The Shepherd and the Stranglers Text: John 10:1-6
Introduction: The Politics of the Pen
We come now to a passage that is beloved by many, the tender picture of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. And it is certainly that. But we must not allow the familiarity of the image to dull the razor's edge of what Jesus is actually doing here. This is not a gentle, pastoral poem recited in a meadow. This is a polemical broadside, a direct and confrontational attack on the religious authorities of Israel, delivered in the immediate aftermath of their corrupt and brutish handling of the man born blind. In chapter 9, they threw a man out of the synagogue for the crime of being healed by Jesus and then telling the truth about it. Jesus finds him, saves him, and then turns to the Pharisees and calls them blind. This discourse on shepherds and sheep is a continuation of that very same fight.
Jesus is drawing a sharp, unyielding line in the sand. He is distinguishing between legitimate and illegitimate spiritual authority. He is teaching His people how to tell the difference between a true shepherd who loves the sheep and a hireling, a thief, a robber, a strangler who is only in it for himself. This is intensely practical. Every generation of the church is plagued by false teachers, by men who want the fleece, not the flock. They want the position, the power, the prestige, the money. They may use all the right words, they may have all the credentials, but they have not entered by the door. They have climbed up some other way.
The central issue here is one of authority and legitimacy. Who has the right to speak for God? Who has the right to lead God's people? The Pharisees believed it was them. They had the ancestry, the buildings, the titles, and the political clout. But Jesus here declares that all of that is utterly worthless if they do not enter through the one, exclusive door. And as He will make plain in a few verses, He is that door. This passage, then, is a declaration of war against all man-made religion and all self-appointed spiritual gurus. It is a Magna Carta for the sheep, giving them the divine right to reject the voice of any and all strangers and to follow only the voice of their true Shepherd.
The Pharisees to whom He spoke did not understand what He was saying. This is a recurring theme in John's gospel. The natural man, no matter how religious, cannot understand the things of the Spirit. They are spiritually deaf and blind. But the sheep, they hear. The sheep know. And that is the great divide.
The Text
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he brings all his own out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they will never follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers." This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.
(John 10:1-6 LSB)
The Illegitimate Entrance (v. 1)
Jesus begins with His customary "Truly, truly," a marker of solemn, unshakeable authority. He is about to lay down a fundamental principle.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber." (John 10:1)
The scene is a communal sheepfold, likely a stone enclosure where multiple flocks would be kept overnight for safety. There is one proper entrance, a single gate. To enter by this door is to be legitimate, to be recognized, to be acting in the open. But there is another way in: over the wall. To come in this way is clandestine, unauthorized, and wicked. Jesus gives two names to the one who does this: a thief and a robber.
A thief is one who steals by stealth, who takes what is not his secretly. A robber is one who takes by violence and open force. The Pharisees were both. They stole the hearts of the people through their deceptive piety and burdensome traditions, and they used open force and intimidation, as they did with the man born blind, to maintain their control. Anyone who tries to get to God's people by any other means than the one God has appointed is, by definition, a spiritual predator. It does not matter how sincere he is, how charismatic he is, or how successful he appears to be. If he does not come through the door, he has come to do harm.
This immediately confronts our modern religious pluralism. We live in an age that insists there are many ways up the mountain. Jesus says there is one door to the sheepfold. Any other way is the way of a thief. This is not narrow-minded bigotry; it is spiritual reality. God has established the terms of engagement. To reject His terms is to declare yourself an outlaw.
The True Shepherd and His Marks (v. 2-3)
In contrast to the thief, Jesus describes the true shepherd.
"But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." (John 10:2-3 LSB)
The first mark of the true shepherd is legitimacy. He enters by the door. He is not a usurper. He has the right to be there. In the context of Jesus' ministry, He came in fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies. He came in the line of David. He came at the appointed time. He did everything according to the Father's will. He walked right through the front gate of prophecy and covenant history.
The doorkeeper opens for him. Who is this doorkeeper? In the immediate context, it could be John the Baptist, who prepared the way and identified Jesus as the Lamb of God. More broadly, it is the Holy Spirit, who opens the door of Scripture, testifying that it all points to Christ, and who opens the hearts of the sheep to receive their shepherd.
