John 10:1-6 (NIV)
“I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.
Remember that chapter divisions were a late addition to the text of Scripture, not devised until the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and sometimes they ended up dividing things that really go together. In this case, Jesus words at the beginning of chapter ten are a continuation of His answer to the Pharisees at the end of chapter nine.
The Pharisees had asked Jesus if they were included in His condemnation of the Pharisees: “those who see will become blind.” Jesus had answered that, since they claimed to be able to see, they were guilty of blindness. To many, that answer seems unnecessarily harsh, since these Pharisees seem to have been interested in following Jesus. But He continues His explanation in what is now chapter ten.
Jesus portrays the kingdom of God as a sheep pen, full of the people that followed God, His flock. The true sheep, as well as the true shepherds of the sheep, come into the sheep pen via the gate. But those who try to sneak into the pen by climbing over the wall are neither true sheep nor true shepherds. Their avoidance of the gate provided by the builder of the pen clearly shows that they are up to no good.
Jesus is equating the Pharisees with both the rogue sheep and the rogue shepherds. Rather than being faithful sheep who follow Jesus into the safety of the pen and out to find safe grazing, they go their own way, claiming to be part of the flock because of their strict adherence to the law. And rather than being faithful shepherds to God’s sheep under their care, they are more interested in what the sheep can do for them by providing wool and meat.
Jesus points out that the true sheep of God’s flock follow Jesus. They realize that He had come as the true shepherd, and they recognize his voice and follow Him wherever He leads. But the Pharisees didn’t recognize Jesus’ voice as that of their shepherd, preferring instead the long-dead voice of Moses (although even Moses had pointed forward to the Messiah who would come). Thus, the Pharisees were indeed blind to the truth of who Jesus was and of how to enter the kingdom of God, even though they claimed to have absolutely clear sight. In fact, they were so blind that they didn’t even understand what Jesus was trying to tell them.
Father, we, too, are not immune to trying to find our own way into the sheep pen, to being counted as one of Your people. We try to earn our admission through good works or self-improvement. And we, too, can fall into listening to shepherds other than Jesus, who will always lead us astray. Help us, Lord to see clearly, to hear truly, and to follow faithfully the voice of our one true Shepherd, Jesus. Amen.