Today’s reading is John 9:1-10:42.

There’s so much good stuff in John, it is hard to write these posts every day because I just want to keep writing and writing and writing. Today, I’ll note two.

1) A little tidbit caught my eye while reading. As the Jews were rebuking the former blind man, they said of Jesus, “We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from” (John 9:31). That grabbed my attention because I remembered in John 7:27  some decided Jesus wasn’t the Messiah because, “But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” I don’t exactly know why they had this idea; I just couldn’t help but notice the contrast. Frankly, what I get from it is if we don’t want to believe God, any excuse will do. We may eve take opposite sides of the fence at different times just to not believe. 

A little caution here: It is too easy to see this and point the finger at all those out there who don’t believe what I do. The warning is I can be susceptible to this too. That is why we have to keep our hearts open to God’s Word and ask Him to enlighten us through it.

2) That first point really caught my eye, but the point about this reading that really helped me today is actually in John 10:7-10.

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. I anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

I’ve often read this as a distinction between Jesus and the Jewish leaders. I’m sure that applies. However, today it hit me just a little bit differently. Satan sends a lot of false shepherds our way. That is, he sends a lot of messages that promise comfort and pasturing. He says, “Tell this little white lie. It’s not that big of a deal and it will get you out of trouble. Go ahead.” He says, “Just drink a little of this alcohol. No one can really prove it is wrong. It’s okay. It will make you feel better, calm your nerves, help you face the day and all its troubles.” He says, “Click this link to find out which hot women are searching your name on Google, oh and here are some naked pictures of them. Just look at a few of these, it will make you feel better.” He says, “That guy didn’t have a right to speak to you that way. You need to let him have it. You don’t get mad, you get even. That will make you feel better.” I could keep going. When we take refuge in these temptations, we are looking for pasture. We are looking for comfort. We are looking for something that will just feel right and feel at home. 

But these other “shepherds” are actually robbers, thieves, murderers. Satan promises pasturing through them, but all we get is guilt, shame, anxiety, death. They suck the life right out of us. Sometimes we don’t even know it. All we know is that something just isn’t working but we can’t figure out what so we can run in circles, trying these same things over and over again, butting our heads into the tree trunks, until we finally collapse from utter exhaustion and despair.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He can pasture us, making us lie down in green pastures, leading us beside still waters. Don’t let the thief, Satan, steal your life. Trust Jesus.

***Question: What do you do to stay with Jesus and stay away from false shepherds?

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC