Think about the moment the curtain gets pulled back in the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy and her companions have made a long journey through real danger and uncertainty.
All because someone told them there was a great and powerful Wizard in the Emerald City who could give them everything they wished for.
A brain for the scarecrow. A heart for the tin man. Courage for the lion. And for Dorothy, a safe journey back home to Kansas.
And when they finally arrive, exhausted and desperate, the Wizard is magnificent. Fire and smoke and a booming voice that fills the room. He is terrifying and overwhelming and utterly convincing.
But then the little dog pulls back a curtain. And there he is, a small, frightened man working levers and speaking into a microphone.
The great and powerful Oz is a performance. He can’t actually give anyone what they need, because he never had it to give. He borrowed his authority from a machine.
The tragedy isn’t just that he was a fraud. The tragedy is that people organized their lives around him and took great risks to see him.
There are many options for wizards in our world today who will take our money, attention, and loyalty in exchange for false promises.
But there is only one who can deliver what we most need. And his is an offering unlike any other.
Last week, we started looking at a series of statements that Jesus made about himself. He referred to himself as “I AM” which is a direct reference to how God referred to himself when talking to Moses from the burning bush.
In these “I AM” statements, we are learning about who God is and what his mission was in coming to earth as a human named Jesus of Nazareth.
Today, we will learn about Jesus as the Gate, the Good Shepherd, and the Resurrection and the Life.
We will begin by reading John 10:1-21.
I AM the Gate
Jesus is spoken of both as the Door and as the Shepherd (who goes in by the door). Such statements are not uncommon in this Gospel.
Jesus is the bread of life (6:35), and he gives it (6:51).
He speaks the truth (8:45–46) and he is the truth (14:6).
Throughout the Gospel he is depicted as showing the way, and he also is the way (14:6).
The image of Jesus being the gate communicates something that is hard for our culture to accept. It is the idea of exclusivity.
There were and still are others who claim to know the way to eternal life, to fulfilment, satisfaction, or whatever else someone desires to have.
People still seek saviours. Whatever politician, activist, or religious leader promises to give us what we want. But, like the wizard behind the curtain, these are imposters, promising what they cannot deliver.
It is hard to accept that God will allow entrance into his kingdom by only one means. But this is what Jesus is saying.
John 10:9 “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.”
Jesus the gate is the sole means by which the sheep may enter the safety of the fold or go out into the fresh green pastures.
It is not a hidden gate that we have to look for. Those Jesus calls will be led through the gate, which is himself. Jesus is both the gate and the shepherd.
He is access point and the guide. He provides entry into the kingdom and he leads us into the kingdom.
As the gate, he is the one way of entering eternal life. As the Good Shepherd he is the one who cares for the sheep and provides for their salvation at the cost of his life.
I AM the Good Shepherd
Why “good” shepherd? Why not just “shepherd”?
Consider the contrast between God as shepherd and Israel’s rulers who were supposed to shepherd God’s people.
Then, he makes a promise to shepherd his flock himself, which is a promise fulfilled in Jesus:
Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to be a good shepherd to his people.
The promise we receive with Jesus as our Good Shepherd is that we are under the care of someone who has the authority, the power, the tenderness, and the love needed to ensure we are not destroyed by the enemy of God’s kingdom.
Alongside this identity of the Good Shepherd, there is another, very related, identity that has been a theme throughout John’s Gospel until this point.
It is the identity of judge. And it sort of hits a climax in the confrontation Jesus has with his opponents.
I bring this to focus here in the midst of Jesus as good shepherd because of the combined role of distinguishing between those belong to him and those who do not, and then leading those who belong to him into his kingdom.Jesus is the good judge
John 5:22–23 “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.”
John 9:39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
And our present story, Jesus is being accused by the Jews of blasphemy because he claimed to be God.
When he says here “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? he is referring to Psalm 82:6, which is referring to the judges of Israel.
The word god in Psalm 82, whether it is capital or lowercase ‘g’ is elohim. They didn’t have a capitalization structure in the original language, so we understand when it is referring to the God of Israel or other gods by the context.
