John 10:11–21

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?”

Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

We’re all familiar with Jesus being the good shepherd. We’re also all familiar with His crucifixion. We’re not all familiar with those two things being connected.

But that’s what today’s passage says. It’s the willingness of a shepherd to put his life on the line that makes him a true shepherd.

Of course, the crowds hearing this don’t understand a word of it. Jesus’s references to His death and resurrection are way beyond anything people are going to understand. That whole concept isn’t just unrelated to their concept of a messiah; it contradicts it.

Their idea of a messiah is anything but a sacrificial lamb.

It might seem far-fetched that a back-then shepherd could fight off predators with nothing more than a staff and a sling, but those tools were up to the task. In the hands of an experienced shepherd, a sling hurls a one-pound rock at about 90 miles-an-hour with enough accuracy to usually hit an animal. That projectile doesn’t just sting; it can inflict damage that takes time to heal. A predator might not be able to hunt anything for a while.

And the predators may not even understand where their pain came from. They spin around looking for what just bit them and there’s nothing there. While they’re looking around for the source of their pain, they get hit by another rock.

That’s usually enough to chase them off.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Saturday DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.