followHIM - 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 two with Dr. Janet Erickson, John chapter seven through 10. Here's this chapter nine, where we start out with this. Jesus passed by, he saw a 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 hath this man sin 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 going to happen with this man who lives in the dark because he's blind? What's going to happen? Light and water, here they come. At the pool of Siloam, no less, right? It all ties in. Jenna, 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. Yeah.

It's so interesting that loss and difficulty are woven in to the fabric of our mortal experience. He doesn't cause them as Elder Holland so clearly taught. He doesn't cause these things. He answers them. So here's Jesus Christ, who rather than seeing the blind man'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 of 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 Miller, 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, is such a miracle. Your trials can be repurposed. What is that, John? Consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain. For thy gain. Lehi 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. 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 Siloam 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. 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, says, go wash in the pool of Siloam. 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 Siloam is living water. It's, oh, what the pool of Siloam. It means sent. Jesus was sent. Maybe that's how we look at it. Living water. He is the living water.'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 Shiloah. It's Siloam. You'll see Isaiah saying, because you refuse the waters of Shiloah that go softly, I'm going to 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 Tabernacles, 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 received sight. And I thought, oh, that's pretty good. He could have used another word, but he anointed his

eyes with clay. I thank 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 sent him to the Pool of Siloam, this is exactly where you would go. And so maybe when Jesus left the temple, it was right there and then sent this man down Siloam and their 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 Hezekiah'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? It's like, it's so amazing. I was going to say, these conversations when he comes back seeing, oh, I love them. Every time I read them, I just, I kind of laugh. Well, he's a VHS guy. 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 they're like, hey, that looks like the guy who's blind. And others are like, that is him. He's like, it's me. It just looks like him. Yeah. How were your eyes opened? This is my favorite part. He said, a man named Jesus made clay, anointed mine eyes. I went to the pool, saw of Solomon and I washed. And they said, where is he? And he said, I don't know. I've never seen him. Just a great little dialogue,

eight, nine, 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 the beautiful language in that hymn, 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. And 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 he's a sinner or not, I don't know. But here's what I know. Here's what I've experienced.

That's very 1 Nephi 11, 17. I don't know the meaning of all things, but I know 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 God loves his children. I know some things. And here's 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 sure because you were there. What would he say? I know I was blind. Now I see. What are they going to have a testimony, but there are some things that you can know for sure because you were there. What would he say? I know I was blind.

Now I see. What are they going to say? Nah, nope. I remember being blind. I remember seeing testimony of experience. That's 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 wast altogether born in sins, and dost 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, does thou believe on the son of God? So interesting. We don't know the answers to all things, but 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 attraction 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 wrestle with that. And what does this mean for this child's life? And to hear the Lord say, neither hath sinned, but that the works of God may 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 he says, Lord, I believe in you. Here he's meeting the Savior and the Savior says, thou hast both seen him and it is he that talketh with thee. And he says, Lord, I believe thou art the way to such an answer to the issues in our lives. Ty Mansfield's beautiful 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 thinking 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 them on. He's good at it. I'm thinking this guy, he can craft a sentence, this guy, right? 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. Yeah.

This powerful, my husband loves to quote that. He is of age. Ask him. Yeah, yeah. He'll just say, you're dragging us in here to ask us about our son being healed. Well, he's of age. 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, okay, fine. Ask him again. Yeah. So here's the Savior. The last verses. 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'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 recognized your blindness, you wouldn't be sinning. But because you say, you see, you are in sin.

You are blind. It reminds me of Isaiah's call in Isaiah 6 and in 2 Nephi 16, where Lord says, declare, this is Paul Hoskinson, declare the heart of this people to be fat. It says, make the heart. He says, ah, that could be declare. Their eyes, they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. And 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 gospels and in the book of Acts, portions of it. The see, hear, understand, be converted and be healed. So I love

that. Yeah. Requires us 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 them. 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 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, a refusal to see it. And John, it's 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, this story. Well, 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. 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, actually as 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 entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber, but he that entereth 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 there's 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. 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, the shepherd 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 pastures 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. 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 sense, submits defenselessly, in a sense, to death and does not fight back. He is as a sheep before the shearers is dumb. He opened not his mouth and takes upon himself our experience and overcomes it. So this shepherd sheep, what could be a stronger allegory metaphor for our relationship with him? And John started that. In John chapter one,

