He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior. Titus 3:5-6.

By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35.

I love our chapter, John 10. Remember in the last chapter that they thought that the blind man or his parents must have sinned for him to be blind. How swiftly we assume sin. And Jesus said to the Pharisees, who still maintained that not only the blind man, but He, Jesus, was a sinner…“If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” They refused to see and so were blind. So Jesus continues in our chapter, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.” This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them. So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” v. 1-18. And they had a hard time understanding because who had ever talked this way? As a shepherd himself, David would have understood. That’s why he wrote in the 23rd Psalm that the Lord is his Shepherd. So as Jesus was walking in the temple, the Jews then gathered around Him, and were saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” v. 24-30. That really provoked them. The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?” The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God.” v. 31-33. The children of Israel saw the mighty deeds of God and knew it wasn’t Moses but God who did them. And now, Jesus, the Son, Creator God, is doing deeds only God can do and they refuse to connect the truth of who Jesus is. Jesus answered them, “Has it not been written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? (Psalm 82:6). If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” v. 34-38. Jesus is the door. He is the way. He is the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for us. No one else has done that. And He has others to bring into the fold. Can we begin to grasp that we, all of us, are the children of Creator God, dearly loved? Can we trust that Creator God knows what He is doing? As we turn to Him, something profound happens within us. We begin to see. There is hope that is real and not just for us but for all of us. With that hope we can begin to experience compassion for those still walking in darkness. Do we doubt the Father’s ability to save? Is sin greater than Creator God? Once we realize the enormity of our own sin and stop heaping sin on others, we can begin to see the all-encompassing sacrifice Jesus, Creator God, made for us. We can begin to live in His love for us, for all of us, and trust that it is His Will that will be done, not our will. This isn’t easy. It wasn’t meant to be easy. God’s love is bigger and more profound than anything we can begin to grasp or understand fully now. As we begin to understand that, we begin to truly trust Him. And then, we can take His hand and listen to Him as He leads us faithfully. Why do we need to trust where He leads? Because we don’t know His Way. We know the way here – our way of hate and condemnation, our way of lies and confusion, our way of sin and self-righteousness that leaves us bereft and lost and confused when bad things happen. That way we know because we experience it ourselves and carry those wounds. There is a better Way. He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior…by this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. God’s mercy and His love are the only Way. Always. And how we each of us need Him!