May 3, 2020 Worship Scripture Notes

Scripture Lesson:  May 3, 2020                    John 10: 1-10

10:1 Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit.[A]

10:2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.[B]

10:3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.[C]

10:4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.[D]

10:5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers." [E]

10:6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. [F]

10:7 So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. [G]

10:8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. [H]

10:9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. [I]

10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."[J]

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[A] Farming metaphor.  This is how Jesus commonly taught.  He would look to the things of life around them, select something they all knew and had in common, and use that language to make the point of his parable or his preaching.

[B] If we know the language of Jesus, if we understand the metaphors he used, if we are familiar with the popular metaphors about Jesus that have come to us from the faith, we may immediately settle on the word “shepherd” as the key concept that Jesus is going to use in this story.  After all, he is the Good Shepherd.  Yet we will come to understand that is not the case in this passage.

[C] Shepherds would take their flocks out in the morning to graze throughout the day.  At night, they would bring them back to a communal pen, fenced in or in a naturally bounded holding area, where the sheep would be kept in one big herd for safety and security through the night, under the guard of the gatekeeper.  Each sheep knew the voice of the man (or woman) that fed them, and they would come when the shepherd called in the morning to graze for the day.

[D] The shepherd takes the lead.  With his rod and his staff he leads them (see Psalm 23).  (part of the reason why it is SO easy to think of Jesus as Shepherd in this passage).

[E] Sheep are plant eaters, herbivores, who are commonly the meals for other creatures.  It is natural that they would run from whatever and whomever they do not know.  Their first instinct is that this is a threat.

[F] I love this verse.  Jesus speaks to the audience and is waiting for a reaction.  Instead, it seems he gets crickets.  They had no idea what he was talking about.

[G] So Jesus has to be very precise with them.  HE is the gate for the sheep.  Since he does not explain it, the audience probably understood that they were the sheep in this metaphor.

[H]  Notice the shift in language, all those who ‘came before’ are the thieves and bandits.

[I] Thus why Jesus chooses the metaphor of Gate instead of Shepherd.  The Gate is the way by which the sheep go in and out safely.  Jesus is the way (and the truth and the life).  It is through Him that people will be saved and will find proper pasture, that they will live a good life.

[J] This is in contrast to the thieves and bandits, whom Jesus describes as coming before Him-my guess is the leaders of the people, the Priests and the Pharisees and so on, who are supposed to be leading the people to God but are, instead, working for their own enrichment, their own political power, their own interpretation of God’s law.

Rev. Peter Hofstra