John 10
Jesus continues in John 10:1 by telling a story in answer to the Pharisees question in John 9:40 “Are we blind also?” The story goes like this “if you haven't entered into the sheepfold by using the door then you are a thief and a robber and you have no chance of discerning the shepherds voice when the gate keeper opens the gate of the fold to the shepherd who then calls His own sheep by name in order to lead them out to pasture.”
What Jesus is saying is the sheepfold is a place of safety and the way out is through the gate or door. The door is only opened to the shepherd because he is known by the gate keeper and when the door is opened the shepherd calls his sheep out in order that he can lead them to pasture in order that they can get food.
What I like about this little section is that Jesus wants us all to have the freedom to go out and come in to the sheepfold in the knowledge that there is complete safety when the shepherd is there leading the sheep. Those sheep that know the shepherd have nothing to fear as they graze freely in open pasture, content in the security that is provided by the presence of the shepherd.
As a farmer at heart I can really appreciate this story. What we know about sheep is that they are quite stupid and nervous by nature, they are not like cattle which generally, by nature are far more inquisitive and less nervous.
For example if you entered a field of sheep they instinctively will head in the other direction and huddle together and try to escape from you what ever the cost, unless of course, you are the shepherd, who they know, and who has come into the field rattling a bucket of nuts and calling them to himself, they will come running towards you because they know you and have security in your presence.
Jesus is saying that is what it is like, my sheep know my voice because they have been led into the fold, through the door by me and through me. It is I that have come to lead them out in the same way that they entered. Any one else who tries to lead my sheep out by some other route is a thief and a robber.
Jesus says in John 10:16 “I have other sheep that are not of this fold, I must bring them also so they can hear my voice...” The door is the way in and out of this fold which has one shepherd and Jesus plainly says is one fold and there is only one door, the door he became through his death and resurrection.
You may be asking at this point, 'what is the fold, is it heaven or just a safe place for us to hole up when life gets tough?' I don't think that Jesus told this story with the intention of making the fold some kind of aspirational place where we can find safety at the end of our physical lives. I believe what Jesus is saying is “you want safety and security now, in this present moment, then you have to come through me into this place of sanctuary and we can walk in and out together, and find pasture that will enrich and sustain you and in the confidence and security of knowing that I will look out for you”.
Jesus is very clear with what he is saying. Remember he is still speaking to the religious leaders who are supposed to know God and who also claimed to understand scripture. They had just witnessed a blind man receive sight and yet when hearing this story about sheep in a fold waiting for their shepherd they still fail to grasp the truth. So Jesus goes on and in John 10:7 he says “I am the door of the sheep.” This fold is not some kind of place that is for the afterlife, it is not about fitting us or preparing us for a heaven somewhere else, it is all about enabling us to live freely and to confidently go in and out and find pasture in the safe knowledge that the “good shepherd” is here with us.
Jesus says in John 10:10 that he has come to give us life and not only give us life but enable us to have life in all it's fullness, a life in abundance. This is freedom now, oh what joy. It is only when we grasp this verse in all it's reality that we begin to live a life of abundance. At this point I want to be clear that does not mean a life of health, wealth and prosperity. I believe abundant life means a life that knows the purpose for which it was created. Our created life has the sole purpose through out eternity to bring glory to the non-created being we call God. We are given life in order for us to radiate God's wonderful goodness and grace.
To live this “abundant life” we first must enter through the door that is Jesus, into the fold. That implies that there are other souls in the fold who have not entered through the “door”. We then need to find our security in a world that is volatile, selfish, ruthless and violent inside this sheepfold we call home. The only way to do that is to recognise that God in all His glory has come down and has made a way so that we can freely go out and in to the fold in order to find pasture without the fear of getting lost.
There is no other way to an abundant, fruitful life than to give up the fight and scramble of trying to get into the fold by some other means but to accept Christ and enter through his wonderful provision of sacrificed life.
Isaiah 43:1 says “Jacob I have created but Israel I have formed.” Just like Jacob we are a project in formation, entering the door into the security of the fold, giving up our struggle to find happiness outside of Christ and His care is part of the formation.
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