Door and Shepherd

"John 9:35-10:21

Enjoy life in all its fullness

I thought that becoming a Christian would mean the end to my enjoyment of life. In fact, I found the opposite. Jesus says he came that we might ‘enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)’ (v.10, AMP).

The man healed of blindness has no trouble believing in Jesus. When Jesus finds him and says, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ (9:35), he asks, ‘Who is he sir? ... Tell me so that I may believe in him’ (v.36). Jesus replies, ‘ “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him’ (vv.37–38). In Jesus, the man seems to have realised that he had encountered God himself. You too can encounter God in Jesus.

Jesus explains how, through him, you can know God. He uses two analogies. First, he speaks of himself as ‘the gate’ (10:1). The Greek word ‘thura’ is perhaps better translated as ‘the door’. Jesus is the door for the sheep to come in and find salvation (v.9). He is the door to the Father. The door to knowing God is to know Jesus.

The second analogy Jesus uses is that he is the good shepherd. The sheep know the shepherd: ‘I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father’ (vv.14–15). The background to this is that God himself is described as the ‘shepherd’ in the Old Testament (for example, see Psalm 23:1; Isaiah 40:11). To know Jesus is to know God."

1. Praise God for the joy you bring. You definitely bring happiness to my life.

2. It is the last night for the Slovakian friends and it was fun having to walk around with them and chill. Thank You for the time together.

3. Thank You for the realization that I have a job, that You have blessed me.