Jesus mocks blind Pharisees and they're mad about it

John 10: [7] Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

[8] All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
[9] I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
[10] The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
[11] I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Jesus says to the Pharisees, “Verily, verily, I am the door. I’m the one who leads them out and brings them in,” explains Richard Jordan.

Verse 10 is what they’re doing: [10] The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

When He says in verse 11, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep,” go to Ezekiel 34. When these guys take up stones to kill Him, this is why they do it. They know what He’s doing.

Ezekiel 34:11: [11] For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.

Whose sheep are they? They’re the Lord God’s sheep. He’s the shepherd. Who does Jesus say He is? “I’m the shepherd.”

Well, He’s putting Himself in the God slot back in Ezekiel. He’s saying, “The Lord God that says that back in Ezekiel—that’s me! I’m Him.”

That’s why He says down in John 10:30: [30] I and my Father are one.

And they want to kill Him, because as verse 33 says: [33] The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

They get what’s going on. God’s going to deliver the nation Israel from the bad shepherd and give them the good shepherd. God’s going to save His sheep; Christ is going to be the one to accomplish that.

So, when Ezekiel writes all that stuff and Christ comes in in passages like this, He’s reaching back to take verses and terminology and things in the Old Testament which are prophesying about what’s happening.

In other words, He’s fulfilling what these passages are talking about. He doesn’t directly quote them because He doesn’t need to.

If you’re talking to a Pharisee, they had all these verses in their mind. They had been drilled in the things. They just didn’t have the faith to see the truth that was involved in the verses they’re following.

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The context of the Book of John starts in John 7 and there’s a contention between Christ and the Pharisees and they argue.

John 9: [39] And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
[40] And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?

The Pharisees are like, “Are you talking about us?”

[41] Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Now, after all the contention they’ve had, that’s just Him smacking them right in the chops. He’s speaking very plainly to them, got their attention, and they’re mad at Him. They’re arguing. They’ve rejected Him; they’re abusing the blind man, abusing the people, like in Ezekiel 34. Just making profit off of them.

John 10 begins: [1] Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
[2] But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
[3] To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
[4] And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
[5] And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

What Christ’s doing is referring back to something they should have known when He talks about the sheep going in, going out, hearing His voice. That’s an allusion back to Numbers 27 with Moses.

When Moses was preparing to die, he prayed and asked the Lord to give Israel another leader.

Number 27:12: [12] And the LORD said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel.

God says, “I’m going to let you see the land, but you ain’t going in.” So, as the passage continues:

[15] And Moses spake unto the LORD, saying,
[16] Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,
[17] Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd.

“I don’t want them to be sheep without a shepherd,” and that’s what Christ’s going to tell them they are.

[18] And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;

[19] And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight.
[20] And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.
[21] And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.

So, the sheep that have a shepherd have someone who gives them God’s Word and at His Word they go out and they go in. The shepherd will lead them out and lead them in.

Verse 22: [22] And Moses did as the LORD commanded him: and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation:

Moses needs a successor and he says, “I want a shepherd who can take them out, take them in. That can give them the Word of the Lord to lead them.” And the people recognized Joshua.

By the way, you know what the word Joshua, a Hebrew name, means in Greek? Jesus. Both mean Jehovah Savior.

In John 10, Jesus is saying to them, “Look, your ancestors had sense enough to recognize Joshua was Moses’ successor.”

Verse 4: [4] And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
[5] And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

Listen, they know His voice. They hear the Word; they know it’s God’s Word. These birds would have known that Jesus is mocking them with what Moses said.

Moses asked, God gave it to him and everybody recognized it. These guys are rebelling against it; they don’t recognize what God’s doing in their midst. They’re rejecting it; they want no part of it.

Verse 6: [6] This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

Well, that’s what the last verse in chapter 9 said:

I mean, they say, “We see it,” they don’t see it. Here comes God’s Word and the Word of His mouth and they can’t get it. Why? Because they’re blind.

As Jesus says in John 10:8, "All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them." That’s not calling them a good name.