John 10:1–6
Read the passage.
This chapter seems to be in a weird place. There aren’t any transitions, so it seems like Jesus is simply continuing the conversation He was having. But He was talking with the blind man He healed, and calling the Pharisees who overheard Him blind from their guilt. So it feels awkward to start talking about sheep in sheepfolds and people sneaking in to steal them. However, there is a definite transition in verse 22 to show that time has passed from the Feast of Booths (autumn) to the Feast of Dedication (winter), so trying to read in a transition to the beginning of the chapter wouldn’t be appropriate either.
The actual reasons for Jesus’s speech here is to show how He calls out the elect, those who belong to Him, from among the rest of humanity. Those who hear His voice know who He is and follow, and do not listen to anyone else who comes in with a different message. Indeed, those who do come in with a different message are not shepherds, but thieves, who have to hop the fence to get to the sheep. They aren’t shepherds who are authorized to enter the fold and lead the sheep out.
In the modern West, I dare say most of what most of us know about taking care of sheep comes from the Bible. Relatively few of us know what it means to take care of a farm, much less sheep in particular. Yet, this metaphor seems really easy to grasp. I’ve seen a video that demonstrates sheep knowing their shepherd’s voice, and refusing to listen when other people call for them, but I believed Jesus knew what He was talking about even before I saw it myself. Despite their greater proximity and familiarity with sheep and shepherding, Jesus’s audience didn’t understand what He was telling them, and I find that fascinating.
Jesus had already received death threats for supposed blasphemy. He had just made big public pronouncements about giving living water and being the light of the world, specifically for those who believed in Him. If these people knew this and also how shepherds operate, what was there not to understand in the illustration He was giving them?
The answer is the Holy Spirit wasn’t in their hearts to illuminate it. Just yesterday my wife and I were talking about how you can be so familiar with a passage of Scripture, but all of a sudden you see it with a new understanding so that it becomes even clearer what God is saying in it. Head knowledge and heart knowledge are two different things. As the Lord sanctifies us, this happens over and over, where He shows us our sin more clearly and His holiness more brightly. We gain not just knowledge, but understanding which draws us closer to Him. Mere intellectualism can’t do that, but a change in our spirits.
Speak so that we may hear, understand, and follow You.