This is the Bama podcast with Marty Solomon. I'm his co-host, Brent Billings. Today we're looking at Jesus' claim to be the true gate and the good shepherd for his sheep.

Yeah, you know one of the things is I got ready for this episode that I wanted to one of the things I'm trying to keep in front of me that I try to do on a hermeneutical level is I mean I've been spending so much time in our conversation just talking about the shot and that whole conversation and that personal wrestling match now for like three or four chapters of John.

But then there's the I also love to step back into this larger 10,000 foot historical thinking about John the author so there's the story of Jesus and the characters and the story itself and then there's the intent of the author and that level of conversation.

So I keep trying to remind myself and this lesson in particular I step back and I was like what is John trying to do like we can probably link our episode again that we did to John in session three Brent will link that in the show notes.

But what is it that John John is writing to a very unique context he's writing to a church in Asia and Asia Minor a very Greco Roman blended family this like this the Gentiles are coming in this inclusive he's writing to a different setting he has a different agenda the cultural world around them is different and that definitely plays into what we're.

And I step back and I was like what is John trying to accomplish with this focus on this Judean he's really focusing on the religious and the dangers of this worldly paradigm and those worldly metrics and how our religiosity gets out of control and Jesus is inviting us into another world.

And I have a very important question about the world and I think that's why I think John is writing this into another way of seeing things and a heavenly perspective that he's descended with and he's inviting us into because it's going to be it's going to liberate us which makes sense like what they're experiencing in the world of Asia and Asia Minor what John is writing to what he's trying to communicate a gospel to is a world that is a whole new paradigm.

And it's opening them up and I wonder if what John's doing is trying to use that Judean experience to say for all of because he's got two different audiences if we remember the conversation he's got the Jewish audience and he's got the Gentile pagan audience and he's doing something like pretty obvious on the

pagan audience but he's also challenging this very Jewish audience with probably what they're struggling the most with because the Judean worldview is at odds that would have been what we talked about with say Galatia in session four the Judean worldview would be the world view of

the Jamal the Judean worldview is typically it is more hellenized but it would typically not be the world of the diaspora that went to places like Ephesus or Pergamum that would be kind of the opposing world view to that.

And yet it seems like John is leveraging that conversation and opportunity and maybe I'm missing things maybe I'm not quite pulling my details together quite well but I was wrestling with this I feel like he's leveraging that undercurrent conversation to say yes this is what we struggle with on a religious level because where God is taking us feels like uncharted waters it feels like it feels like it just makes me nervous and it makes me change it feels dangerous and it feels like

but God is going there and Jesus is the one who's in charge and like it feels like when I step back and I look at John's intention I go man this this conversation actually makes a ton of sense from what I understand his larger his flock John's flock is dealing with in Asia and Asian minor I feel like this gospel would be very instructive and helpful I don't know if that makes any sense but I I wanted to start kind of by reminding us of

the larger backstory not of Jesus in his conversation but of John and his gospels audience and why he's telling the stories the way that he is so something to keep in mind issue read through John Russell with its implications interpret those things keep that in mind what is John's agenda here why is he trying to tell the audience of Asian Asian minor that so that may come up today we'll see where the conversation goes

those episode 87 by the way when we first talk about John which thinking about it now feels like was it really that long ago and also feels like an eternity some of you wrote me an email this morning and was like you know in session one you guys kind of use this this kind of language and it's kind of problematic and I'm like oh man you you have no idea

the journey we've been on since 2016 the waking up we've done to the language we use the way we talk about things that that was a long time ago and we had some of those episodes and we were we were still growing and in a different place back then what weren't we Brent

yeah and hopefully still today I hope I hope that 10 years from now to even be the same just keep just keep evolving keep growing keep getting better

okay should we get into the text I don't know why not let's do it all right very truly I tell you Pharisees which by the way Pharisees is not in the text but the NIV has added it I think wisely because a lot of people are going to be reading this passage

without having any idea of the context around it but this is a continuation of the conversation from before there's no there's no language to suggest that it's a different place

a different time or anything it's just Jesus talking again so this is this is picking up right from the end of the conversation that we had last time did they put a footnote in there to that extent that Pharisees is an England no no they didn't okay interesting the old and I be didn't have it at all so interesting choice but I like what you pointed out so probably

good one we are going to have a very clear break at the beginning of our next episode when it is the festival of dedication so the end of this episode is the end of the conversation and then it will be some other time some other place after this it is yeah it is tricky to follow John and when it comes to time and what he's doing and how much is one conversation how much is multiple conversations where are their lapses of time he just makes that really mushy

and kind of draws out the almost what feels like this long run on run on story and part of his style okay 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

and I'm going to stop you right here immediately a lot of just brilliant brilliant but just vibrant cultural context here Jesus is using an image I think pretty much anybody in their day their world is going to be used to we're going to try to put some some photos and a presentation in your show notes so you can see some examples of this but a sheep pin is usually an area it's got like a rock wall I think there will be at least if not all the photos at least some of the photos that I share

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