And here we see the crucial, central reality: the relationship between the shepherd and the sheep is personal and vocal. "The sheep hear his voice." This is the doctrine of effectual calling. The shepherd's call is not a generic invitation broadcast into the air. It is a specific, personal, and effective call. And notice, "he calls his own sheep by name." This is not a herd; it is a flock of individuals known intimately by their shepherd. This points to the doctrine of election. They are "his own sheep" before he even leads them out. He knows them, He has a name for them, and His call creates the response. He does not call them because they are responsive; they become responsive because He calls them.
He "leads them out." Out of what? Out of the restrictive, deadening fold of Pharisaical Judaism. Out of the bondage of sin and death. He leads them out to pasture, to freedom, to life. Salvation is a deliverance, a leading out.
The Shepherd's Leadership and the Sheep's Loyalty (v. 4-5)
The nature of this leadership and the corresponding loyalty of the sheep are described next.
"When he brings all his own out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they will never follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers." (John 10:4-5 LSB)
Eastern shepherds led their sheep; they did not drive them from behind with dogs. The shepherd goes first. He leads the way, he faces the dangers first, he finds the path. This is the pattern of Christ's leadership. He does not send us where He has not gone. He has gone before us into suffering, into temptation, into death, and into resurrection. To follow Him is to walk in His footsteps.
And the sheep follow for one reason: "because they know his voice." The connection is auditory. It is a relationship based on recognition. This is the essence of saving faith. It is not simply intellectual assent to a set of doctrines. It is the personal recognition of the voice of Jesus Christ, primarily through the preaching of the Word. The true sheep has been given spiritual ears to discern the unique cadence and authority of his Master's voice.
Because of this, they have a built-in, divinely installed alarm system. "A stranger they will never follow, but will flee from him." This is the perseverance and preservation of the saints. A true sheep cannot ultimately be deceived by a false gospel. He may be confused for a time, he may wobble, but when he hears the voice of a stranger, something in his spirit recoils. It doesn't sound right. It doesn't have the ring of truth. It doesn't smell like home. He flees. This is a profound comfort. The security of the sheep does not depend on their cleverness or strength, but on the Shepherd's voice, which has been tuned into their hearts by the Holy Spirit. They are kept because they know His voice and are deaf to the fatal allure of all others.
The Parable and the Blindness (v. 6)
John concludes this section with a sad but telling commentary.
"This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them." (John 10:6 LSB)
The Pharisees, the self-proclaimed spiritual experts of Israel, heard the words, but they could not grasp the meaning. The parable was a locked door to them. Why? Because they were not sheep. They were, in fact, the thieves and robbers that Jesus was describing. The parable was not for them in the sense of an invitation; it was a judgment upon them. It exposed their illegitimacy. They could not hear the Shepherd's voice because their ears were attuned only to the sound of their own authority and the rustle of money.
This is a permanent spiritual principle. The gospel is veiled to those who are perishing. To the elect, it is the power of God unto salvation, a voice they recognize as their true home. To the reprobate, it is foolishness, a riddle, an offense. The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay. The same word that gives life to the sheep confirms the blindness of the goats.
Conclusion: Whose Voice Do You Know?
This passage forces a fundamental question upon every one of us. Whose voice do you know? We live in a world saturated with voices. The voice of secularism tells you that you are your own god. The voice of the therapeutic gospel tells you that God just wants you to be happy and well-adjusted. The voice of legalism gives you a list of rules to climb your own way over the wall. The voice of the progressive church tells you to ignore the hard parts of the Bible and listen to the spirit of the age. All of these are the voices of strangers.
The voice of the Shepherd is different. It speaks of sin and grace. It speaks of righteousness and judgment. It calls you to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him. It offers not a better version of your old life, but a completely new one, bought with His own blood. It is the voice that speaks in the pages of Scripture. It is the voice that, by the Spirit, echoes in the heart of the true believer.
Do you know that voice? Has He called you by name? If He has, then you are secure. He will lead you out, He will go before you, and no one can snatch you from His hand. Your task is simple: listen to His voice and flee from all others. But if you do not know His voice, if these words are just a story to you, then you are still outside the fold, vulnerable to the thieves and robbers who come only to steal, kill, and destroy. The door is open. The Shepherd is calling.