✅ John 10:10 | All Together Now

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In today’s email…

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John 10:10

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Here’s everything we covered this week…

On Monday, we looked at the broader context within which our memory verse sits. And we teed up the question: what does Jesus actually mean by "abundantly"?

We placed John 10:10 inside the Good Shepherd discourse and looked at the contrast between the thief (who comes to steal and kill and destroy) and Jesus (who came so that we might have life).

On Tuesday, we looked at John 9.

We saw that Jesus gives this teaching the moment after the religious leaders throw a healed blind man out of the synagogue.

So when Jesus compares the thief with the shepherd in John 10:10, he is talking about the religious leaders (thieves) and himself (the shepherd).

And when he promises "life and have it abundantly," he's defending a specific man who just got pushed out of his own community for telling the truth about what Jesus did for him.

On Wednesday, we dove into four Greek words:

Kleptes (thief) isn't the violent kind of robber. It's the quiet, stealthy one.

Thuō (kill) means “altar-slaughter.” This is what priests did to lambs. The thief doesn't just take life, he burns it like temple currency. The shepherd on the other hand, does the opposite. He sacrifices his own life to give us life.

Zōē (life) is different than ordinary biological existence (bios). It's God's own life given to humans. The same word John uses across the whole Gospel: "in him was life" (1:4), "I am the life" (14:6), "eternal life is knowing the Father" (17:3).

And perisson (abundantly) was the same word John uses for the leftovers after Jesus fed the 5,000. Abundance is the idea of more than enough. Jesus offers a life so full in him that it meets our deepest needs and continues to overflow long after that point.

And yesterday, we traced the line back 600 years to Ezekiel 34.

We saw that when Jesus says "I came that they may have life," he's fulfilling a 600 year-old promise from God: "I myself will search for my sheep."

The Good Shepherd whose words we've been memorizing is the God who promised to come, and came.

John 10:10 shows that Jesus is the Shepherd every human leader fails to be, the one who does not use the sheep but gives Himself for them, who does not neglect but seeks, feeds, and keeps them.

The abundant life He gives is God’s own life, secured by His sacrifice, where you are no longer at the mercy of flawed shepherds but are known, led, and held by the one who will never fail you.

So let’s not look to human leaders to be what only Christ can be. Instead, let’s follow the Shepherd who truly gives life.

This is the day the verse becomes yours to carry.

🎯 Say John 10:10 out loud without looking.

📣 Carry it into the weekend. When you hear, read or pray this verse, let it bring to mind your status as a sheep in the care of the Good Shepherd. And let it embolden you to point lost people to the only one who can find them.

🙏 Pray

Jesus, you came that we might have life and have it abundantly. Thank you for speaking to me through your words this week. Help me carry this verse into the weekend in my mind and on my heart, ready to speak it with my tongue. And help me sit in gratitude that you have given me abundant life that I will get to enjoy for all of eternity. Amen.

In case you missed it, here are a few resources to help you dig deeper into our verse and theme this week:

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The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 10:10