When I preached last year on John 10:1-10, I did not notice how this passage is set within the wider story of the healing of the blind man and the Pharisees struggle to understand the meaning of Jesus and his miracles. I’m not entirely sure what to do with that or how to understand that, but it seems an unavoidable issue in dealing with this text.
This passage seems ripe for mis-interpretation or overly broad application.
Who is the hired hand? Who is the wolf? What does it mean that God commands him to lay down his life, but he does it on his own? Is this a statement about choice being a true sign of love?
Much to ponder. If I could just get “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” out of my head.
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The doctrine of original sin is surely more humbling to man than the opposite: And I know not what honour we can pay to God, if we think man came out of His hands in the condition wherein he is now.
The latest Sermon Brainwave podcast at WorkingPreacher.org discusses this, too. There might also be something in the forums there.