you have John the Baptist seeing Jesus. Behold the Lamb of God. Isn't that amazing? Verse 11, he says, I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. That's unheard of. Shepherds are great and they love their sheep, but they're probably not going to 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 going to lay down his life for ordinary people. Yeah, 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, thus saith 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 ye have not strengthened. Ye haven't healed that which was sick. Ye 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 you 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. What kind of leaders they should be. Yeah. I loved reading this, thinking about our prophets as good shepherds. And Sister Du just gave a devotional address a few months ago in Hawaii, at BYU Hawaii. And it was so powerful about prophets. But she asked 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 and quorum of the 12 apostles? Can you think of any journalist,

talk show host, celebrity, athlete, or politician you trust more? How about a YouTube celeb or star of stage screen? And she says, in each of these cases, they want something from us, our vote, our money, or support. They all have personal agendas. Prophets of God do not. Their agenda is the Lord's, 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 find sherry do's talk called prophets can see around corners i want him to watch the whole thing and 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 goeth before them in verse four.

And you have experience with this because of your father that I just put my margin leading, not herding. Because like you said, I think in Western cultures, we herd sheep with dogs in Ford F-150s. No offense, Hank. And in ancient cultures, they lead. It's my favorite car. Sheep. Yeah. And I thought, what an interesting difference between leading and herding. 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, Hank. Not I am a good shepherd. I am the good shepherd.

The, Hank. Not I am a good shepherd. I am the good shepherd. And I'll give my life for the sheep. Whoa. So thank you for the Ezekiel 34 tie-in too. Yeah. Jenna, I love what you said that your dad probably got so tired of taking care of these lambs, right? They wander, they're probably not 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, all we like sheep have gone astray.

Yeah. 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 it. We're talking 1989. Sister Jane B. Malin gave this talk called The Summer of the Lambs. Oh my goodness. Go listen to that. I remember this, John. Summer of the Lambs. Oh, my goodness.

Go listen to that. I remember this, John. Yes. She and her little brother, Haith, the ewes 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 mash, 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 chesed caring for and reaching out. And you think here he's saying, he's describing that Chesed 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 along this, that he references the hirelings that would run away. He's saying the shepherd is not going to run away. For sure, a shepherd's not going to run away. And yet the hirelings, when they see something dangerous, the wolf comes and the hireling fleeth. 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, doth the Father love 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 taketh 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 the Romans killed him? Or 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, they're upset for a lot of reasons, right? Rejecting this redeemer, but they hear in 36, he says,

say ye 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 tabernacles. 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've 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. And so if we go back to chapter seven, 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 deceiveth 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 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 cometh,

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 or 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 others said. And some said, shall Christ come out of Galilee? And they're like, wasn't he supposed to be born in Bethlehem? Not even realizing he was born in Bethlehem. Yeah. Just go ask him.

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 nine, who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him? I want a redeemer. Who is 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 most 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 as he testifies of in these sections? That's fantastic. You have the woman in John 8, the woman taking an adultery with the JST 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.

They want to kill him. What a different response. Just two sides of the spectrum there. It reminds me of Alma 5. The 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, let's kill him. So we shouldn't be surprised at 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. This 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 deceiveth the people. When he healed a blind man on the Sabbath, some insisted this man is not of God. He keepeth 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 recognized 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 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 and the life. I am the way, the truth, and 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 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, then 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 hold 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, and the life. And I was thinking of how he might've 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 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 Hafens 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 develop greater life. So as you see him respond to the woman caught in adultery, he frees her. He responds with what is needed, what is truthful to help her grow. He does the same thing with the man who is 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 heard'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. He 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 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 us today.

We want to thank our executive producer, Shannon Sorenson, our sponsors, David and Verla Sorenson. And we want to always remember our founder, Steve Sorenson. 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, followhim.co, followhim.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 to find. Thank you. We want to thank our incredible production crew, David Perry, Lisa Spice, Jamie Nielsen, Will Stoughton, Crystal Roberts, and Ariel 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, Lila, 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 has 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.