Christ the Door | Sermon 07/09/2023

John 10:1-10

Jesus had just revealed Himself as the Messiah to the healed man and revealed the truth of the Pharisees’ blindness. He will now give a “Παροιμία”, a figure of speech, in which the Lord will make metaphorical statements with great imagery pointing to a greater truth. In Ezekiel 34, the LORD spoke about the wicked shepherds who did not care for His flock and how He will become a shepherd to them; He will bind them up, heal them, lead them, and love them. And He is sending one like David to watch over the whole flock and gather them. John 10 is Jesus’s declaration of that prophecy fulfilled in Him. The thief and robber comes in some other way to steal and kill the sheep. These are the Pharisees who are shepherding the people to death and causing God’s people to stumble. But the true Shepherd comes the prescribed and ordained way by God: through the door. Jesus alludes to this Shepherd being Him. He finds no access issues to His sheep. He will lead them out of this sheepfold, leave those that are not His, gather His other sheep (gentiles) from another fold and will make one new sheepfold of which He is the Good Shepherd.

The Pharisees cast out God’s sheep like the healed blind man but Jesus puts His sheep forth from the pen and goes ahead of them for protection, guidance, and peace. He will lose none that the Father has given Him and cast out none from His presence. All who know Christ’s voice will flee from anyone trying to shepherd them away from Him. Jesus then gives a divine statement about His identity. Ego Eimi. I AM the Door. He is the sole means by which a sheep may find salvation and safety and abundant life. There is only one source of truth. One source of life. One source of spiritual enlightenment. Jesus Christ. Any other shepherd or door leads to the slaughterhouse where the thief steals, kills, and destroys.