“Regarding My Sheep” Sunday Oct 16th 2022

The formally blind man who Jesus had healed did not betray Jesus to the religious leaders, and now this man stands before his Healer and sees Jesus for the first time. He had just been "cast out." Jesus asks the man a very spiritual question. He asked, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" (vs.35). The reference to the Son of Man comes from Daniel 7:13-14. So, when Jesus asked him if he believed in the Son of Man, he knew exactly what Jesus was asking. That man's confession and worship of Jesus did not take place in private. People were watching, including some Pharisees who had begun to follow Jesus as disciples (Jn 8:30-31; 9:40). They, along with everyone else, had just observed a terrible injustice by their religious leaders. A man who had done nothing more than refuse to slander someone who had restored his eyesight had been "cast out" by the highest religious court in the land. That meant he was no longer a member of Israel's spiritual community. That punishment didn't match the offense. Those leaders' harsh abuse of authority was glaringly obvious, so Jesus used the moment to clarify in everyone's mind what had just happened and to teach them how to choose godly leaders in the future. Using the analogy of a shepherd, Jesus distinguishes between false shepherds and the Good Shepherd, and at the same time, He tells us what we should look for in under-shepherds.