“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10
In the Gospel of John, John is writing to the new Christians in his time and he was explaining who Jesus is. As in other books of the Bible, John is recording what Jesus has said and done. Jesus used common examples from everyday life to explain to the people around Him, Who He was and what He was able to do.
In the 10th chapter of the Gospel of John, John records that Jesus is talking to the crowd around Him which included Pharisees, those who thought of themselves as the individuals who knew and practiced the true and pure ways of the Jewish religion. As Jesus did many times, He uses a common job, role or item to explain a spiritual concept, and in this case Jesus is describing what He has come to do for mankind.
Jesus used the role or job of a shepherd for this explanation. A shepherd was a common job in Jesus’s time as most of the population either had a shepherd in their family or knew a person who was a shepherd, so they were be able to relate to the duties of a shepherd.
A shepherd’s main job was to keep his flock of sheep safe. He is to do whatever it takes to protect them, feed them, care for them. In turn the sheep will follow their shepherd’s voice and commands as that is who they know to be their protector and provider. The sheep can tell by the tone of the shepherd’s voice if it is really him, as his voice is full of concern and love for his sheep. So as Jesus talks to those around Him, He compares Himself to the shepherd and His followers to the sheep.
In the first half of this chapter, Jesus addresses false prophets, those who are only pretending to be the Shepherd. Those who actually want to harm the sheep. Jesus describes these individuals as a thief. A thief has only selfish thoughts and they want what they want, which is usually to harm others, take what others have and leave tragedy behind.
Jesus uses this particular comparison to show that as a thief is coming only to cause harm to others, He, Jesus is coming to provide safety and life. Life, that is not just an existence but life that has true and deep meaning to it as the person lives life connected to Jesus. In the last part of this verse, Jesus says that He wants us to have a life that is to the full or in other translations it says more abundant.
More abundantly refers to having a life that contains more than what is absolutely necessary to live. Jesus wants that for us, He wants us to have a relationship with Him that is so much more than just a religious connection to God. He wants us to live a full spiritual life while we are on this earth but also He came to ensure that we were given the opportunity to choose life in heaven for eternity with Him.
Choosing heaven is the gift that we receive when we are saved. To be saved we need to admit that we have sinned, need forgiveness of those sins, believe in Jesus, and confess with our mouths that He is our Lord and Savior. Jesus wants us to be with Him for eternity. He does not want us to believe and follow false prophets, those who present themselves as people who are messengers of God, but in reality are messengers of the devil.
Who do you choose to follow today…the thief or the Shepherd?
Today, I encourage you to examine who it is that you follow.