April 26, 2026 Sermon

Sermon Title:  “The Shepherd of the Sheep”

Scripture:  John 10:1-10

(Other lectionary suggestions include Acts 2:42-47, Psalm 23, and I Peter 2:19-25.)

John 10:1-10

Jesus the Good Shepherd

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. 2The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

          Jesus as the Good Shepherd is a very popular way of thinking about Jesus. There is even a hymn that proclaims “The Lord’s my Shepherd.” One of our lectionary choices for today was the 23rd Psalm, and perhaps it was even written by King David, a thousand years before Jesus was born. We like that image of Jesus protecting the sheep. There is even a famous painting of Jesus carrying home a lost sheep.

          There is a preacher by the name of Jake Hooker, writing on the Providence Presbyterian Church’s website, who says that Jesus refers to himself as the good shepherd and also as the door - and then he points out that Jesus can’t be both a shepherd AND a door! Hooker says, “What we learn from this passage is that the good shepherd Jesus offers each of us abundant life. He is the door we must pass through in order to receive spiritual nourishment, protection, and guidance, because there are thieves and robbers who want to lead you and me astray.” Just who are those thieves and robbers? It could be that Jesus was referring to the Jewish religious establishment of his day. We read from Chapter 10 today, but in Chapter 9, the religious elite excommunicate the guy Jesus healed from his own synagogue! And they also excommunicated his parents!

          So, what Jesus is doing is drawing a distinction between himself, the good shepherd, and those who were so jealous of their own power and influence that they’d rather drive away a believer than have him embrace Jesus.

          Here is part of Rev. Jake Hooker’s sermon titled “The Door to Abundant Life” from the Providence Presbyterian website:

          This morning, we’re looking at the verses leading up to Jesus’ famous statement, “I am the good shepherd.” And that passage is so famous that we often forget that there’s a second “I AM” statement that comes before it in verse 7. Jesus says, “I AM the door.” No doubt, the two “I AM” statements are deeply interconnected, after all, Jesus makes both “I AM” statements in the context of his sheep/shepherd metaphor.

          And because there are two “I AM” statements essentially right next to each other there’s a temptation to blend or combine their meaning. After all, how can Jesus be a shepherd and a door at the same time?

          But here, I must pause to offer a word of interpretive caution. With any biblical parable, metaphor, simile, or allegory, there is a temptation to over interpret the text and assign every little detail meaning. And so, it’s important that we analyze the details of biblical figures of speech appropriately.

          When Jesus says he is both “the door” and “the good shepherd” he is using two analogies in order to help his listeners better understand the nature of who he is and what he came to do. He’s a door because he is the way to salvation. He’s a good shepherd because he keeps, protects, and guides his sheep. He’s describing two aspects of his nature and so, we need to resist the temptation to overanalyze and over-interpret this passage.

          But with that in mind, what do you think of when someone mentions a shepherd and his sheep? I’ll tell you what comes to my mind. What I envision is a beautiful open field of luscious grass as far as the eye can see. Sheep grazing in the open field, and as the shepherd lays down for an afternoon nap as a warm breeze blows across face. The shepherd does not have a care in the world, because what could possibly be stressful about being in an open field on a day in which there isn’t a cloud in the sky? It’s a relaxing image. Do you have a similar picture in your mind?

          I’ll also tell you what I wouldn’t include in my shepherd day dream:  thieves and robbers. Maybe a wild animal? Like a bear, lion, or fox. King David dealt with wild animals as a shepherd boy. But thieves and robbers? I’d be willing to bet that that’s not the first thing you think of either.

          And yet, the Lord in his infinite wisdom specifically mentions a thief and robber before telling us how he is our good shepherd.

          And it’s crystal clear that Jesus is using the sheep/shepherd metaphor in order to explain to us something about the nature of his relationship with us.

          What we learn from this passage is that the good shepherd, Jesus, offers each of us abundant life. He is the door we must pass through in order to receive spiritual nourishment, protection, and guidance, because there are thieves and robbers who want to lead you and me astray.

          Jesus compares the true shepherd to thieves and robbers and when you see the comparison suddenly John 10 begins to open up. But even if you’re able to recognize that, it’s still difficult to trace the connection between John 9 and John 10.

          We go from a healed man that’s been excommunicated from his synagogue and makes a dramatic profession of faith, to suddenly, talking about sheep, a shepherd, along with thieves and robbers. How did we get here? Because John isn’t necessarily giving us a neat chronological timeline of Jesus. That’s not his goal. His goal is to show us all of us that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Messiah. So, what’s the connection?

          Jesus is contrasting himself as the good shepherd over against the false teachers of his day:  the Jewish religious elites. They are thieves and robbers. Which makes sense when you consider what happened in chapter 9: the Pharisees tried to intimidate and drive the healed man away from Jesus Christ! They successfully did it to his parents! They silenced them.

