There will be one flock and one shepherd

 "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

In our current readings, Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles (beginning with the readings of chapter 7).  At the start of chapter 9, Jesus healed a man blind from birth (see Monday's reading).  Yesterday we read that the Pharisees 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 fears the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was the 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 though 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 unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of 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."   As we begin chapter 10, Jesus' conversation with the Pharisees continues, and there is no break between the end of chapter 9 and the beginning of chapter 10.  We recall that these events are happening at "that last day, the great day" of the Feast of Tabernacles.   Jesus begins to contrast their leadership with His own.  My study bible comments that they have failed as pastor's of God's people, and recalls that "pastor" comes from the Latin word for "shepherd."  Their leadership at this time is marked by deceit and pride, and they are lacking in compassion (witness their treatment of the man healed of blindness from birth).  But Christ, on the other hand, fulfills the virtues of a good leader.  My study bible cites St. John Chrysostom, who writes that the door is God's Word, meaning both the Scriptures and Christ Himself.  Anyone who tries to lead in a way that is neither in Christ, nor is in accordance with the teaching of the Scriptures, is a thief and a robber.   Rather than embracing the "door" so all can see His works openly, the false shepherds use underhanded means to control, to steal, and to manipulate people, which is ultimately destructive of their souls (verse 10).  But those who lead according to Christ will find eternal life (verse 9).

"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.  Christ has intimate knowledge of each person.  My study bible comments that true pastors in the Church strive to know their people by name; in other words, personally.   A good pastor seeks to understand each person's situation and needs, from the greatest to the least, and seeks to employ Christ-like compassion for each one (Hebrews 4:15).  In turn, people respond to a true leader, when they trust that leader is a follower of Christ.  My study bible quotes St. Ignatius of Antioch:  "Where the bishop is present, there the people shall gather."  In the tradition of the Orthodox church, the response of the faithful can be a better indicator of who is a true shepherd than the claims of leaders (7:47-49); indeed this is the way by which true saints are known.

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."  All who ever came before Me does not refer to Moses of genuine prophets, but rather to those claiming to be the Messiah both before and after Christ, such as Judas of Galilee and Theudas (Acts 5:36-37).

 "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."  My study bible reminds us that the ultimate thief is Satan, who spreads lies and heresies among the people of God, luring away both leaders and people.  Life means to live in God's grace here on earth, and abundant life indicates also the Kingdom to come.

"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."  Our Lord is the good shepherd.   My study bible comments that He enters by the door; in other words, He fulfills the Scriptures concerning Himself.  He known and is known by the Father.  He knows His people (the sheep) personally, and therefore is known by them.  And He gives His life for His people -- a direct prophecy of His Passion to come.

"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."  Other sheep are the Gentiles.  They will be brought into the one flock with the Jews under the one shepherd.  Therefore, my study bible notes, the Church transcends ethnic and racial lines.  From the beginning, in the Church, there has been one bishop serving a city (Canon 8 of I Nicea), a principle which has been affirmed in each generation.  In the early second century, St. Ignatius wrote to a Church that held separate liturgies for Jewish and Gentile Christians:  "Be careful to observe a single Eucharist, for there is one Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup of His Blood that makes us one, and one altar, just as there is one bishop. . . . This is in line with God's will."

"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."  Christ makes it clear that His "life-giving death" (as my study bible puts it) will be voluntary.  Nothing He does is done apart from the will of His Father.  As He laid down His life for us, so we should also be prepared to lay down our lives for Him -- even in the sense of ongoing personal repentance in deferral to Him -- and for the sake of others.

My study bible affirms the sense of "one flock and one shepherd" in the teaching of St. Ignatius of Antioch, which is worth quoting once more:  "Be careful to observe a single Eucharist, for there is one Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup of His Blood that makes us one, and one altar, just as there is one bishop. . . . This is in line with God's will."  There are those well-meaning people who hold separate Eucharists for particular groups, making a kind of effort at inclusion.  But the truth is here, that there is one flock and one shepherd.  This is not so that all blend together in a kind of seamless collective in which there is no uniqueness or individual concern.  On the contrary, to have one flock and one shepherd is to understand that we are all in this together.  For those who feel they are a part of a small and unique minority, and without much recognition for their particular needs, the one cup and one shepherd affirms their inclusion within a whole community.  For those who do not share the concerns of a small or unique minority within the community, one cup and one shepherd affirms that they, too, share with their brothers and sisters -- who may seem quite different from them -- the true identity of the sheep as one flock.  It is, rather than effacing special needs or hardship, a way of affirming inclusion, support, and community for all.  It assures us of the humility of being one flock, and at the same time declares one shepherd for all.  What we understand, moreover, because of Christ's words, is that there is one cup of reconciliation.  It doesn't matter where we have been, what we have done, who we are, or even what conflicts we have among us:  in Christ, there are all things reconciled.  He is our hope, and in Him is our true relation with one another; none of us is alone or excluded here, there is a place for all.  While certainly we live in a world populated with seemingly endless denominations which may spring up at any time, we must recall the truth of the theology we are given by Christ and which has been affirmed in the Church.  The truth is that there is really one cup and only one Shepherd for all of us.  We would do well to recall this for ourselves when we can, as this affirmation really teaches us about eternity.  Just as in mathematics, each parallel line will converge at an infinite point, so it is true for us in Christ.  We may seem to be on parallel tracks, but in Christ all things become reconciled, and His is our one cup.  In Him we have one Shepherd and we are one flock.  So consider, for today, what this means for us.  No matter the disagreement, we hold a hope for eternity, that in Him all things are reconciled.  What we don't know today will be given to us in time.  We don't dictate what that is nor what that time is, but we can be sure of where we place our faith.  He is the good Shepherd; He lays His life down for the sheep.  What He does is done for all of us, and His love does not have measure.  It is found in the abundance of the infinite place in which we partake of His cup, and in His grace for grace.  This is what He gives us and where we seek to dwell, even when we don't have answers for the place in which we find ourselves now.  It is to Him, in faith, we can go, and in His love we can rest assured that this is where we truly belong.