Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - John 7-10 Part 2 • Dr. Jenet Erickson • Apr. 24 - Apr. 30

Episode Date: April 19, 2023

Dr. Jenet Erickson continues to explore themes of mercy, redemption, and the symbolic names that Jesus calls himself in the Gospel of John.00:00 Part II– Dr. Jenet Erickson00:07 The man born blind04:05 Jesus has the power over trauma and inherited difficulties05:11 Why the Pool of Siloam09:21 Spiritual questions and uncertainty13:54 Jesus questions who is blind to spiritual things16:21 Jesus teaches about the Good Shepherd18:42 He knows and loves each of his sheep22:19 Jesus teaches who should lead24:45 The difference between leading and herding25:11 Sheep go astray and the “Summer of the Lambs”27:22 President Nelson and the Covenant Path28:27 Hirelings abandon the sheep31:54 Jesus and the sanctification of the temple33:34 The Gospel of John is a gospel about discipleship35:26 John asks who will receive Jesus38:22 Dr. Jenet Erickson shares her takeaways45:02 End of Part II–Dr. Jenet EricksonPlease rate and review the podcast.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.coFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-piano

Welcome to part 2 with Dr. Janet Erickson, John chapter 7 through 10. Here is this chapter 9 where we start out with this Jesus passed by. He saw man which was blind from his birth and his disciples asked him saying, master, who did sin? This man or his parents? And you just read in those questions, here is that world belief that suffering is punishment. And that suffering would not exist at all if someone, you, me, the blind man, the blind man's parents, Adam and Eve, whoever, hadn't deserved to suffer in the first place. So they're clearly from that frame of mind that suffering is a just punishment, that suffering

is an accusation from God. And here the Savior just answers, neither have this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest. What a story that just like cuts through, like a two-edged sword into the truth. Following up with what we just talked about, these themes of light and water, what's gonna happen with this man who lives in the dark, because he's blind. What's gonna happen, light and water, here they come.

At the pool of silo, no less, right? It all ties in. Mm-hmm. Janet, I think it's applicable for our listeners too, who when something bad happens, we often think, what did I do wrong? What did I do wrong to deserve this? And Jesus would say, nothing. This is part of the plan. Yet so interesting that loss and difficulty are woven in to the fabric of our mortal experience.

He doesn't cause them as Elder Hall and so clearly taught. He doesn't cause these things. He answers them. So here's Jesus Christ, who, rather than seeing the blindsman's suffering as a punishment, sees it as an occasion for him to enter in and bring healing. He doesn't accuse. He just judges what is needed and offers that to him. He doesn't cause suffering, he responds to it. And it feels like he's always inviting us into that work

of love, his work of love, to respond to the reality of suffering. So here we covenant at the waters of Mormon, to bear with those that suffer, to mourn with those that mourn, and comfort those that stand in need, and comfort. It's like he's calling us into his work to offer grace and healing and redemption in the face of the reality of suffering. I love these words. It can in God's hands, this is Adam-Ilar, be repurposed for growth and progress. It can teach

and strengthen and empower. All the difficulties in our lives can be repurposed in his hands for growth and progress for strength and empowerment. That is just to know who he is. It's such a miracle. Your trials can be repurposed. What is it, John? Secondify to consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain for thy gain. Lehigh talking to Jacob, yeah, he'll repurpose all this. You've grown up seeing the rudeness of your brothers trying to kill your other brother, trying to kill me. They call it, I think, the law of retribution. That there's the law of the harvest, there's the doctrine of retribution, that this was so much in their minds that, well, somebody must have sinned for this guy to be blind. And I think that we see Jesus not just here, but in other places.

He talks about the tower at Psyloam that fell on people. Do you think they were all sinners? And trying to help them disconnect trials from a certain behavior or something is something that we see Jesus doing again and again. And this is just another place for that. Sometimes bad things happen that aren't a result of you doing something. They're just a result of welcome to a fallen world type of a thing. But as you mentioned, God can repurpose that. I feel like all of us could bear testimony that

we've learned the most from our hardest times. It's really important to realize this miracle is pretty significant because they're later going to say not anyone, not Elijah, not Elisha, no one has healed a man who was born blind, that from birth was blind, which I think is so beautiful because it's teaching us that Jesus Christ has power even over the things that we inherit. So to speak, like that we bring into this life, the traumas and difficulties that we bring in, he has power to transform us and to heal us.

