I am the good 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 reading in the Gospel of John, Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles, where He has been debating with the leadership.  On the last day of the feast, after the leaders sought to stone Him, He healed a man blind from birth, which is the sixth of seven signs in the Gospel.  Yesterday we read that after questioning the healed man, the religious leaders 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 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 as 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 continue into chapter 10, there is no break in Christ's response to the leadership.   We remain at the conclusion, the last day of the eight-day Feast of Tabernacles.  Here, in our entire reading for today, Jesus begins to contrast their leadership with His own.  My study bible says that these leaders have failed as pastors of God's people (it should be noted that "pastor" comes from the Latin word for "shepherd").  Their leadership, it says, has been marked by deceit and pride, and has lacked in compassion.  Christ, by contrast, fulfills all virtue.  The door, according to St. John Chrysostom, is God's Word, which means both the Scriptures and Christ Himself (who is the Word).   Those who try to lead in a way that is neither in Christ nor in accordance with the teaching of the Scriptures is a thief and a robber.

"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.  Here my study bible comments that as Christ has intimate knowledge of each person, so also true pastors in the Church seek to know their own people by name; that is, personally.  True pastors endeavor to understand each person's situation and needs, from the greatest to the least, and express Christlike compassion for each (Hebrews 4:15).  In return, people will respond to a true leader, trusting that such a leader is a follower of Christ.  My study bible quotes St. Ignatius of Antioch:  "Where the bishop is present, there the people shall gather."  It is the leader that draws the faithful.  My study bible comments that the response of the faithful can be a better indicator of who is a true shepherd than the claims of leaders (7:47-49). 

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."   My study bible comments that all who ever came before Me doesn't refer to Moses or to genuine prophets, but rather to people who claim to be the Messiah, both before and after Christ, such as Judas of Galilee and Theudas (Acts 5:36-37).   The ultimate thief, it says, is Satan, who spreads lies and heresies among the people of God, and lures away both leaders and people.  Life means living in God's grace here on earth, while the more abundant life also indicates the Kingdom to come.   The thieves and robbers are those false shepherds, who fail to use the true door so all can see Christ's works openly.  My study bible says they use underhanded means to control, to steal, and to manipulate people, which is a way to destroy souls.  By contrast, pastors who lead according to Christ will find eternal life (find pasture).

"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. 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."   Jesus reveals Himself as the good shepherd.  It is He, my study bible notes, who enters by the door (that is, He fulfills the Scriptures concerning Himself).   He knows and is known by the Father.  He knows His people personally, and therefore is known by them.  Finally, He gives His life for the sake of His people.  This statement by Christ is a direct prophecy of His coming Passion.

"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 says that other sheep are the Gentiles, who will be brought into the one flock with the Jews under the one shepherd.  Therefore, for instance, the Church transcends ethnic and racial lines.  From the earliest centuries of the Church, my study bible tells us, it has been the teaching that there is one bishop which serves a city (Canon 8 of I Nicea).  St. Ignatius wrote, in the early second century, to a Church which 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."   My study bible comments that Christ makes it clear here His life-giving death will be voluntary.  He does nothing apart from the will of the Father.  As He laid down His life for us, so we also lay down our lives for Him and for the sake of others.

What does it really mean to lay down one's life for Christ?  It means what He teaches in the Sermon on the Mount, to seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33).  If we carefully cultivate a constant prayerful sense of ourselves, we turn toward Christ as the Door, the One who opens up all else in life for us, the One who shows us the way and by whom we enter the true sheepfold.  As the Good Shepherd, He is the One who gathers us together, who protects and leads and guides.  A prayerful sense of life reminds us at all times that we need to seek our Shepherd, to make sure we follow that true guide.  It fixes our sights on the One who shows us the way and leads us into all things that we need, and steers us away from the thieves and the robbers who would destroy our souls.  There is a clear distinction here between following just any sort of leadership and the true leadership of Christ.  We are to look for characteristics in true leaders which follow the pattern of Christ, a pattern which is also set for us to show any sort of leadership in our lives.  There is first of all a loyalty to the Father, which cements the rest of the qualities Christ has spoken about Himself throughout the last several chapters in John, and while He has been at the Feast of Tabernacles.  A great hallmark of Christ is truth, which goes hand in hand with His loyalty to the Father.  He does not use deception, and moreover, His motivation is service -- which stems from love of the Father and love of the flock, who are "all that the Father gives Me" and "the one who comes to Me"  (6:37).  A prayerful life on our part is one that keeps us connected with all of these things, through the love of God who is love, and our Good Shepherd, who loves us to the point of laying down His life for us.  It is a prayerful life, in which we keep our intimate ties alive through communion with Christ, which holds us within this fold of one flock and one Shepherd.  Jesus teaches, again in the Sermon on the Mount, that "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21).   While many assume this is about what we do with our material goods in the world, we can also assume a clear connection to what it is we treasure most deeply in the heart, and our actions which shore up "treasures in heaven" -- which stem from that which we must cherish and hold most dear.  It is this active prayerful communion with our Good Shepherd that holds us in good stead and keeps us from straying to paths where we'll find cheap treasures that look good, but which ultimately do us no good in life.   As sheep, our very nature is that which needs worship whether we know it or not.  Should we not recognize that nature, we are likely to find all sorts of dreams and delusions, false fantasies and those who would exploit our unmet needs in order to mislead in all sorts of ways.  These are those whom Christ warns are thieves and robbers; they steal from us our real potential for the growth of the soul -- and the good things that are our real treasure so linked to our heart.  Let us consider what He offers, and also consider His warnings, and take them seriously.   Let us remember what is worthy of sacrifice -- and also what is not.  There is one active way to that true discernment, to the One whom we truly need.  Let us seek His voice, the One we know and who knows us.