Hello my friends,

I wanted to reflect with you today on a passage that has always been a little confusing for me and others, but brings surprising clarity to our current moment in our world today. Thanks for being here.

Things that have me thinking this week:

​-Responding To The America Reads The Bible Event. I wrote some thoughts here on the recent event where politicians, faith leaders, and other figures were broadcasted reading through the entire Bible last week. You can read it through the link above.

​-New Series: Dismantling The Patriarchy With The Bible. Parts 1-4. I have always been really passionate about this topic and in the current environment we live in, where it seems women are continually disparaged and mistreated, I thought I would put together a series that addresses some of the misconceptions within scripture and Christianity more broadly. I hope you find it helpful.

The Leaders We Have and the Shepherd We Need.

John 10:1-10

The Good Shepherd and His Sheep

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

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Figure of Speech

In this tenth chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus does something both familiar and disorienting. He does not tell a simple story with a single point, as he often does in the other Gospels. Instead, he offers what John calls a paroimia, which is a layered, living image. A sheepfold. A gate. A shepherd. Voices. Strangers. Thieves.

When I first read this passage, I was so confused by it. And I was confused by it the second time I read it, and the third time, and the fourth time! So if that is you too, you are not alone. How can Jesus be the shepherd and the sheep gate at the same time? What is he trying to get at with this figure of speech? Who is he referring to as “thieves and robbers”?

After digging into this passage more deeply, I would say it is fundamentally about trust, leadership, and whose voice we are learning to follow in a world full of competing claims.

Jesus begins this figure of speech with a stark contrast: those who enter rightly through the gate, and those who climb in another way. In the world of first-century Judea, shepherding was not a romantic image; it was daily life for many. Sheep knew their shepherd’s voice and depended on it. Their survival was tied to discerning who truly cared for them and who did not.

Thieves and Robbers

So when Jesus speaks of “thieves and robbers,” he is not speaking abstractly. The language he uses is kleptēs (thief) and lēstēs (bandit, insurrectionist) carries a lot of weight. A lēstēs was not just a petty criminal. It was a term often used for violent figures, those who would take, exploit, and destroy for their own ends. It would seem that Jesus is speaking about a bigger picture here.

And then Jesus says something else that has troubled and confused readers for generations: “All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them.”

It could be interpreted as him dismissing the prophets of Israel who came before him, but that would be to misunderstand both him and the prophets. He stands in the prophet’s tradition and embodies their witness. What he is naming are the kinds of leaders the prophets themselves warned about. Leaders who used their position not to serve, but to take. Leaders who fed themselves while neglecting the flock.

The Scriptures speak of shepherds who scatter the sheep, who rule with harshness, who devour what was meant to be shared. And in Jesus’ own time, this reality was unfolding in real time with rulers like Herod Antipas. When confronted with the truth through John the Baptist, he does not repent; he silences the voice that challenges him. He hosts banquets for the powerful while the people remain hungry and burdened. He preserves his image at the cost of a prophet’s life.

This is the reality Jesus is naming. Leadership that takes instead of gives. Leadership that silences truth instead of listening to it. Leadership that protects itself instead of the people. Leadership that isn’t actually leadership at all. “Thieves and robbers… come only to steal and kill and destroy.”

This Is Our Time Too

I can’t help but see how the words of Jesus here press into our own moment in ways that are difficult to ignore, as we watch a similar dissonance unfold. We see leaders who speak the name of Jesus, who publicly invoke faith, who position themselves as shepherds of a people, yet whose actions often resemble something else entirely. Policies and practices that harm the vulnerable. Rhetoric that divides and dehumanizes. Power that seems more concerned with self-preservation and enrichment than compassion and service.

And perhaps what makes this moment so painful is not only what we see, but who we see believing it. People we love. Communities we belong to. Voices we once trusted. Many are convinced the rulers of our time are following Jesus. That they are listening to the shepherd. And yet the fruit of what is being followed feels so far from the life Jesus describes.

This is not a new tension. It is as old as the prophets. As old as the kings. As old as the crowds who could not always tell the difference between a true shepherd and a false one. It was painful and destructive then, and it is painful and destructive now.

Jesus does give us a different way of discerning, though: “The sheep hear his voice… he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” Notice the characteristics of this phrase. The voice of Jesus does not coerce. It does not manipulate. It does not demand allegiance through fear. It calls. It knows. It leads.

And where does it lead? “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

This word “abundantly” (perisson) is not about excess for a few. It is about the fullness of life. Life that nourishes, restores, heals, and makes room. We have already seen glimpses of this life in John’s Gospel. Water has been turned to overflowing wine, bread multiplied beyond need, the restoration of sight, and even the raising of the dead.

The life Jesus brings is never built on the suffering of others. It is never secured through domination. It is never protected by violence or fear. It is life given. Life shared. Life that multiplies goodness rather than extracting it.

The Voice Of Life

So perhaps the question this passage leaves us with is not simply, Who claims to speak for Jesus?

But rather, whose voice leads to life? Whose leadership reflects care for the vulnerable? Whose actions align with the heart of the shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep? These are not easy questions to hold, especially when the answers may unsettle relationships, communities, and even parts of ourselves. But Jesus does not leave us without hope. “The sheep did not listen to them.”

Even in a world full of competing voices, there remains within us the possibility of recognition. Of learning again the sound of the shepherd’s voice. Of disentangling faith from fear, truth from performance, and love from power. And perhaps, in this painful and disorienting moment, that is where healing begins. Hope that change still can happen and the truth can be heard anew.

Not in having all the answers, but in returning, again and again, to the voice that calls us by name. The voice that does not take life, but gives it and gives it abundantly.

This is my hope for us in this time.

Prayer

Good Shepherd,
In a world filled with noise,
teach us to hear your voice again.

When power speaks in your name but bears little resemblance to your love, give us the courage to discern,
and the humility to listen more deeply.

For those of us who feel confused, grieved, or even betrayed,
meet us in that place.
You know what it is to be surrounded by voices that distort truth.
You know what it is to watch power wound the very people it was meant to protect.

Gather us, Lord.
Call us by name again.
Lead us out of fear and into life.

Help us to recognize the difference between voices that take
and the voice that gives.

And where we have followed what harms
whether out of fear, trust, or longing
gently lead us back.

Make us a people who reflect your heart:
who protect the vulnerable,
who speak truth with love,
who refuse to trade your name for power.

May your voice be the one we follow.
May your life be the one we embody.

Amen.

Now I'd like to hear from you! Did you find this helpful? What thoughts came to your mind as you read? Feel free to respond to this email and share your thoughts with me. I look forward to reading them. A 30 Day Day Devotional: I wrote a daily devotional in hopes to provide a companion for people seeking to follow Jesus through the season of we are currently navigating together. You can find out more below: $20.00 Following Jesus In A World Obsessed With Empires: 30 Days of reclaiming the hope, compassion, and justice of Jesus. Today, our world can often feel overwhelmed by darkness, division, and despair. I created this 30-day devotional to... Read more Get it now! ​ Ways to support: If you'd like to support this project, you can do so through one-time-gift of any amount you feel is right. You can also subscribe through a $5/mo, $15/mo, or $25/mo. Several others have also asked for a recurring gift option that is different from the ones offered here, like this one. If you'd like me to set up a different option for you, please just send me an email with the word "support" in the subject line. As always, I really want to thank all of you for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every single week. I'm thankful for the ways we are building this together and hope it creates a lasting, positive change in our world along the way! I sincerely appreciate you all, Ben Remember, you can now view this and all previous newsletters as well as invite friends to join through this link: https://benjamin-cremer.ck.page/profile.

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