But what's going to happen is this miracle and the miracle of Lazarus being raised from the dead are going to be the two that just solidify for the Sanhedrin They must kill him like he just can't be This being who can do this level of miracle? We just can't have because it's going to upset the power dynamics that they live in in their Roman power So this is a really significant miracle Jesus puts mud on his eyes It says go wash in the pool of Psylon. It's so beautiful. And he goes, he washes and it says and he came seeing.

He washes the world out of his eyes with living water with Psylon is living water. It's, oh, what the pool of Psylon, it means sent. Jesus was sent. Maybe that's how we look at it. Living water, he is the living water and I'm looking at in the Old Testament They called it Shiloha is Siloam. You'll see Isaiah saying because you refuse the waters of Shiloha that go softly I'm gonna send an Assyrian tsunami, right?

What happens when we refuse the living water? Here come the Assyrians for, that's Isaiah 8, 6 in the footnote there, but I love how this all ties up together. Yes, I love how you describe he washes away the world and then he's actually prepared to see the living water, who the living water is. So now we see him come to accept Jesus for who he is. And so Jesus has brought light, physical and spiritual light, the miracle of the Feast of Tavernacles allowing him to see. After testifying that he was the light of the world, he just gives this man real light. I was listening to Dr Kent Brown. He said that there is a word that they could have used that Jesus smeared his eyes with clay, but he used anointed because they were in the shadow of the temple there. And this guy was washed in the shadow of the temple there, then receives sight. And I thought, that's pretty good. He could have used another word, but he anointed his eyes with

clay. I think Dr. Brown for that one. Well, that's pretty good. He could have used another word, but he anointed his eyes with clay. I think Dr. Brown for that one. Well, that's covenant language again. In covenants, we grow, in covenants, we experience conversion, in covenant power, we're changed to be able to see and receive ever more of the Redeemer's light and power and influence in our lives. I love that anointing word. Yeah.

One of the places, if you've ever gone to the Holy Land is just so inspiring to stand at the South steps because it sounds like if he set him to the pulus psalom, this is exactly where you would go. So maybe when Jesus left the temple, it was right there and then sent this man down psalom and there stairs, so he could have gone there and washed there. Just a recent story about how they're working on restoring that pool of siloam to, what was it, Hank, a couple of Olympic pool sizes. It was pretty big.

Where has a guy's tunnel comes out, but I love how nine fits with seven and eight, water and light. Yes, in this beautiful miracle and what he will do for us. And Hank, you have to love what happens in this dialogue with the family and everybody else, right? Oh, man. When he starts coming back, I was going to say these conversations when he comes back seeing, oh, I love every time I read them, I just, I kind of laugh. Well, he's a vege, I was going to. Yeah. Isn't John playing that way? I mean, you just see these plain

statements throughout John. This is full of them. He's walking around. He can see and guy on. Yeah. Isn't John playing that way? I mean, you just see these plane statements throughout John. This is full of them. He's walking around. He can see and they're like, hey, that looks like the guy who's blind. And now there's like, that is him. He's like, it's not. It just looks like it. Yeah. How were your eyes opened? This is my favorite part. He said, a man named Jesus made clay, anointed my eyes. I went to the pool, slum, and I washed. And they said, where is he? And he said, I don't know. I've never seen him.

Yeah. Just a great little dialogue. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 is really fun because he's so happy to be put out of the synagogue. What does that mean in verse 22? I think there was this like strong ostracization, right? Like you will be ostracized from this community that's bound up in synagogue worship the neighborhood. Yeah, hard. I imagine that this is a pretty big miracle that everyone's talking about it because it gets the Pharisees involved

