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John 10:1-21
April 10, 2011 - 5th Sunday of Lent
Rev. William A. Huegel
Norwich FBC
people being the sheep and God being our shepherd is a re-occurring theme in the Bible. In
addition to Psalm 23, which we read this morning and which many of you know by heart, there is
Psalm 100:3 “Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His. We are His
people, the sheep of his pasture.”
And then there are these: Mark 6:34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had
compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them
many things.
1 Peter 2:25 For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd
and Overseer of your souls.
Hebrews 13: 20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought
back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with
everything good for doing his will, ....
But the idea of the Lord being our shepherd is masterfully developed by Jesus as we read in John
10. In Verse 7 Jesus says, “I am the gate” (to the sheepfold) and then in verse 11: “I am the good
shepherd”. I used to think of those as two separate images, but they two images of the same
thing. In order to understand all that, we need some background. So, let me explain.
In the days of Jesus, and long before, sheep herding was a very common way for one to make a
living. Sheep provided both meat and wool used for clothing in a day and in an area that did not
build fences to keep the animals in.
while the sheep grazed. It was a quiet way of life - most of the time. It got a little exciting if a hungry wild animal came along,
like a wolf or lion. Then the shepherd needed to scare them away, and if an animal was insistent on attacking his sheep then he
needed to be very brave and defend his sheep.
In the Spring, after the winter rains, there was a lot of grass growing and providing good pasture was not a problem. But
summer was the dry season and weeks, even months could go by with no rain. The longer the dry season, the more difficult it
became to find adequate grass for the sheep. So, the shepherd would need to lead them farther and farther out into the
mountains. It was common for the shepherd to be away from home for weeks at a time.
Nights became a challenge, because shepherds, like all the rest of us, need to sleep. But how are you going to protect the sheep
from hungry wild animals who would love to have fresh mutton for dinner, if you are asleep? Well that issue was dealt with in
a couple of ways. One way was to work with other shepherds.
They would take turns staying awake. It worked best if there were 4 of them. One would be on watch from sundown, about 6:
00 pm and would stay awake until 9:00. The next would take the second watch from 9:00 - midnight. The third would watch
from midnight to 3:00 a.m. and the fourth would watch from 3:00 until sun-up about 6:00 a.m.
That’s the setting of the Christmas story, when angels came to shepherds out on the hillside watching their flocks by night.
They were taking turns watching each others sheep while others slept. When the angels came, it was probably during the first
watch of the night when they were all still awake.
The other way of taking care of sheep was to build a protective building out of all the stone that was laying around in that
mountainous region. There was more stone than there was wood. So, they build large circular walls - out of stone. They didn’
t have roofs on them. Roofs weren’t needed. It didn’t rain much in the summer. So they just built walls about 6 or 7 feet high.
They tended to crown the top of the walls with thorns or sharp rocks, to prevent intruders from coming in over the walls.
The opening of this “sheep fold” was narrow. Just wide enough for a person or a sheep to enter. The shepherd would count
his sheep, one by one, as they entered in through the narrow door of the sheep fold at the end of the day. When they were all
in, he would sit or stand in front of the door (like a watchman) to prevent any of the sheep from leaving, and keep anyone or
anything from entering the sheep fold.
When it was time to sleep, the shepherd would lay down on the ground, in front of the door. So, any sheep that might wander
out at night, would have to step on him first. That would wake him up and he would push the sheep back away from the door
and go back to sleep.
If the shepherd heard a noise from outside the sheep fold - if he sensed that anything or anyone was trying to get in, he would
grab his staff - much like a club, (and perhaps his knife) and his body would fill the door way. He literally became the door.
Nothing was coming into the sheep fold while he was there without his permission. If it was another shepherd needing shelter
for himself and his sheep for the night, he simply needed to identify himself, and get the shepherd’s permission to enter the
sheepfold. He would step aside and let him in.
If it was a robber, he would have to deal with the shepherd. If it was a wild animal, it would have to deal with the shepherd.
The Shepherd was willing to do battle with whatever was out there. The Shepherd was willing to lay down his life for the
sheep, if necessary. Because you see, these were his sheep. These sheep were his livelihood. It was how he took care of his
family. To attack his sheep was to attack the welfare and well-being of his family. The shepherd was not about to let anything
happen to them. If necessary, he would risk his own life for the sake of the sheep. He would literally, lay down his life for the
sheep.
On the other hand, if he had been hired to take care of another man’s sheep, well that was a different story. He would take good
care of them - it is what he was paid to do. But if his own life was at risk, he was not going to die for someone else’ s sheep.
