sheepfold, a flock, a shepherd and a robber.
A First Century sheepfold was usually a naturally formed area, bounded by rocks, or maybe in a cave, or possibly a walled area next to a house. The shepherd would guard the entrance, keeping intruders or wild animals out, and keeping the sheep in. The sheepfold was their place of belonging, of security, of participation. The sheepfold was a good place to be. The sheepfold, here, represents life in the Kingdom of God. The sheep were kept safe by there only being one way in, and one way out.
I am the Door.
His claim is huge. It is to be the only point of access to the sheepfold — the place of belonging among the people of God, and participation in His Kingdom. He claims that all other attempted routes into the Kingdom are void and impossible — the territory of sheep rustlers and robbers. Any effort to access the Kingdom without the King is futile: He Himself is the gateway to God’s glory.
Jesus then expands the story (unapologetically mixing metaphors as He goes).
I am the Good Shepherd.
His claim is huge. It is to be the one who leads, guards, and nurtures the flock of God. It is to be He who directs the flock to pastures and water, and who fends off enemies that might come to harm the flock. He is distinct from a hired worker, in that He is so devoted to the wellbeing of His flock that He will lay down His life for these sheep. His voice, He says, is known to His sheep — so much so that when He calls, they come running. Participation in this flock is utterly contingent upon that recognition of His voice.
Hear this: Jesus is not speaking words here that fit neatly with postmodern relativism. He is not sharing niceties for a pick n’ mix spirituality — a little Jesus here, a little Buddhism there, with a dash of minimalism and New Age ideologies thrown in. He is declaring that the exclusive Way into the substantial life of the Kingdom of God is Him, and that our direction through this kind of life is only and always learned through lived interaction with His voice.
C.S. Lewis famously wrote that a man who made the claims that Jesus made of Himself would have to be either a madman, a devil, or exactly who He said He was.1
Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane….”
Others said, “…Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”’
Draw this closer to your own heart.
Firstly, be assured. To have responded to His voice is to have chosen to follow. That does not mean you will experience perfect clarity on hearing His voice in every moment. Rather, it means you will have recognised in Him and His words something worth giving your life to follow. You recognised His voice.
Secondly, let Him draw you more deeply in. For your point of pain right now, your questions, your choices, your uncertainties, your longings, hopes, and truest desires can be navigated with a Shepherd who is called Good, and the life that you were most deeply made for does have a Door.
And thus, in this moment, these challenges, these hopes and yearnings and obstacles, you have but one Shepherd, and one Door:
Him.
Reflect:
He is the Door, and He is the Good Shepherd.
Which image do I more greatly need today?
Pray:
Lord Jesus,
Often,
When I find myself in need,
So quickly do I look for
Solutions
Before I look to You.
And yet, Lord, in such moments,
I remind myself:
You are the Door.
There is no entry into life
Except through You.
Lord Jesus,
Often,
When I find myself confused,
I seek another voice—
Another theory, another ideology, another solution, another guru—
And yet, Lord, in such moments,
I remind myself:
You are the Good Shepherd,
And all life comes out of
Following your good voice.
And so Lord,
I come back to you,
And I am ready to follow afresh today,
Unto life, in fullness,
At the pleasure of your voice.
In Your Name,
Lord Jesus,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Nehemiah 8:13-9:38 | Psalm 119:129-144
C.S. Lewis: Mere Christianity, p.52