The time is still shortly after the feast of tabernacles. Jesus has just healed the man blind from birth. The Pharisees didn't like it, so they begin to question the man. All the man could say was, "One thing I know, I was blind, but now I see!" (John 9:25). As the discussion continues, however, he begins to be more bold to the point of confessing Jesus Christ before them: "how could he be a sinner, God doesn't hear sinners, ... if this man were not from God, He could do nothing." The Pharisees were wroth with anger: "who are you to begin to teach us?" For this they cast him out, excommunicating him from the synagogue.

Some shepherds they'd turned out to be, excommunicating the very ones who demonstrated by their confession that they belonged to the flock. Jesus then uses an illustration in order to teach them what true shepherding is all about.

In Jesus' day it was common that flocks of sheep, while being allowed to roam the hillsides to find pasture during the day, would have been herded together by their shepherds at night and put into large walled quarters. At night, in the absence of the shepherd, they would be kept safe within the fold from the harm of marauding bears, wolves, lions or whatever other dangers there might be.

A sheepfold would often hold more than one flock, belonging to more than one shepherd. When morning came, the shepherd would come along, call his sheep, and his sheep, not the others, would immediately hear his voice and follow him as he once again led them out of the sheepfold into green pastures. If anyone other than the shepherd would come along trying to get these sheep to follow him, they simply wouldn't go, they will by no means follow a stranger but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

Applying His illustration, Jesus, in His next I AM statements, reveals that He is both the door and the good shepherd. The reality of who Jesus is, is far more glorious than any one illustration can depict. We also see something of the fullness of Jesus' work of gathering, preserving and protecting for Himself a flock. Earthly shepherds who made use of sheepfolds did not watch their flocks by night, they trusted the door for that. Jesus, on the other hand, is both shepherd and door, never leaving His sheep unprotected or uncared for.

Jesus' illustration should immediately have called to mind the rich shepherd imagery that filled the Old Testament. Think of Psalm 23, Psalm 80:1, Psalm 95:7, or the words of Isaiah 40:11, He shall feed His flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in His arm and carry them in His bosom, and will gently lead those who are with young.

But Jesus' hearers didn't understand. Hadn't God also warned of evil shepherds in places like Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34 — who feed themselves, scatter the flock, and devour the sheep? And isn't this what Jesus is referring to when He goes on to imply that these leaders are not shepherds at all but "thieves and robbers?" Surely it showed in the way they dealt with this man born blind. They hadn't entered into their work of caring for God's people through the door.

Hear, then, another of Christ's definitive great I AMs — I am the door of (in the sense of to) the sheep (10:7). Unless you are seeking to lead them to Me, you are no shepherds at all.

There continue to be pastors whose aim for "their" people is not fellowship with God, but glory for themselves. Such are thieves and robbers, they don't come to their work by way of the door.

Many try to gather flocks by preaching a "gospel" of self‑help, tips for daily living and self-esteem, rather than Christ and Him crucified. Crooks, says Jesus.

There is great comfort for us in the fact that Christ is the door to the sheep. In the end He will see to it that no thieves can break in and steal, kill or destroy any of His sheep.

Christ is also the door for the sheep (10:9). He doesn't say I am a door, one door among many that might also bring happiness. This is not Let's Make A Deal: will it be door number one or door number three? I am the door. There is no other way. Try to find one as we might.

Just as the sheep in Christ's illustration found safety, so all those who enter through the door, believing on Christ, will be saved.

And the sheep in Jesus' illustration would know themselves to be in a most favorable condition under the care of  such a good shepherd, protected by the walls and doors of such a sheepfold. Through the door of the sheepfold they would be led in and out. When they were out there would be green pastures, when they were in, there would also be plenty of fodder to feed on. If such sheep could talk they'd say: "This is the life!"

So it with Christ as our door. The blessing we enjoy is not such that we are now locked up in our little cor­ners, cramped and quartered, muttering "I can't do this, I can't do that..." Through Christ, our door, we go in, and we go out and we say this is the life! The life in Christ is the life of perfect freedom, life as it was meant to be lived, in fellowship with God in Him.

When we go out into the world to enjoy the good things of God's creation, through the door who is Christ, we can say: "This is the life!" In all of our goings out and comings in, whether we walk by the way or sit in our homes, in the joys and in the struggles, in the exciting and in the everyday, through the door that is Christ is life to the full.