[Martin J. Godeberht]

The Good Shepherd and His Sheep
10:1 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.

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

Jesus tells the Pharisees that anyone who is a cheat and a liar is pretty much a scumbag. Now Jesus didn't forget about Jacob stealing Esau's birthright and blessing (Genesis 27:36) because Jesus, in the form of God, became partners with Jacob (Genesis 28:20-22). Jacob got fine wives, concubines, riches, and was blessed with many fine sons (Genesis 32) who were to become the origins of the Twelve Tribes of Israel (Genesis 49:28). So the moral of Jesus' story is that Jews can be sneaky liars and be greatly revered and rewarded if God is working with them, but Christians (who don't exist yet, except for Christ) are above that kind of thing. No wonder the Pharisees were confused.

7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

Jesus really rams home the point that Christians are sheep in these next few verses. I didn't copy them all, but you can read them here (John 10:7-10). Sheep are generally peaceful creatures who care only about eating, and mating once a year. Sometimes they run and frollick, but usually they're busing watching all the other sheep to make sure nobody does anything conspicuous. Many people may consider this a negative thing, as sheep are generally known to be rather dim-witted, easily manipulated, smelly creatures. But Jesus says this like it's a good thing and so we accept that.

12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

Jesus knows that people who work for other people pretty much can't be trusted. Likewise, Jesus really does not trust the Jews.

Spoilers - they keep plotting to kill Him.

17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

Jesus assures us He's the good kind of shepherd, as opposed to the Jewish kid who was hired for the summer, because He'll lay down His life for us and not run away. Then He'll take His life back up. So He knows this is a temporary thing, but still it must be inconvenient to Him. He'll go all the way for His Sheep so long as He doesn't have to go all the way really. That's why the Father loves Him.

Jews Keep Bickering
22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.

24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.

Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that tries to mimic Christmas with presents, but replaces the tree with a weird candle centerpiece. Jewish kids know they're getting the raw end of the deal but they don't complain.

Anyway, one day Jesus was walking around doing His Holy thing when the Jews confronted Him and demanded He tell them once and for all if He was the Messiah they're waiting for. This is sneaky as all get out because it's illegal to blaspheme, which claiming to be the Messiah would count as. See why Jesus doesn't trust the Jews?

25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.

26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

Jesus doesn't care about breaking the law, and explains that He has been telling showing them all this time He's the Messiah, that He's God in the Flesh. They are not included in His grand sheep collective, which is why they don't ever catch on.

30 I and my Father are one.

Remember how in the gospels of Mark and Matthew Jesus was all hush-hush about His divinity (Matthew 16:20; Mark 8:30)? This time He's ready to lay the Truth Bomb on them, essentially daring them to do something about it.

31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

They dared.

34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

Jesus is referring to Psalm 82:6 here, and that really wigs them out because that's blasphemy, but it's also Scriptural. They get so confused that they're ready to kill him. God's plan isn't for Jesus to sacrifice His life in a riot however.

39 Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,

Jesus bravely runs away.

The Death of Lazarus
11:1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

Mary and Martha are brothers to Lazarus, who was sick. There were a lot of Marys back then, but John tells us this is the Mary who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair, even though it hasn't happened yet. John will explain that in a couple more chapters. Spoilers are really no problem in the Bible. This isn't like when J. K. Rowling was pumping out book seven of the Harry Potter series and everyone wondered about Snape, so it's okay for John to skip ahead.

6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

Jesus said don't worry, Lazarus is totally not going to die.

Spoilers, he dies.

Jesus however, hangs out for two more days just to create some epic suspense.

15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

Jesus says, "Come on, guys! Let's go pay a visit to my dead good friend! You're gonna LOVE this!"

16 Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.

Thomas was the emo disciple. He probably listened to a lot of whoever was the Bob Dylan of his generation, and wallowed a lot. I imagine the disciples shrugged that kind of stuff off and rolled their eyes all the time.

Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus
17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.

By the time Jesus gets there, Lazarus has been dead and laid in the tomb four days. Those tombs were essentially caves, dark, dank, veritable eco-paradise for mold, mildew, all kinds of fungus, bacteria, worms, and all kinds of gross stuff. By this time, Lazarus' body would have been green, purple or black. Certainly bloated, eyes popping out of the sockets, tongue sticking out, you get the idea. By this time the pancreas would be happily digesting itself (well, the bacteria doing the digesting, the organ itself being digested). The smell would have been worse than coming home after a long weekend to find your game freezer in the basement broke and a half side of beef and the deer shot last week have thawed and are dripping on the floor. This is what Jesus and His disciples came to.

21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.

Martha gives a backhanded compliment to Jesus, telling Him she trusts Him, but not without making sure He knows she blames Him first.

25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

Jesus drops another Truth Bomb, and John makes a mental note to write it down later because he knew at the time it was probably important.

