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"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 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."
- John 10:1-18
Throughout John's chapters 7 and 8, we are told of the events surrounding the Feast of Tabernacles, and of the dialogue with the leadership that Jesus has at that festival. When Jesus tells them, "Before Abraham was, I AM" they take up stones to stone Him. But, we are told, Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. This week we began reading chapter 9. As Jesus passed out of the temple, we are told, He passed a man blind from birth, and His disciples asked Him who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was so afflicted? Jesus told them that this ailment was for the glory of God, that the works of God may be shown. He said to His disciples, "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." He healed the man, making a clay out of His spittle and the earth for his eyes, and told him to wash in the pool of Siloam. After he came back seeing, all those who knew him quizzed him, as did the leadership. The man did his best to give testimony. In yesterday's reading, we learned that the leadership did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. And they asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" His parents answered them and said, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself." His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him." So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, "Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner." He answered and said, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that thought I was blind, now I see." Then they said to him again, "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?" He answered them, "I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?" Then they reviled him and said, "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses, as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from." The man answered and said to them, "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of the one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you." Then he said, "Lord, I believe!" And he worshiped Him. And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind." Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains."
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. Jesus offers a parable to the leadership. Who are the sheep and who is the shepherd? How must one enter to be the true shepherd of the sheep? There's an important aspect here to the parable, and that is of the relationship of shepherd to sheep. They "hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." Who is the doorkeeper that only allows the true shepherd in? We remember that Christ is speaking after His discourse to the leadership in which He taught them that He is sent by the Father, and that those who love the Father will know Him. In John's 6th chapter, He also taught, "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me." Here, He tells them that the sheep do not know the voice of strangers.
Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture." My study bible says, "In calling Himself the door, Jesus signifies He will bring His flock into an enclosed sheepfold with a central gate. Normally a hired guard would tend the gate while the shepherds rested through the night. But Jesus is the tireless Shepherd, always guarding the entrance. No one can enter except by way of Him."
"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." My study bible tells us, "This is a prophecy of Jesus' impending death, through which His people are to be reconciled to God the Father. The good shepherd, Christ, and His under-shepherds look after the sheep even to the point of giving their lives for them." Again, we are taught about relationship. What is the nature of this shepherd? His tremendous willingness to love, even to His own death for the sheep. Above all, He is here that they may have life, and have it more abundantly! The thief, by contrast, comes only as poacher: to steal and to kill and to destroy.
"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 says that "the hireling, the non-committed religious leader, is contrasted with the shepherd, one who considers the sheep his own. The hired hand looks primarily after himself." Who is this hireling? He is missing the great love of the shepherd.
"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 again, the emphasis is more clear, more drawn out. He is the good shepherd. He knows His sheep, and His sheep know Him. Moreover this relationship of love, and of trust, and of knowing doesn't stop there nor does it begin there: it is also inclusive in His relationship to the Father, and the Father's relationship to Him. Knowing and loving and trusting are here inseparable.
"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." My study bible tells us that "other sheep are the Gentiles, who will be brought into the one flock under the one shepherd. Hence, the Church cannot be divided along denominational, ethnic, cultural or family lines."
"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." Another time, we return to the quality of the love of the Shepherd for His sheep, and how it is linked in love to God the Father. And there is the assurance now of the voluntary nature and power behind the giving up of His life for the sheep. My study bible tells us, "The Lord makes it clear this atoning death will be voluntary. Though He is God, He does nothing apart from the authority of His Father. If we seek to experience God's love and His power, we do so as Christ Himself does: by obeying willingly the Father's commands. As He laid down His life for us, we lay down our lives for Him, willingly and out of love."
So what do we learn from today's reading? What is the Good Shepherd, and how do we characterize Him? First of all, in His own words, He is willing to lay down His life for the sheep. We know His love and loyalty. But there is an interesting commentary about this, from a fourth-century Father of the early Church, Peter Chrysologus. He asks how the death of the shepherd helps the sheep. "Clearly," he says, "there is an established strength, a true reason, a lucid cause, a patent utility in all this blood. For unique power sprang forth from the one death of the Shepherd. For the sake of his sheep the Shepherd met the death that was threatening them. He did this that, by a new arrangement, he might, although captured himself, capture the devil, the author of death; that, although slain himself, he might punish; that, by dying for his sheep, he might open the way for them to conquer death" (Sermon 40). Let us understand the great love of Christ, and the all-inclusive family into which we are invited when we "hear His voice." St. Augustine has answered the question we posed above in a beautiful way. Who is the doorkeeper? He writes, "If you seek another person for doorman, take the Holy Spirit … of whom our Lord below said, 'He will guide you into all truth.' What is the door? Christ. What is Christ? The truth. Who opens the door but the one who will guide you into all truth?" (Tractates on the Gospel of John 46.2–4.12). So, all in all, our Shepherd never leaves us alone. Christ's death does not consign His sheep to abandonment; on the contrary, we have the Way He provides for us, we have this family of great love of Father, Son and Spirit interconnected to the sheep as a sure form of security. And this is where we start: we start with that family, for where One of the Trinity is, there is all Three. And we who seek this truth are all bound into this love, all in all. Do we know His voice? Do we respond to His invitation to love? Can we become more "like Him" by being His sheep and following in His truth, His voice? Let us consider how that love calls us, and remember that faith, in the Greek, is akin to trust.
