They did not understand

The Pharisees were upset at Jesus because Jesus had just told them that they were spiritually blind. They couldn’t understand what was happening right in front of them because they were blind. They were unable, and for that matter, unwilling to see.

Jesus went on to try to explain it to them even further, essentially saying that they were not only blind, but they were unable to recognize the voice of the shepherd that they should have been looking for. Not deaf necessarily, but they didn’t recognize the voice of the very one from whom they said that they were wanting to hear. In short, they couldn’t understand because they weren’t his 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.

John 10:3-6

The sheep know the shepherd’s voice. They have listened for it and sought it out. They will follow the shepherd, but another person, another stranger, they won’t follow because they don’t recognize the voice.

So, I see a couple of points here for each of us to consider:

First, it is extremely important that we hear the voice of the shepherd. Yes, we must specifically know the words that Jesus has used, but I think it is also as important, if not moreso, to understand the overall story that God has been telling us through the entirety of the story of the Bible. In this way, we can understand not only Jesus, but the context of his life, death, and resurrection.

Why did Jesus need to come to his people?

Why did Jesus specifically come into the world as a Jew?

What was he accomplishing? And for what purpose?

What needs yet to be done? Where is all of this going, and what is our part in all of this?

How can we do that? First, we need to read the scriptures, read the Bible, for understanding. We need to understand the theological and practial living principles, but we also – and I might argue primarily – need to understand the overarching story that God is telling through his word. Why? Because when we know the story that God is telling us, we can also quickly discern what is false and that which is different, that which men tell us as lies that come from Satan.

Second, we need to seek God for revelation of his word through the Holy Spirit. Through prayer, through meditation and reflection, and simply through asking the Lord what he wants to tell us, God will speak to us and help us to understand what he wants to say from his word.

In these ways, we can know the voice of the shepherd. We will recognize it and we will follow it instead of the voice of a stranger.

But look at how that paragraph ends. In verse 6, as John is recounting Jesus telling this story, he says that the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. There were other people in the crowd that were listening to Jesus speak to Pharisees and they began to not only understand but believe. But the Pharisees? They didn’t understand. They couldn’t understand. They didn’t belong to the shepherd. They didn’t belong to Christ, so the result was that they didn’t follow him. Others believed, but they did not because they did not understand.