I am the Good Shepherd

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.

"I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep, and am known by my own. As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

"Therefore my Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes 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 command I have received from my Father."

Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. And many of them said, "He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to him? Others said, "These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

- John 10:10-21

Jesus continues his speech from yesterday's reading. He's speaking to the Pharisees after they have cast out the the formerly blind man from the temple. This is the man who was blind from birth, whose own parents would not testify on his behalf for fear of being ostracized from the temple. It's interesting and important to note that there are divisions about Jesus even among the Pharisees. St. John Chrysostom points out, in commentary concerning the debate over the healing of the blind man, that those who disagree with Jesus' condemnation among the Pharisees are also afraid to speak out. In yesterday's reading, Jesus began his discourse on himself as the Good Shepherd, and today he continues.

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep." My study bible has a note that calls the "thief" the devil: that which "steals, kills and destroys the virtues of Christian life and lays waste those who follow his heresies." It notes that "life more abundantly is the life of God's kingdom, offered us by Christ himself (see Ps. 23:5)." But as Jesus continues, he also contrasts himself as the good shepherd with the hireling, "one who does not own the sheep." We recall from other gospels Jesus' warnings about wolves in sheep's clothing, who do not truly love the flock, and here it is in John as well, in another form. But both passages have themes of entering through the "narrow gate," or "the door" that is Jesus, from yesterday's reading. My study bible calls the hireling "the non-committed religious leader" who is "contrasted with the shepherd... who considers the sheep his own. The hired hand looks primarily after himself." This is what the leadership is doing - they are "looking after themselves" - and this is the kind of corruption we who consider ourselves to be among the flock must always beware of in our own leaders. The evangelist gives us Jesus' intimation about his death, that he will give up his life for the sheep. Jesus' under-shepherds, who will follow him, will be expected to share this devotion to the flock, in contrast to the hirelings.

"I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep, and am known by my own. As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd." Jesus is the good shepherd, whom the sheep know, and who knows his own. (Again, see yesterday's reading.) There is always relationship, recognition, at work in these gospels. It is the heart of the message of reconciliation and love at work in spirit. In fact, I would call it the heart of the gospels: The Father knows Christ and Christ knows the Father - and so the sheep know him, and he knows them. This love transcends all, and he will lay down his life for his sheep. Furthermore, there is an expansion of relationship and reconciliation going on here: there are other sheep to gather, not of this fold, and they will all become one flock. Just as the healed man, with restored sight after blindness from birth, was cast out of the temple and received by Jesus, so will he gather his flock from all corners of the world. The outsiders belong to him, all are reconciled in him. Christ as Logos - as the evangelist John has taught us from the very beginning of this gospel - reconciles all.

"Therefore my Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes 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 command I have received from my Father." Jesus will go all the way for his flock, to the point of giving up even his life for them. But it will be on his terms - this is made explicit in this text. The power is his. And this will happen directly because it is the command of the Father. Again, no matter what the nominal theme (in this case, Jesus' impending death by execution), we go back to relationship. His love and devotion to the sheep will take him even to the point of laying down his life for them. But this is done through the will of the Father, and with the power of the Son at work, voluntarily and willingly, in his own time and for his own purposes. He knows that the leadership is after him, but he is laying down his terms, and they are the terms of love for his flock, and for the Father.

Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. And many of them said, "He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to him? Others said, "These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?" Once again, we recall that the term "the Jews" in this gospel is to indicate the leadership in the temple that will reject Jesus. And among them, also, there is disagreement -- there is a not a complete union in terms of their opinion about Jesus. S0, we understand that those who are drawn to him come from all people, all places. This true spiritual flock is without ethnic, cultural, denominational, family or other divisions.

So, how are we to understand the Good Shepherd? He draws his flock to himself: they know his voice, and he knows them. But there is more to this idea, begun in yesterday's reading, that he expands on today. This shepherd will lay his life down for the sheep. What's more, those who follow him as under-shepherds must be willing to do this same for the flock. The "hireling" - the false prophets, or wolves in sheep's clothing - will not do so, and so the sheep are to be on their guard. But the most important, central point of this passage is its love. We are to be one flock, united in this love, to the point where its leaders will lay down their lives as our Good Shepherd will do. My study bible notes that as Jesus lays down his life voluntarily, out of love for the Father and the flock, and obeying the Father's commands, so all of his followers will be expected to do likewise. We are to be united in love for the Father, and through this love, all to all. This is the heart of the gospel message, the most powerful summing up I can find of all that I have read in the past year of blogging the gospels. He is the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life in power and by choice in the love of the Father, and whose flock is from all, in which "there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female" (Galatians 3:28). We are known, and we know him, because we hear his voice; and his sheep will come from everywhere, because they respond to that love. We recall that John is the evangelist who will write the Epistle that teaches us that God is love, and that where there is love, there is God.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
- 1 John 4: 7, 8