John 10:6 might be one of the most underrated verses in this whole passage. Jesus teaches, and John simply says they did not understand what He was telling them. Not because they were hostile. Not because they were rejecting Him. They just did not get it yet.

That honesty is a gift, because it normalizes something many of us feel but rarely admit. You can be close to Jesus and still not understand. Confusion is not always resistance. Sometimes it’s just slowness. Sometimes you are being formed.

John calls this a parable, a figure of speech, and Jesus is doing more than giving definitions. He’s shaping imagination. He’s building a world. Sheep, a fold, a door, a shepherd, strangers, a voice. And formation is not only receiving information. It’s learning to live inside the world Jesus is describing until it starts to make sense.

This is why the saints practiced slow, repeated Scripture. Not to unlock secret meanings, but to let Scripture unlock them. The Word of God does not only inform you. It forms you. And Jesus doesn’t shame the disciples for not getting it on the first pass. He keeps going. He stays with them. He reveals more.

There’s also a quiet mercy here. Sometimes not understanding all at once is protective. Some truths have weight. They rearrange your life. And God often reveals like a sunrise, gradually. A little more light over time.

Question for today: Where have I been tempted to treat “I don’t understand” as failure, when Jesus might be inviting me to stay near and listen again?

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