          So, it makes sense that after that whole situation Jesus would want to further distinguish who he is over against the Jewish religious elites.

          Before we dive into all the details, it’s important to have a general idea of what Jesus is describing here. There’s a sheepfold, which is a sheep pen and the sheep go into the pen each night for their protection. The sheepfold isn’t a barn with a roof or anything like that. The sheepfold is out in the open exposed to the elements. Maybe a good way to think of it is as a fenced in backyard.

          There is a gatekeeper or watchman who allows the shepherd to lead his sheep out of the pen each morning. So, there's a big sheep pen, with a guard stationed at the gate at night. That’s the general idea.

          Notice how Jesus begins the passage. He doesn’t begin by describing the good shepherd, rather, he begins with a thief and a robber. Look at verse one with me:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.”

          I hope I don’t sound condescending because it’s so obvious, but the thief and robber are there to steal the sheep! It’s why they avoid the door and jump the fence. Undoubtedly, they want to lead the sheep astray! They want to take them away!

          But notice how Jesus contrasts the thief and robber with himself, the good shepherd in verses 2-5:

“2But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

          The shepherd goes about his business tending his sheep correctly. He walks through the gate, and the gatekeeper lets him in. He knows the sheep and his sheep know him. The sheep recognizes his voice and follows him.

          And the sheep don’t follow strangers. They can tell between their shepherd and an imposter.

          This is quite the contrast from the thief and robber from verse 1. They had to break into the sheep pen without getting caught in order to take the sheep by force.

          But with the good shepherd, there’s familiarity between himself and his sheep. There’s trust between him and his sheep. He gently leads them out and they willingly follow him. He doesn’t have to take anyone against their will.

          At the beginning of last week, a family (the Walters) asked my family to watch their dog, and we were happy to help out. Their dog Coco is a pretty big dog, a Newfoundland, to be precise. And, she’s as sweet as she can be. Big, but super sweet.

          And the first time we went over there to let her out, I opened the door to where she was and she was just staring at me. She was looking at me like, “who are you?” “Do I know you?” Initially, she was a little apprehensive, but because she’s such a sweet dog, I was eventually able to convince her to go along with me.

          But I’m sure when the Walters’ got home she was excited to see them and followed them around and did exactly what they asked her to do! Because she knows them. She knows their voice, and they know her.

          At least, that’s what needed to happen so my sermon illustration can work!

          For most pet owners there’s an unspoken familiarity. Any pet owner has experienced the situation where a friend has tried to boss your dog around and they didn’t listen to them because they’re not you. Or sometimes you’ll have friends over and you’ll hear a weird noise and your friends are like, “what was that?” And you’re like, “oh just ignore that - that was the dog. Or that was the cat.” There’s a level of familiarity or intimacy between a pet owner and their pet.

          The same idea is being communicated in John 10. The sheep and shepherd know one another. They recognize each other. The shepherd leads the sheep and the sheep willingly follows him.

          Because you’re here this morning, I’ll let you in on a little secret about myself: I haven’t spent a lot of time around sheep. You all looked shocked, but it’s true. I’m talking about the actual animal. I’m trying hard to avoid a corny church joke right now about shepherding the flock of God or something like that. I do not claim to be a sheep expert.

          But one thing that I’m consistently told by people that are sheep experts is that sheep are not the most intelligent animals. In fact, what I hear is that they are quite dumb. They wander off, they get stuck, and they’re basically defenseless. They don’t have sharp claws or teeth. So, it seems appropriate for Jesus to refer to the people of God as sheep.

          But what’s interesting is the anecdotal note in verse 6:  “This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.”

          I might not understand everything about tending to sheep, but in the ancient world, shepherding was a common job. Moses spent some time as a shepherd, Rachel was a shepherdess, and obviously, David was a shepherd.

          You and I might not understand every fine detail related to shepherding, but I do understand one thing:  the sheep/shepherd metaphor is one that comes up over and over and over particularly in the Old Testament.

          And John is making a rather significant statement in verse 6, which is, the Jewish religious elites, the people who claimed to be experts in the Old Testament, didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about!

          Just think about all the sheep/shepherd metaphors in the Old Testament:

Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.”

Psalm 79:13, “But we your people, the sheep of your pasture…”

Psalm 80: “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock.”

Isaiah 40:11, “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

          And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are many others that employ the sheep/shepherd analogy. It runs throughout the Old Testament.

          And yet, the Pharisees completely missed it. They didn’t understand because they weren’t believers.

          The role of the good shepherd is to take care of the sheep. To protect the sheep. To love the sheep. And what better metaphor is there that describes the nature of Christ’s bond with his people? He is a gentle shepherd who leads his sheep. Amen

Pastor Skip