My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me

 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?"

Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.  And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch.  Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt?  If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."  Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe.  The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me.  But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.  My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.  I and My Father are one."

- John 10:19-30

In our recent readings, Jesus has been at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem (John 7:1-10:21).  After healing a man blind from birth, the sixth of seven signs in John's Gospel, Jesus has been disputing with the leadership in the temple.  Yesterday we read that He said to them, "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."

 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?"  We see that the leadership in Jerusalem is divided over Jesus (the term the Jews is used like that of a political party, to designate the leaders in the temple).  My study bible comments that those who respond in faith are not merely impressed by the signs Jesus does, but they also perceive the holiness of His words.

Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.  And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch.  Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt?  If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."  My study bible explains that the Feast of Dedication took place approximately three months after the Feast of Tabernacles (where Jesus healed a man blind from birth and was disputing with the religious leaders; 7:1-10:21).  This feast was also known as the Festival of Lights (also called Hanukkah).  It is a commemoration of the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem, following the desecration by the Seleucid King Epiphanes in 167 BC (see 1 Maccabees 1-4).   At the Feast of Dedication, the leaders of Israel's past were commemorated.  As my study bible points out, many of these leaders of the past were themselves shepherds, just as Jesus has recently spoken of Himself as the Good Shepherd.

Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe.  The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me.  But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you."    My study bible comments that both what Christ told them and the works He had done have already answered their question.    Only the Messiah could open the eyes of the blind from birth (9:32), or perform the signs that have born witness to Christ.   Additionally, only the Messiah could speak to the hearts of people as did Christ (7:46, 9:21).    As I said to you indicates that these are the same Pharisees to whom Christ was speaking three months earlier, at the Feast of Tabernacles (10:1-5).                                                                                     
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand."  Jesus repeats here what He has said to them at the Feast of Tabernacles regarding His sheep.  But it is important that we note the tie between Himself, His sheep, and the Father.  This isn't merely a kind of linear or descending tie, in Christ's images.  Rather, the Father has a deep love for the sheep, who are directly given to Christ by the Father, which in turn assigns the Son both His loving mission to the sheep, and the love and loyalty of the Father.

"I and the Father are one."  This statement gives Christ's response to their question as to His identity as Messiah.  My study bible explains that Jesus reveals He is fully God.  "One" means one in nature or essence.  That is, He is God before all ages, and He remains God after the Incarnation and for all eternity.  The plural verb are, my study bible says, indicates two distinct Persons, while confirming a continuous unity.

In yesterday's reading, we read that while Jesus disputed with the Pharisees at the Feast of Tabernacles, He told them,  "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."  In today's reading, He continues with a similar theme, in which He expresses the loving relationship between His Father, Himself, and the sheep -- that is, those whom the Father has given to Christ.  What we remark upon is not that this is expressed as a hierarchy, for it is not.  What is remarkable in the statements Jesus makes (both in today's reading and yesterday's) is the way that Christ has indicated that out of God's great love for God's sheep, those who know Christ's voice, Christ has been sent -- to gather the sheep, and to do so through a tremendous selfless act:  the laying down of His life, and His subsequent Resurrection ("that I may take it again").  What comes first in this structure of relatedness is God the Father's love of God's sheep, and out of that love comes the Son who has been sent.  In turn, there is the Father's love for the Son, who will willingly follow the Father's command to lay down His own life for the sheep, and to take it again in Resurrection.  Jesus cements this understanding of the circular nature of love (as opposed to a descending and linear hierarchy of power) when He says in today's reading, referring to the sheep, "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand."   What He is saying to the religious leaders is that it is God the Father in whose hand are the sheep, and whose love and strength are expressed through the mission of the One who has been sent, the Son, Incarnate Christ.  It is through these words -- and others, of course -- that we are to understand the tremendous power of love that God the Father has for us.  Without that love, which circles directly to us and then through the Son and back to the Father, there would be no mission.  It is a sign of the direct relation that we as sheep have with God the Father, whose love is the backbone and framework and instigator of all.  It reminds us of Jesus' words to St. Peter, when Peter recognizes and confesses that Jesus is the Christ:  "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 16:16-17).  It is through the Father's love for us that we the sheep are able to know the voice of our Shepherd, Christ.  We faithful human beings, capable of love for God, are first in order of priority in Christ's statements.  It is for love of us that He is sent by the Father, for love of us He is commanded to lay down His life and to take it up again.  It is for love of us that His sacrificial act is responded to with love by the Father.  Inside this circle of love, we as human beings -- last in order of power and hierarchy -- are first in the bonds of love, even those direct bonds of communion with the Father, which Christ expresses to Peter upon Peter's confession, and which Christ is expressing to the leaders in the temple.  We are loved, not simply through the Son, but directly from the Father, whose love for us before all else is cause for the mission of the Son, for which the Father responds with love for the Son.  We cannot help but remark upon the incredible nature of this love that so loves us first that we are the cause for the mission, and the Son's mission for us prompts the love of the Father.  We are left to wonder why God loves us so much.  It is, indeed, an awesome thing to ponder.  How could we not return such love?  How could we hope to return its fullness?