Because of course it was the Sabbath day when Jesus killed him They can't get Jesus but they go find the blind guy, the formerly blind man, and they bring him in. Instead of saying we're so happy for you, this is wonderful. Yeah, give God the praise. This man is a sinner, right? They're insisting on that. And then I love how he just says so plainly, whether he be a sinner or no, I know, not one thing I know whereas I was blind now I see Can't you hear like the beautiful language in that him? Amazing grace right as this enslaver this man on ships that would take Slaves and seeing his own conversion. I was blind, but now I see in how many of us know the miracle of the fruits of Jesus Christ in our lives being blind and

then we can see When we bear testimony to Janet, this is just so beautiful. There's things I don't know. It's okay to say that. Yes There's things I don't know whether there's a sinner or not. I don't know, but here's what I know Here's what I've experienced. That's very first Nephi 11 17 and I don't know the meaning of all things, but I know look God loves his children. I know. Here's what I've experienced. That's very first Nephi 11, 17. I don't know the meaning of all things, but I know look God loves His children. I know some things. Yes, what I know. That's good. I've told my children and my students. It's okay to not know answers. If the qualification for having a testimony is you have to know everything. No one's going to have a testimony, but there are some things that you can know for a sure because you were there. What would he say? I know.

I was blind. Now I see what are they going to say? Nah. No. I remember being blind. I remember seeing that. That's the testimony of experience. That's a evidence.

It's right there. How do I say? Okay. Forget it. I'm blind. How do you deny that? A person with an experience is never at the mercy of a person with an opinion. We know this man is a sinner. They don't know that.

That's just their opinion of Jesus. He's like, well, I had an experience with him. To me, this is powerful. It's so powerful. I love how you're tying it together. It's interesting that they accuse him again in verse 34 and say, thou hast all together born and sins and thus thou teach us. That's another judgment, isn't it? How do you know? And that's such pride. Yes, even though he's saying since the world began, it was not heard that any man opened the eyes of one more. I mean, he's just saying from scripture, this has never happened before. If he

were not of God, he couldn't do this. And then will you be teaching us? And Jesus hears that he's been cast out. It's just such a tender thing. He knows this man's been ostracized for simply bearing witness. Hank, as you said, of what had happened to him. And Jesus finds him and says, Dastal, believe on the Son of God. So interesting. We don't know the answers to all things, but we know who we know who we can go to, who is the way and who is the life. We don't know how I think about wonderful friends who've experienced same-sex interaction or questions of gender dysphoria and that feeling of like, is this an accusation from God or parents, right? A child whose life they've envisioned a certain way and they they wrestle with that and what does this mean for this child's life? And to hear the Lord say, neither has sinned, but that the works of God may be main manifest. And we may not know the way

how all of this stuff can be reconciled or figured out. But what we can know is as he says, reconciled or figured out. But what we can know is as he says, Lord, I believe in you. Here he's meeting the Savior and the Savior says thou has both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee. And he says, Lord, I believe thou art the way. Just such an answer to the issues in our lives. Thy man's h be able to testimony. Just stay with me. I will show you the way. How the Lord does that for us and the things that seem irreconcilable. What a day for this blind man.

Can you imagine waking up that day? What a day. It's going to be just a normal, everyday. He can see and now he's debating the elite of the society. And I love how he takes him on. He's good at it. I'm thinking this guy, he can craft a sentence this guy, right? Yeah. They said, tell us again, what happened? He said, I told you already. And you didn't hear. You want me to tell you again, would you be his disciple? You're his disciple.

We follow Moses. He calls them out. He says, you guys are in a tough place, aren't you? You don't like him yet. He's doing miracles. That's a tough place for you guys to be in. Yes, yes, even greater than Moses did. Yeah, this powerful, my husband loves to quote that, he is a wage, ask him. Yeah, yeah, just say you're dragging us in here to ask us about our son being healed. Well, he's a wage, ask him, but they did not want to see the truth. So isn't it amazing that the Savior they wouldn't take the answer. He wanted so they find asking again. Yeah.

So here's the savior, the last versus for judgment to make things right. I am come into this world that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind. He's pulling out when we think we see, which is how our natural pride can be, how blind we truly are. And yet when we recognize our blindness, we create space for the redeemer of the world to help us see. And that that's what his work is to liberate us into the truth that we might see. And they're angry, right? Are we blind also? And he says, if you recognize your blindness, you wouldn't be sitting. But because you say, you see, you are in sin.

You are blind. It reminds me of Isaiah's call in Isaiah 6, and then second Nephi 16, where Lord says declare, this is Paul Hoskasin, declare the heart of this people to be fat. It says make the heart. He says, ah, that could be declared. Their eyes, they have closed, less they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them. And these they won't see. Their eyes they have closed. It's a perfect example of, I'm standing right here and their eyes they have closed.