Martha accepts this answer, even though it must have sounded positively weird to her. I wonder if she feels bad that she blamed Him. Probably not. I think women don't realize how negative they are in general.

32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

Mary runs out to meet Jesus and His posse, and she blames Him as well. Really, you'd think God could make one woman who didn't immediately assume problems are caused by the men in their lives.

35 Jesus wept.

Jesus wept, even though He knew Lazarus would be dead for only a short time more. Let's face it, Jesus had every intention of bringing him back to life, and there aren't any spoilers for God. But He did this for the Jews so they would know that He cared. Still, some Jews had a problem with Jesus.

Lazarus Dies The First Time
39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.'

Everyone there knows exactly what to expect when they open that tomb. A full sized man, decomposing in a damp, dark cave is no picnic. The stench would bring tears to the eyes, and only the strongest could suppress the natural gag reflexes. They are not looking forward to this.

40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

Jesus tells them to stop being such negative nancies and just trust Him already. Anything can happen if you just believe. This is different than the Disney kind of believing though, because this isn't magic, it's supernatural.

41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

Jesus looks up to talk to God, which might have been awkward for anyone who remembered the time Jesus said "I and my father are one (John 10:30)," just a couple chapters back. But He does it anyway, and He (as the Father) answers Himself (as Jesus) by immediately, miraculously, recomposing all the decomposed biological bits and pieces, tissues and cells of the formerly living body, and makes the fungus and bacteria instantaneously disappear. Lazarus hobbles out, ready to go home to a hot meal and a long bath.

The Plot to Kill Jesus
48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

The Jewish leaders are afraid their Roman overlords will punish them if they let Jesus continue (spoilers, they do anyway not 40 years later). They argue about the best way to kill Jesus. The Bible doesn't tell us if they ever consider exiling Him or making Him pay fines, or even coming to Him and talking about their predicament to see if they can work out some resolution that respects all parties mutually. We just know they saw red and wanted Jesus dead.

51 And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;

52 And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

53 Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.

So get this. This guy is given divine revelation, he just wakes up one day KNOWING the truth about something. And not just any old something, but the MOST IMPORTANT SOMETHING EVER IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND. He essentially wakes up one day KNOWING that Jesus IS the Messiah, personally sent by God, instructed to do God's work.

"Whoa, that's remarkable! Here I am, just sitting here in my dumpy little desert home, blowing the sand off my lunch, waiting for the Messiah, and Yahweh Himself let's me know it's this Jesus yokel from Bethlehem! Should I worship Him already? Should I at least maybe consider what He has to say?"

Is what he should have said.

"Nah, Imma kill 'im."

Is what he really said.

This is why John hates the Jews so much, and if you haven't noticed this yet throughout his gospel, you need to pay more attention.

54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.

Jesus bravely ran away again.

Jesus Anointed at Bethany
12:3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

This is the story of Mary pouring perfume on Jesus' feet that John talked about earlier.

4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him,

More spoilers.

7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.

8 For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

Jesus tells Judas to step off.

Jesus Brings His Ass to Jerusalem
12 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Word gets around that Jesus IS coming out of hiding, and so His fans took palm branches and started shouting Jewish victory cheers.

14 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,

This is one of the three donkeys Jesus rides into the city. Pastor Rune Enoe has a most wonderful sermon about this called, How many donkeys did Jesus ride on?

16 These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.

The disciples are confused, again. I can't blame them, really. If my buddy and leader of my posse had run away to hide in the woods to avoid being caught and killed, and then came into town on a baby donkey, his feet probably lifting Himself up so he doesn't break the baby animal's back, and crowds spontaneously grabbed palm branches and lined the streets cheering Him on, I'd be confused as all hell, too. Luckily someone had studied their homework back in middle school, and reminded everyone this all was written about in the Scriptures. They chilled.

Jesus Predicts His Death
23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

Jesus may be humble enough to ride into Jerusalem like a clown, but He knows He's Hot Stuff, and He's ready for the world to know it, too.

25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

This is not as emo as it sounds. Think of it more like, "Suck it up, buttercup. You want into Heaven? Do what I say."

26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

To be a True Christian™ is to follow and serve Jesus, not just believe He was born in miraculous circumstances, died, and got better. There are lots of other stories of gods with miraculous births, gods who die and come back to life, and believing in theme will get you nowhere just as fast. The trick isn't to believe, the trick is to believe the right stories, and obey appropriately.

27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

No whimpering in the Garden this time, begging for strength (Matthew 26:39)! This time Jesus says, "Bring it on, baby!"

36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

Jesus bravely runs away again.

More Bickering Among the Jews
47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

Spoiler alert, that judge actually IS Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:10), but that's still a secret at this time.

50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

Jesus implores the Jews to not blame the messenger. He knows how angry they can get, and He's got no more time for running away.