Week 6 - The Door of the Sheep
What we talked about In youth on Sunday
What does it look like to have a good life? What even is a good life?
As Christians we will often look at this question and give it a simple Sunday school answer—“Following Jesus!” This, of course, is a fine and true response, but the details are less simple and can be easily clouded by what the world tells us makes a good life. Things like being a successful business person, having lots of money, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, having a big house and a nice car, having a big family and a beautiful spouse are all things we are told make up a good life. But each of these things, on their own, fail to give us true happiness or joy.
We know this if we really think about it. For example, think back to when you bought your first home or a new car. At first it was wonderful. You may have even burst out saying, “How great is my life?!” And yet, that thing that was supposed to make life good, quickly lost its luster. Within a few weeks or months you start to notice the problems with it and how it isn’t as nice as the one your friend has, and all of a sudden the thing that was supposed to make your life good became a source of discontentment. Finding a good life is hard; knowing what makes a good life can be just as hard.
As we look at John 10:1-10, we find that the Jews—the people to whom Jesus came—were struggling to live good lives. Discontentment was rampant. Frustration with being under Roman authority was high. And, on top of that, the Jewish religious leaders had been creating and instituting rules that kept them from the good life God offered them.
To really understand this we have to remember the context in the preceding chapter. In John 9, Jesus and his disciples were on their way out of the temple on the Sabbath day. As they were leaving, they passed by a man who was born blind. Seeing the man, Jesus walked over to him, spit on the ground to make some mud, put the mud on the man’s eyes, and told him to go wash his eyes. So the man washed his eyes and walked back to Jesus—only now he could see!
The people who were gathered around were astonished. Some—namely the Jewish religious leaders (aka the Pharisees)—were angered and perplexed by what Jesus had done. The Pharisee’s held that the Sabbath day was to be a day of rest. To them, the thought that Jesus would heal someone was a breaking of this rest, because healing someone was work. And yet, the Pharisee’s were also intrigued by how Jesus could have made someone blind able to see.
Certain something fishy was happening, the Pharisees held a trial to figure out if the man had actually been born blind. Unfortunately for them, they found out that the man Jesus healed had indeed been blind his entire life. So, in frustration they kicked the formerly blind man out of the temple. While he walked out of the temple, Jesus saw him and shared his reason for healing him. He said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Being nearby, the Pharisees heard Jesus say these words and were angered even more. So they asked Jesus, “Do you think we are blind too then?”
This is the backdrop with which we come to John 10. The Pharisees want to know if Jesus thinks they are wrong about how they follow the Sabbath and lead people. So, Jesus tells them. In 10:1, Jesus sets up an analogy where the sheep are the Jews, Jesus is the door the sheep go through, and the Pharisees are the thieves and robbers who try to steal and kill the sheep—and he uses this analogy with the previous events as the backdrop of it. In this analogy, Jesus is saying the Pharisees have been stealing the Jews away from the abundant life within God’s pasture, by creating extra regulations and laws that they think will make God happy with them, but in reality do the opposite.
The key verse that helps us make sense of this is 10:10. Jesus says that whereas the Pharisees work to keep God’s people from a life of abundance and goodness, Jesus “came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus is telling the Pharisees that they have both misunderstood the Sabbath day and have misunderstood who Jesus is, and as a result have been leading the Jews to death and misery.
Whereas the Pharisees understood the Sabbath as a day of restriction (a day of rest from work), Jesus understood the Sabbath as a day of restriction leading to abundance, where you were to rest from work so that you could enjoy God and all he created. Thus, Jesus is saying, anyone who follows him will be led to a life of abundance (think - green pastures for the sheep) and enjoyment of all creation, whereas those who are led astray by the Pharisees will only experience restriction and will miss out on the joy that comes from following Jesus.
Therefore, this passage teaches us both more about who Jesus is and what it looks like to have a good life. It tells us first that Jesus is the door of the sheep, who offers abundant life, rest, flourishing, and goodness to all who follow him. And second, it tells us that a good life is a life that enjoys God and his creation, and works so that others can enjoy God and his creation. The Pharisees were keeping God’s people from this good life by restricting them from enjoying his creation and from being able to flourish. But Jesus shows that participating in things of life is precisely what the Sabbath calls us to.
Continuing the conversation at home
Take some time to consider how you have practiced Sabbath in the past and how your family could participate in this moving forward. Think about how you could restrict yourselves from doing work that is draining in order to enjoy God’s creation. Maybe that means not doing house chores on a Saturday and instead as a family going to the park and eating at your favorite restaurant. Be sure to tell the rest of your family (kids/spouse) that you want to Sabbath so that you can enjoy God and his creation. Consider trying this just once if you’ve never done it before, rather than trying to institute a weekly rhythm right away. After you do it once plan another time, and so on. This is a great way to help your kids see that you prioritize enjoying God and his creation, and it will teach them the importance of resting from work in order to remember that life is more than what we create. Go rest and have fun!