And if they could only see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, they could be converted and I could heal them. And that call of Isaiah is repeated in every one of the G gospels and in the book of Acts, portions of it. The the sea here understand, be converted and be healed. So I love that. Yeah, requires a seeing our blindness in order to be open to seeing, which is so interesting. Because they think they see, but they're blind. And that's what he's telling. And there's some in verse 16 that are kind of trying to push. I imagine this is Nicodemus.

How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? So there's some of them saying I am seeing something. Yes. I can't deny. Yeah. Joseph of Arimathea going come on guys We're seeing some pretty wonderful things here Which takes us to to John's whole purpose right to show these signs. It's evidence all over the place that he is the Redeemer, but a shutting of the eye to refusal to see it. And John, that is just a fantastic story. It really is. The healing of the blind man is so much to learn.

And if you go slow and really get into it, it's powerful. I love the Bible video that puts all of it together into one video. It's just really powerful in this story. that puts all of it together into one video. It's just really powerful. This story, what we get to go to chapter 10, and we learn right at the beginning that the Savior is coming back. This is the feast of dedication. This is Hanukkah. This is the commemoration of the dedication of the temple of things being sanctified, of the temple itself being sanctified. temple of things being sanctified, of the temple itself being sanctified. And as part of that, there's some suggestion that they would have read Ezekiel 34, which is about shepherds as part of the Feast of Dedication.

It actually is part of what they were doing in their synagogue reading for the year. They would have been at Ezekiel 34 at this time. So it's interesting that the Savior comes in and says he's going to teach them about the good shepherd. So he says, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entered not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way. The same is a thief and a robber, but he that entered in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. And he's going to later say, I am the door. It's interesting to think about clearly their strong clarity that he is the only way

that redemption is only through Christ, that we must all enter through that narrow space of honesty and receiving the covenant power of Jesus Christ in our lives to be changed. But it's also interesting that he says, there will be efforts to like climb up another way. There will be efforts to deny our need for a redeemer, to deny that he is the only way

to try to do it ourselves or some other way. And he says, the same is a thief and a robber. And then he just speaks of the love of the shepherd for the sheep. They know his voice. He leadeth them. They follow him. And again, they know his voice. And you get this strong sense of the shepherding at that time and the shepherding in the east where a shepherd would know his sheep. Of course, these are the two great biblical occupations shepherding and farming and the sheep are so important to the economy because the vital products that are derived from sheep. But in the Near East, right, the shepard

doesn't use dogs or whips or horses or trucks to drive the sheep. He calls. There's a very intimate relationship where he knows them by name. And this is covenant. We can't hear anything else, but this chesed covenant relationship that President Nelson is teaching us, where he knows us each by name. We are marked by him, right, as belonging to him in covenant relationship with him, a bonded working relationship with him, the shepherd working with the sheep to get them to pastors that are safe, to keep them growing and protected,

and that he is the good shepherd who will become a sheep, like who will become the lamb. It's just so powerful that he will take on himself. These lambs that we hear in Isaiah, they're stubborn. They all we like sheep have gone astray, right? They were so dependent, like lambs that are so dependent. My dad was a sheep rancher. And so my early years were spent on sheep fields. And he'll describe this effort to keep lambs. That's what you just spent your whole time doing trying to keep them safe because it's the one

animal that has no defense. He remembers looking back up at the hill and as he's gathered them, he's trying to get them off the mountain and there's a mother and a baby and there's a coyote like just four feet from that mother and she's just stamping her feet. The only thing she can do is stamp her feet. She has no teeth to bite or has no way to defend. And so our utter dependence, even as we're stubborn and go our own way and how much we need the shepherd. And then he will become the lamb, the meek lamb who in a sense submits defenselessly in a sense to death and does not fight back. He is as a sheet before the shears is dumb. He opened not his mouth and takes upon himself our experience and overcomes it. So this shepherd's sheep, what could be a stronger allegory metaphor for our relationship

with him? And John started that. And John chapter one, you have John the Baptist seeing Jesus. Hold the Lamb of God. Not amazing. Verse 11, he says, I'm the good shepherd and the good shepherd give it his life for the sheep. That's unheard of. Shepherds are great and they love their sheep,

but they're probably not gonna give their life to save a sheep because it's a sheep. The equation makes no sense for him to give his life for this sheep. And in the same way, he is way above us in experience and in knowledge. And yet he is the one who's gonna lay down his life for ordinary people.

