I am the Door, I am the Good Shepherd. John 10.7-13

I am the door, I am the Good Shepherd.  John 10.7-13

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I am the door of the sheep … I am the good shepherd.   Key words of Jesus from John 10.7-13

Jesus starts this teaching—which is short, but so powerful in understanding our Lord--by saying that he is the door of the sheep…what did he mean?  Well, let’s look again at the care of the sheep, while they were out in the wilderness.

Picture with me a rough outcropping of rocks, arranged as a sheepfold,a place to house a flock of sheep at night in the Judean hills.  Literally, the shepherd would lie down in the doorway to safeguard his sheep . . . from wandering out, from predators, from thieves. Jesus says of himself, “I am the door of the sheep…I am the door.  If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved…”   Jesus is the one who saves, and salvation comes only through him.

Our Lord describes the evil one—the hater of our souls—who comes to “steal, and to kill, and to destroy,” in contrast with himself—in surely one of the most beautiful, hopeful statements in all of Scripture:  “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Next is the distinction between the hireling—the shepherd hired just to tend the flock for a wage—as compared with the shepherd who has raised the lambs from birth, likely from a tender age himself.  The shepherd knows them individually, will risk his life and even give it up for them if required, whereas the hireling runs away, rather than lose his life.  Prophetic to be sure, Jesus says “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep,” which he would soon do.

Every time I read John 10.10, I am challenged by the question: do I live the abundant life that my Lord promised to those who follow him?  ‘What is the abundant life,’ you ask?  It is life filled with meaning . . . life lived with purpose and life lived on purpose—running full out, chest high toward the mark, ready to break the tape at the finish line.  Anything that detracts me from that kind of living—whether it is self-centeredness, worry, or distraction … I need to be aware, comes from the hireling… the thief … and not the One who gives the abundant life ~ the Door, my Good Shepherd.

Christine

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