Jesus intends to speak authoritatively again, and then he says, "I am the door of the sheep." A door is something that you go through to get to somewhere else. Through Jesus, we find peace and well-being. What does Jesus mean, when he says that all who came before him were thieves and robbers? He is obviously not talking about the patriarchs or the prophets. Jesus is aware that many so-called "anointed ones" had come, promising to lead the people out of bondage to the foreign rulers. Even a couple of his own apostles had been armed militants in that cause. But military victory and political freedom is not what Jesus came to bring. When it comes to the deepest desires, and the deepest needs, none of those others, with their bold promises, will ever come through.
The special relationship that Jesus has with the Father is now one that we can have with Jesus, and with the Father! The Father and the Son are family, and we can be in the family of God as well. Then Jesus says that he will lay down his life for the sheep, which means he will die for you and me. He seems to say that he has more sheep than just those in Israel, and that he must bring them, also. In the end, this makes a lot of sense, because we are hearing this message. We are hearing this message and have a chance to receive it, because the apostles obeyed Jesus, and have gone to the ends of the earth. (See Matthew 28:19-20) The willingness of Jesus to lay down his life for us, the sheep, is most pleasing to the Father. Even though what was done to Jesus was a great injustice, it was not a surprise to the Father, or somehow outside of His plan. Jesus submits willingly to this plan, even knowing what it means for him. And he knows it better--in terms of how much suffering there will be--than we can ever imagine. The words of Joseph to his brothers (see Genesis 50:20) are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus.
We should all pray for the courage to draw close to Jesus, and to each other, because he is the one shepherd of the one flock.
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