So powerful. I mean the gap is that profound as sheep to shepherd. Right? I think we can assume they were pretty upset when they heard him say, I am the good shepherd because if they're hearing Ezekiel 34, which the religious leaders are supposed to be the shepherds of the people and we hear in Ezekiel 34, which the religious leaders are supposed to be the shepherds of the people, and we hear in Ezekiel 34, thus say at the Lord God unto the shepherds, woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves, should not the shepherds feed the flocks. And then he just says, the disease you have not strengthened, you haven't healed that

which was sick, you haven't bound up that which was broken. Here is the good shepherd being described, right? In Ezekiel 34, he will bind up, he will heal, he will seek that which is lost. And so he's juxtaposing who the true shepherd is against what they are. These false shepherds and Ezekiel 34 is just so powerful in drawing upon to help clarify this really profound distinction he's making, the good shepherd from those who have with force and with cruelty, have he ruled them. Ezekiel 34. So I think when they heard the good shepherd, they understood what he was saying there is distinguishing between who the leaders were and who they should be.

saying there is distinguishing between who the leaders were and who they should be. Or kind of leaders they should be. Yeah. I loved reading this thinking about our profits as good shepherds. And sister do just gave a devotional dress a few months ago in Hawaii at BYUH and it was so powerful about profits. But she asks this really powerful question, she says, is there anyone you trust to give you more inspired advice unaffected by personal agenda than the first presidency in Corm or the 12 Apostles? Can you think of any journalist, talk show host, celebrity, athlete, or politician you trust more? How about a YouTube celebrity or star of stage screen? She says in each of these cases, they want something from us. Our vote, our money, or support, they all have personal agendas. Profits of God do not. Their agenda is the lords.

And yet too often we listen to them last. So just thinking of the shepherds called of God with who have literally given themselves to the sheep in pattern of the great shepherd. We watched President Monson go from Wiggling his ears down to barely able to stand up for three minutes at the pulpit. He gave his life. Go find Sherry Deuce Talk called Prophets Can See Around Corners. I want him to watch the whole thing and listen to that. So thank you for bringing that up because yeah, what's the motive behind it? This good shepherd loves the sheep to the point he'll lay down his life for the sheep. And I put in my margin when it says he'd go with before them,

in verse four, and you have experience with this because of your father that I just put my margin leading and not hurting. Because like you said, I think in Western cultures, we heard sheep with dogs in 4-F-150s, no offense, Hank. And in ancient cultures, they lead. It's my favorite car. Yeah.

And I thought, what an interesting difference between leading and hurting. But I like what you said, because I hadn't considered that even in Western cultures, we have to protect them. I like what you said, too. I'm not, I am a good shepherd. I am the good shepherd. The, yes. I'll give my life for the sheep.

Whoa. So thank you for the Ezekiel 34 tie into. Yeah, Jenna, I love what you said that your dad probably got so tired of taking care of these lambs, right? They wander, they burn up thinking, and he wants to protect them, right? He wants to keep them safe, but they do just the opposite of what he's hoping they'll do.

Yeah, I'm just thinking of Isaiah saying, oh, we like she. She's gone astray. She's gone astray. Did you ever have to like watch that and go dad? My goodness. All the time. And yeah, it was really remarkable to just think that thought, right? Please just stay where you need to go don't go off

Stay in this safe place. There's a coyote three feet from you right or whatever stay in this safe place Stay in the safe area. There was a profound talk. I still remember I were talking 1989 sister Jane B. Malen gave this talk called the summer of the lambs. Oh my goodness. I remember this John. Yes. She and her little brother, Hey, the youth had been killed in a storm. So you take care of these little lambs. And at the end of the summer, you can sell them. And then she says, after a little while, we forgot all about making money because our lambs were starving to death. They didn't know how to eat. And we had to feed them. And in the end, she says to her dad, isn't there someone who can help us

feed our lambs? Trying with that mask, trying to get them to eat it, yes, and get the milk in there. It's so, we would take care of bum lambs. They called them bum lambs when the mother had died. And I have all these memories of like us, you'd bottle feed them six times a day, initially, right, wake up in the middle of the night and feed the milk. But what was amazing is after just a couple of days, they would just come running to you. They knew who was going to feed them.

