“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. ” John 10:10-11 (NIV). In this passage Jesus is explaining who he is to the Pharisees. Obviously, they had a life so they might have wondered why Jesus said that he came so his sheep could have life. Therefore, we understand that the life he gives us, his sheep, is not the same life that the rest of the world has. It is a different life. It is a life with fullness, with depth, with meaning, with fulfillment.
Then Jesus says he is the good shepherd and in John 10 he has been explaining how he is a shepherd. I have to think that this made everyone there think about Psalm 23, which starts out ” The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. (Psalm 23:1-3, NIV). So Jesus is saying that he is the Lord and that he will provide for our needs and bless our soul. We only experience this partly in this age, and fully in the next age. But real life, the life God originally intended in the Garden of Eden, we start experiencing now. This is where our heart dwells now and we know that he will complete his promise of abundant life in the next age.