This word normally refers to a deity, but it can also refer to an earthly ruler or judge. Again, we only really know the distinction by the context.
The reason judges or other human rulers and authorities are called elohim or gods is because they represented the deity they served.
A judge in Israel represented God’s justice and exercised God’s authority and judged his people. And they were expected to do so in the way of their God, which is the way of grace and mercy.
Now, listen to Psalm 82, and where it says gods, imagine it referring to Israel’s judges who are supposed to represent God’s good justice.
I want to highlight something really important here about Bible reading. The primary purpose of reading the Bible is to know God.
As you get to know God, you will gain wisdom and understanding for how to properly honour him with your life.
But it’s important to read or listen to the Bible in both large, sweeping sections and also in short meditative sections.
In both cases, the aim is not primarily to apply the text to your life, to have some sort of specific instruction for what you should do.
Rather, it is to allow your mind and your heart to be transformed and renewed so that you will know how to be a good image-bearer of God.
Jesus was the perfect image-bearer of God. So, reading about his life and teaching is the very first thing we need to do. I want to challenge you to listen to or read through one of the Gospels every week for a season. Perhaps over the course of a month, you could read through all four.
As you read, you can write down your questions or put markings next to the portions you want to understand better. You can send me questions or ask me for resources to dig deeper.
Just please, don’t ask AI your questions about the Bible. And don’t Google them. There are good resources online, but for every good one there are a thousand bad ones.
Yesterday, a few of us from our church were in Abbotsford for an Apologetics Canada conference.
We had the privilege of hearing from Dr. John Dickson, who is one of my favourite historians, and wrote a tremendously important book on Christian humility titled Humilitas, and also a short book called Hearing Her Voice, arguing for the value of having women preach in our churches.
In a breakout session, he talked about how Christianity won the world and became the fastest growing and largest religious movement in history.
It went from just a few followers to four and a half million Christians, making up over 7% of the Roman Empire, within 250 years after Christ’s death and resurrection.
Dr. Dickson identified four key things they did. And one of them was that the early churches had a long and serious eduction program for new Christians.
After they were baptized, new believers would undergo 144 hours of teaching, 1 hour each week, taking place over the course of about 3 years. [Post-sermon note: I misheard Dr. Dickson… the audio recording has him saying this teaching was, for new converts, pre-baptism teaching, not post-baptism. I’ll correct myself also in next Sunday’s message.]
This is an inspiring goal and I want to think about how I can better and more intentionally do something like that here.
But, what Dr. Dickson said that most impacted me was this: “Ancient converts, when they really said, yes I’m ready to trust in Christ, they weren’t simply trusting doctrines. They weren’t simply trusting ideas of the Lord, they were trusting someone they met in the Gospels.”
He said that a subtle thing has happened in our churches. We have extracted theology and doctrines from the Bible. And then we teach these things to people and call it the gospel.
But that’s not what the early church did. They taught them the actual gospel as recorded in the Gospels.
So, read, study, and get the actual Gospel accounts about Jesus into your mind and heart. Then you will increasingly know what it is to live as a good image-bearer of God.
Something to ponder as we continue on in our story…
So Jesus says to the Jews, if God called the judges gods, then what about me who has been sent by God? I represent God perfectly.
I have unique authority to judge not just the people of Israel, but the entire world. And my judgment is good.
And if you don’t believe me, then look at my works. Look at how I defend the weak and fatherless, how I uphold the cause of the poor and oppressed, how I rescue the weak and needy, and deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
Well, of course, they wouldn’t hear anything of it, because among them were the wicked ones from whom Jesus was defending the weak and needy, the poor and oppressed.
This identity is tied closely to how we are to think of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Going back to Ezekiel 34:17, let’s draw the clear connection between the promise made and promise fulfilled: “As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats.”
Jesus said in John 9:39 “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
He makes a similar statement about himself, recorded in Matthew 25:31–32 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”
As we enter the next section, be thinking about your level of trust in Jesus as your Good Shepherd. Do you hear his voice?
Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
I AM the Resurrection and the Life
The statement Jesus made, “I am the resurrection and the life,” takes place in the midst of a story about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
Lazarus is the brother to Mary and Martha. They are all disciples of Jesus and were quite close companions of his. They lived in Bethany, which was close to Jerusalem.
While Jesus somewhere else, Lazarus became sick. The sisters urged Jesus to come and heal him, but he did not live on a schedule determined by others.
He went when the time was right. And by the time he was ready to go, Lazarus had died.
John 11:14–15 he told his disciples, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
When Jesus arrived at the place where Martha and Mary lived, Jesus and Martha had a conversation about the situation.
John 11:21–27 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
After some more dialogue, Jesus told the people to remove the stone from were Lazarus was buried. He had been in there for four days, enough time for the body to start decaying.
When they removed the stone, Jesus thanked the Father for hearing his prayer, saying, “I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Jesus then called Lazarus to come out of the grave, and he did.
Following this, John writes that many of the Jews who saw this miracle believed in him.
This caused concern among the chief priests and Pharisees. They were afraid that unless they stop Jesus, more and more people will believe in him.
Their primary concern was that, if Jesus caused a big enough disturbance, the Romans would come and take away their temple and nation.
And this brings up a relevant point for us today. What are we afraid of?
This whole story is filled with two primary themes: belief and fear.
The sisters are afraid of losing their brother Lazarus. The disciples are afraid of persecution from the Jews. And the Jews are afraid that the Romans will take away what is most dear to them.
In the midst of all this fear, Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”
And then comes the all-important question:
“Do you believe this?”
Conclusion
This is the constant question in John’s Gospel. Jesus’ concern was that his disciples believe him.
He’s not asking people who do not yet know him. He’s asking people who have already decided to trust him.
He’s asking them to deepen their trust. To not allow their fear to sway their faith.
So, what are you afraid of?
And, are you willing to trust that what Jesus has to offer cannot be taken away no matter the threats you face?
The Jews were afraid that their centre of religious and social identity would be taken from them. And they were right to fear this. It did eventually happen.
But, the identity that Jesus offers cannot be given or taken away through political, military, or social pressure. We, as Christians, can lose all our rights and freedoms and still have what gives us our hope.
It is the resurrection and life of Jesus.
So, will you believe?
Will you trust him as your good shepherd and judge? That he will treat you with kindness and grace?
Believing will require you to surrender your fears to him. To not cling on to that which can be taken away by others.
Let’s take a moment now to acknowledge our fears to our Good Shepherd.
Lord Jesus, our faithful and good shepherd, you know our fears, you know our troubles. And we acknowledge them now to you…
To close, I will read a passage adapted from Thomas Kelly’s book, A Testament of Devotion:
Out in front of us is the drama of men and of nations, seething, struggling, labouring, dying. Upon this tragic drama in these days our eyes are all set in anxious watchfulness and in prayer.
But within the silences of the souls of men an eternal drama is ever being enacted… It is the drama of a God who pursues relentlessly, tirelessly, refusing to abandon the chase.
It is the drama of the lost sheep wandering in the wilderness, restless and lonely, feebly searching, while over the hills comes the wiser Shepherd.
For His is a shepherd’s heart, and He is restless until He holds His sheep in His arms. It is the drama of the Eternal Father drawing the prodigal home unto Himself, where there is bread enough and to spare.
It is the drama of the two-sided search: God seeking us, and us, however dimly, seeking God. And always its chief actor is the Eternal God of Love.
It is to one strand in this inner drama, one scene, where the Shepherd has found His sheep, that I would direct you.
It is the life of absolute and complete and holy obedience to the voice of the Shepherd. But ever throughout the drama the burden will be laid upon God.
God the initiator, God the aggressor, God the seeker, God the stirrer into life, God the ground of our obedience, God the giver of the power to become citizens and heirs of his eternal kingdom.
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