It's so beautiful to think of the Savior saying, yeah, they're right, get lost and wander off and stubborn that way, but they know the source of the food and they would just come clamoring to us, right? And he's saying they know my voice, they know who will protect them, they know who will guide them and enable them to live. And that's the relationship we want to have with the Savior when he comes, we want to run to him and follow where he leads, I just think President Nelson's talk published in September of 2022 on Covenant Relationship just captures this idea of the door and that he is the door

of the sheep. And so he just says, when you and I enter that path, we create a relationship with God that allows him to bless and change us. If we let God prevail in our lives, if we allow him to be our good shepherd in my mind, that covenant will lead us closer and closer to him. All covenants are intended to be binding. They create a relationship with everlasting ties, a path of love, that incredible Hesse-ed caring for and reaching out. And you think, here he's saying, he's describing that Kest said, love in the allegory of a shepherd laying down his life for his sheep. And being the door into the sheepfold of safety away from all the predators

that would take them that they have no defenses against without him leading them to safety. It's a really powerful metaphor. The Lord is using here, teaching us. I bet you can get a lot out of this having grown up that way. This is something they totally would understand because this is happening all over the place. Yes, just a couple little last thoughts that long list that he references the hirelings that would run away. He's saying, that he references the higherlings that would run away. He's saying, this shepherd is not going to run away. For sure, a shepherd's not going to run away. And yet the higherlings, when they see something dangerous, the wolf, you know, comes in the higherling flea. And then he says, as the father knoweth me, even so know I, the father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. So he ties us back to the Father and what he will do. John is really clear in saying the Savior's life isn't taken from him.

Over and over again, he's going to make it clear. This was his willingness to be born in a manger in that unique way and to leave this earth in that unique way of his choice to lay down his life. So he's going to make that really clear in these teachings about what he means. Therefore, death the father loved me because I lay here 17 and 18 because I lay down my life. That I might take it again. So he's referenced laying down his life before and this is the first time we're going to hear that he's going to take it again. No man take it from me but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received in my Father. This everlasting covenant of our Heavenly parents with us that they

would send a Redeemer who would take upon himself our experience in covenant connection and then he would overcome it all. He would live again, he would take his life again and break the barrier for us between who we are and who we yearn to be. It's an important point we can get into a, why were they so mean or Are the Romans killed him? Are these leaders among the Jews killed him? Well, actually, he gave his life. He was a willing sacrifice, and some of his last words in the gospel accounts are different. He gave up the ghost. He even chose, I think, the moment of his death, and he chose it. I think that from what I've read, some people would hang on crosses for days, but he chose the moment of that death. So I think it's an important point because we needed

him to die for us. He did it willingly. In 29, it's interesting in light of what you just said, because that means if he willingly gives his life and it's totally under his submission to the Father which is his power, then he says, I love this and it's almost alluding to what he will say in John 17 in the intercessory prayer here of 29. My Father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. So his total control over his giving his life means he also has total control over our redemption. Nothing's going to be outside of that. He has done all that is needed for every single one of us for full redemption.

And there's nothing outside of that. Here he is, I then, no man is able to pluck them out of the father's hand because I will enable their redemption. I and my father are one, we can be assured with an immutable covenant. I think it's section 89, just that he is our Redeemer. He will do his work. He has enabled that to all happen. I think they're upset because they hear, and they're upset for a lot of reasons, right, rejecting this Redeemer, but they hear in 36. He says, say of him, whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world. Now, that's really close language because they're celebrating the dedication,

the sanctification of the temple and he's alluding to that language of the sanctification of the temple and he is saying about himself, I am the one the father has sanctified and sent into the world. So they're concerned about the sanctification of the temple, and he's trying to tell them that the temple celebration, the feast of dedication, points to him, he was the one sanctified by the Father to enable our redemption that we might all be sanctified. And they can hear it, they can hear his reference. Oh my goodness. He's telling us he's greater than the temple He is the sanctified being that the father has sent to enable our sanctification and they don't like it, but he's saying I was the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabornaacles

I am the fulfillment of the Feast of dedication. I am the one whom the Father sanctified here for your redemption. And here come the stones again. He's got to be getting used to this. They got to get rid of him. So this gospel, John, is not only a gospel teaching us of the divinity of Jesus Christ, but as Eric Huntsman has said so powerfully, this is a gospel about discipleship. It's about how we respond to the reality of this divinity. So if we go back to chapter 7, we're going to see these various responses. We've talked about them along the way here, but you hear, for example, if you look at verse 12, there was this murmuring among the people as they hear him. He's a good man. Others say nay. He deceives the people and

