The Word Made Fresh
1“The truth is that anyone who sneaks into the sheepfold instead of entering through the gate is a thief and a crook. 2The shepherd is the one who enters through the gate. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him and the sheep hear his voice. He calls the sheep by name and leads them out. 4He brings out his own sheep, then walks ahead of them and they follow him because they recognize his voice. 5They’ll run from a stranger whose voice they don’t recognize.” 6Jesus used this as a figure of speech, but they didn’t understand what he was telling them.
7So, Jesus continued and said, “The truth is that I am the gate for the sheep. 8Those who came before me were thieves and crooks, but the sheep didn’t follow them. 9I am the gate, and whoever enters through me will be saved, and can come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief only comes to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might live, and live to the fullest. 11I am the good shepherd, the one who lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand, but not the shepherd, sees the wolf coming and runs away; then the wolf attacks the sheep, and they are scattered. 13The hired hand doesn’t really care about the sheep, and so he runs. 14But I am the good shepherd. I know the ones who belong to me, and they know me. 15In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16But I have other sheep as well, sheep that don’t belong to this fold, and I must bring them, too, and they will recognize my voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd. 17The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to live again. 18No one takes my life – I give it; it’s my decision. I am authorized to lay it down and to take it up again as my Father has ordered.”
19Once again, the Jews were divided over what Jesus was saying. 20A lot of them were saying that he was insane; that he was demon-possessed. “Why would anyone listen to him?” they were saying. 21But others of them said, “This isn’t a demon speaking. Demons can’t open the eyes of the blind, can they?”
22It was wintertime, and the festival of Hanukkah was being celebrated in Jerusalem. 23Jesus was walking in the portico of Solomon in the temple. 24The Jews confronted him and asked him, “How long are you going to keep us guessing? If you are the Messiah, tell us!”
25Jesus replied, “I have told you, but you don’t believe me. The things I do in my Father’s name, they are my proof. 26You don’t believe me because you don’t belong to my sheep. 27My sheep recognize my voice. I know them and they follow me. 28I give them the gift of eternal life. They will never die, and no one can take them from me. 29My Father, who is greater than everyone, has given them to me and no one can take them from my Father’s hands. 30My Father and I are as one.”
31The Jews began gathering stones again, preparing to stone him to death. 32Jesus said to them, “I have demonstrated many good works that I received from my Father. For which of them are you going to stone me?”
33“We’re not going to stone you for any good works,” they said, “but because of your blasphemy. You’re human, but you’re making yourself out to be God.”
34Jesus replied, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I say that you are gods’? 35If those to whom God’s word was given were called ‘gods’ – and you can’t deny the scriptures – 36how can you say that the one the Father has blessed and sent into the world is blaspheming simply because I say I am God’s Son? 37If what I’m doing is not the work of my Father, then don’t believe me, but believe the work so you’ll know that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
39They tried to arrest him again, but he managed to escape them. 40He left and went across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing, and stayed there. 41But a lot of people came to him there. They said, “John did no miracles, but everything he said about this man is true,” 42and many of them believed in him.
Commentary
1-6: Jesus continues to confuse his detractors by using figures of speech that confound them. Here he introduces a picture common throughout the Israel of that day. There are three “characters;” the gatekeeper, the shepherd, and the sheep. The Jews don’t understand the scene, but with the gift of being able to read ahead we can figure out most of it. At this point we can at least discern that the sheepfold represents Jerusalem (or perhaps all of Israel, or perhaps the world); the sheep are the common people; the gate seems to represent the teachings through which the sheep enter into life; and the shepherd represents Jesus (he says so in verse 11). The identity of the gatekeeper is uncertain. The stranger probably represents the religious leaders with whom Jesus has been sparring.
7-10: Jesus now identifies himself as the gate, and the religious leaders (whom the people have largely ignored) are the thieves and bandits. The thieves and bandits seem to be the equivalent of the stranger in verse 5.
11-18: The vignette abruptly moves away from the safety of the sheepfold out into the wild and dangerous countryside where the shepherd is willing to lay down his life for the sheep. Clearly, Jesus is referring to his own willingness to die for the sake of the people. The hired hand in this part of the metaphor is the equivalent of the stranger in verse 5 and the thief in verse 10 and the religious leaders who are opposing Jesus.
19-21: Jesus is benefiting at the moment from the division among the Jews; some think he is demon-possessed, while others are not so sure in the face of the miracle of the blind man’s healing.
22-31: Most of John’s gospel takes place in Jerusalem. The other gospels set the action primarily in Galilee, and basically have Jesus in Jerusalem on only one occasion (not counting the incidents in Luke when he is an infant and when he is twelve years old). We are told in verse 22 that he has returned to Jerusalem in the wintertime for the festival of the Dedication (Hanukkah). The Jews press him to declare whether or not he is the Messiah, but of course Jesus does not give them a straight answer. Still, it is pretty clear that he is claiming the authority of the Messiah even though he doesn’t say the word. When he says, “The Father and I are one,” they take it as blasphemy and for the second time start picking up rocks to heave at him.
32-39: This time Jesus tries to reason with them. At first he throws them off balance by asking for which of his miracles he deserves to be put to death. They, of course, aren’t going to kill him for his miracles (although they have been put off more than once by his penchant for healing on the Sabbath). They are going to kill him because, they say, it is blasphemous to put oneself on a level with God. He in turn quotes Psalm 82:6 to demonstrate that his claim to be God’s Son is not his own claim but God’s. That tact only infuriates them more, and perhaps a rock or two flew in his direction at that point. Jesus somehow makes his escape.
40-42: Jesus momentarily relocates to Bethany beyond the Jordan where John had been baptizing (see 1:28). There, a safe distance from the authorities in Jerusalem, his fame and his following grow.
Takeaway
We, like sheep, sometimes go astray. But we are always offered redemption through Christ if we accept it and are willing to bend our will to his will.