Thus it was well known among shepherd, that when “the wolf attacks the flock ... the hired shepherd runs away because he is a
hired hand and (ultimately) cares nothing for the sheep”. This was simply a way to make a few dollars.
But the good shepherd was the owner of the sheep. He would lay his very life down for them. Jesus said, “I am the Good
Shepherd.” “I am the Door to the sheep fold. Whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out and find
pasture.” (his needs will be cared for) And anyone who tries to come in any other ways is a thief and a robber.
Vs 14 says “I am the good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me”. ... “And I lay down my life for the sheep. The
reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my
own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.”
And the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders who were listening to this, got it. They understood what Jesus was saying, but they
didn’t like it.
They said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him” (vs 20). Yes! Logically, those were the possibilities.
a) It could be that Jesus was demon-possessed - that is maybe he was deliberately trying to deceive people. The Bible says
that the devil is out to deceive, to steal and to destroy. Maybe Jesus was out to deceive people and that’s a serious charge.
Because if Jesus was simply trying to deceive people, those very souls would ultimately be destroyed because of His deception.
b) Or, it could be that Jesus was raving mad! Logically, it could be that Jesus was not of the devil, maybe He was just a crazy
person. There are those who are delusional. The history of psychiatry certainly knows about them. They are people who think
they are Napoleon, or King Henry, a messiah or God or something. We rudely say, “They are nuts!” And we walk away from
them.
Logically, either of those options were a possibility. When someone says to you “I am the Good Shepherd who lays his life
down for the sheep”; When someone says to you “I am the Door” and “No one enters into the Kingdom of God except through
me, and no one is saved except through me”, You should come to the same conclusion that the Pharisees did. He is demon-
possessed. He is trying to deceive people. Or he is crazy. - Unless, of course, that what this man is saying is true. Unless there
is some kind of evidence that this man really is from God.
c) Verse 21 raises that third alternative. “But others said, ‘These are not the sayings of man possessed by a demon.” He is
logical. He makes sense. You can tell people when people are crazy, or delusional, or just plain evil. And that wasn’t Jesus. So
many things that He said made sense. They simply added up. And besides there was the issue of the miracles Jesus did. And
that’s the question the end of verse 21 raises: “Can a demon open the eyes of the blind”? It didn’t take a man with a doctorate in
theology to answer that one - no! Of course not!
The only possible conclusion left, is that Jesus really was who He said he was. He said that He was the Good Shepherd who laid
down his life for the sheep. And He said He had the authority of God to take it up again.
On the cross of Calvary, Jesus did exactly that. He laid down His life for us all. On Good Friday He died the most brutal and
painful death known to mankind. But he allowed it. He said to Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, Matthew 26:52 “Put your
sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on
my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be
fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”
Everyone, who hears the Gospel message must decide. They must come to the decision for themselves. Either Jesus is a) out to
deliberately deceive people, b) or he was simply delusional - crazy! Or what He said about Himself is true.
He said that He was the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep.
He said that He was the door through whom people could enter - through whom people must enter into the Kingdom of God.
His death on the cross of Calvary, on which Jesus hung and cried out, “Father forgive them, they do not understand what they
are doing”, that death opened the door of forgiveness and grace through which everyone of us must pass in order to enter into
the Kingdom of Heaven. That’s what Jesus said. That’s what the Gospel of John wants us to know.
- No one else who ever lived - died, so that all who believed may live.
- No one else who ever walked on the face of the earth, so loved us that they laid down his life.
- There are other good teachers.
- There are other good philosophers.
- There are other good people who were moral and upright.
But there is no one else of whom said,
• “I am the Good Shepherd”,
• “I am the Door to the Kingdom”,
• “I am the Light of the World”,
• “I am Bread of Life”,
• “I am the Water of Life”.
CS Lewis said, in his book, Mere Christianity in response to the idea given by some, that they don’t believe Jesus was God, but
that he was a good moral teacher: "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great
moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of
hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut
Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense
about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."
A. Either He was demonically deceptive.
B. A raving mad lunatic,
C. Or He was God in the flesh, who has come to sacrifice Himself, so that you and I might have eternal life.
We must choose! What will we do with Jesus? What will you do? You can reject Him; turn Him off; Walk away! or cry out,
“My Lord and my God” and accept Him as your own Lord and Savior.
If you do that, your life will be gloriously changed. You will never be the same. You will have new joy and meaning in life.
He will set you on a whole new course.
I recommend to you, Jesus! The Good Shepherd who laid down His life, so you might live.
Let’s pray!