No man spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews. I think interesting in our time to be afraid Sometimes of testifying of Jesus Christ in a world that has left religious faith Then in 20 you say thou hast a devil and devil. And then 26, do the rulers know that this is the very Christ? And 31, and many of the people believed on Him and said, when Christ comeeth, will He do more miracles than this man has done? It tells us that Christ Himself evokes different responses from people based on where we are, based on the truth in our own hearts. And sometimes I think we think, well, if someone's great, everybody's going to recognize it, everybody's going to know, and he'll be popular, she'll be

popular. But in fact, John is showing us how distinct our responses can be to the divinity of Jesus Christ based on where we are in our way of being. So 40 and 41, if you go down there, this is the Christ other said. And some said, shall Christ come out of Galilee? John not even eat it. And they're like, wasn't he supposed to be born in Bethlehem? Not even realizing he was born in Bethlehem. Yeah, just galaskin. And all the division that is among the people in encountering this remarkable being who is Jesus Christ, John is trying to teach us how we can all stand there and choose.

He is the light, as he's testified, he is the door of the sheep, he is the good shepherd, he is all of those things, he is the one who frees us from shame, he is the one who forgives, will we receive him? Will we believe on him? As the blind man does, as we see that in chapter 9, who is he Lord that I may believe on Him? I want a redeemer. Who is He, that I may believe on Him? And Jesus says, Thou hast both seen Him. It's He that

talketh with me. And I think for all of us, He's, will we receive all that He has committed to offering to us? Is He testifies of in these sections. That's fantastic. You have the woman in John 8th, the woman taken at adultery with the GST edition that says she believed on him from that hour. And then you have others who are taking up stones. They're in a mob mentality. I want to kill him. What a different response. Just two sides of this spectrum there. It reminds me of Alma 5. Book of Mormon kind of has a tone, a personality, about it's this or it's this. Have you noticed that? And if the good shepherd is not your shepherd, then who's your shepherd? And he puts it really pointedly, Alma does in Alma 5. And I guess that's what's happening here. As you just said, Hank, look at how these groups divide up.

I'm going to worship him. The blind man says the rest of us, let's kill him. So we shouldn't be surprised at like how we as human beings can experience sometimes truth and light and Christ himself and to just be taught by what John is trying to teach us of all that he is offering us. He is all of this. He is the living water. He is the bread. He is the light of the world. He is the good shepherd. The paragraph from Come Follow Me wraps up what we've been saying. Although Jesus Christ came to bring peace and goodwill toward men, there was a division among the people because of him.

People who witnessed the same events came to very different conclusions about who Jesus was. Some concluded he is a good man. Others said he deceived the people. When he healed a blind man on the Sabbath, some insisted this man is not of God. He keep it not the Sabbath day. Others said, how can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? Yet despite all the confusion, those who searched for truth recognize the power in his words, for never man spake like this man. The Jews asked Jesus, tell us plainly whether he was the Christ. He revealed a principle that can help us distinguish truth from error.

My sheep hear my voice. He said, I know them and they follow me. What a great summary there of everything we've been talking about. These have been a fun four chapters. Jenna, what do you hope our listeners walk away with after they study John 7, 8, 9, and 10, which are just, man, we could have gone on for another few hours, I think. Intimidating to talk about these chapters. I think for me, it's been so powerful to just study deeply all he is. And so grateful for the testimony of John who witnessed his life and then goes back

and writes and pulls together all these testimonies of the Lord Himself. When He says, I am the light of the world, I am that I am, I am the door, I am the good shepherd, before Abraham was, I am, I was the one who said, I will go, I am the resurrection in the life, I am the way, the truth in the life. I am the vine and he is trying to help us know. I am I will be I was for you all of these things that you so yearn and need. I am so grateful for that truth. I know that is truth. I know I know he is that and he yearns to be all of that for us. So here he is teaching us in these sections. I am the fulfillment of all of these things. I am here at the Feast of Dedication. This was pointing toward me.

Feast of Tabernacles. This was pointing toward me. I am. I will do. And you just think here's John yearning for us to know what he came to know. As he came to see this good teacher than the Son of God, right, all the way through that, the Redeemer of the world. And he wants us to know he is all of that. He will be all of that. Receive him. I hope everyone listening can be like this blind man who says,

listen, I don't know everything, but there's some things I know because I've experienced them myself and and and whole holds your ground Yeah, hold your ground on the things you know Yes, so powerful where I was blind now. I see like our own personal witnesses. Thank you, Hank A couple final thoughts as this relates to our mortal experience and relationships I have a dear dear friend who experiences Same-sex attraction did, and I remember him describing what it meant to come to know. Jesus is the way, the truth in the life, and I was thinking of how he might have felt like the blind man accused in a sense. Who has sinned? Why is my

life this way? And as he's wrestling with what that means, he'll describe offering to God on an altar, having to say, standing before and thinking, I can't have what I, I want to have all these joyful things. I don't know how. And John, as you testified earlier, it's as if as he's standing there saying, there is no way, I am the way. And watching in his life, just like the blind man, coming to see the goodness of God and find way to the miracles

that he would never have thought possible. He really is our way, maker that way. But then I think what's powerful about these sections, the final thought is that he invites us into being good shepherds. I love how the havens will talk about in married life. They'll talk about the work of a father of a husband is to nourish and cherish his wife,

even as the Lord loved the church. Our work is to help our partner and our children do what the Savior said. I came that they might have life more abundantly and that we Developed greater life. So as you see him respond to the woman caught in adultery He Freeze or he responds with what is needed what is truthful to help her grow He does the same thing with the man who is blunt born blind and as the good shepherd

That's what he's doing. And he invites us into that. And that if we are good shepherds with him, we won't run when the wolves come, the wolf of adversity or the wolf of personal imperfection or the wolf of individualism, whatever the things are that we grapple with in ourselves, we will be good shepherds with him in that work of love for those we have been called to be shepherds to.

Beginning in our families, first of all, and what a call there is, and in our words, and in our ministering, and that he invites us into that sacred work of being a good shepherd, nourishing, giving life. I think a phrase that's in the hymn, dear to the heart of the shepherd, is make us thy true under shepherd. I think I've that's in the hymn dear to the heart of the shepherd is make us thy true under shepherd I think I've heard that in talks before about as we minister to each other We're trying to do what the good shepherd would do and be under shepherds I says make us thy true under shepherds give us a love that is deep

Send us out into the desert seeking by wandering sheep I'd like what you've said here Janet that we can become shepherds ourselves send us out into the desert, seeking by wandering sheep. I like what you've said here, Janet, that we can become shepherds ourselves. Janet, what a fantastic day. Thank you for spending your time with us today. It's been wonderful. Such a privilege. These chapters are just such a gift to us.

Thank you. So good to be with you. We've loved having you. We want to thank officially Dr. Janet Erickson for being with having you. We want to thank officially Dr. Janet Erickson for being with us today. We want to thank our executive producer Shannon Sornson, our sponsors David and Verla Sornson, and we want to always remember our founder Steve Sornson. We hope you'll join us next week. We have more New Testament coming up on Follow Him. Today's transcripts, show notes, and

additional references are available on our website, follow him.co, follow him.co. And you can watch the podcast on YouTube with additional videos on Facebook and Instagram. All of this is absolutely free, so be sure to share with your family and friends. To reach those who are searching for help with their Come Follow Me study, please subscribe, rate, review or comment on the podcast, which makes the podcast easier and fine. Thank you. We want to thank our incredible production crew, David Perry, Lisa Spice, Jamie Nielsen,

Will Stoten, Crystal Roberts, and Aurel Cuadra. We also love hearing from you, our listeners. Hello, my name is Quinn Kimball. Shortly after our study of Job of last year, my son Eddie Kimball was killed in a car accident. Sadly, I'm no stranger to this type of grief as I was forced to say goodbye to my oldest daughter, Lyle in 2014, who passed away from a rare genetic syndrome. After having lost two kids, I've felt rather alone with a lot of unanswered prayers. I've decided to jump in to come follow me even more to try to understand who is Jesus Christ and my relationship to Him. As I've done so, I realize just how much He has sacrificed for me and my family, just how far He is descended, to overcome the spiritual and physical death,

and how beautiful the victory is. I love Jesus Christ, and I continue to study him and follow him. you