I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly

 

 "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 whoever 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 in Jerusalem.  We have recently read about the sixth of seven signs given in John's Gospel, the healing of the man who was blind from birth.  Yesterday we read that the religious leaders in the temple did not believe concerning the healed blind man, 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 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.  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."  Jesus' conversation with the religious rulers continues from yesterday's reading (above), while we recall that Jesus is still at the Feast of Tabernacles, on the day of its conclusion (see this reading).  My study bible points out that over the course of today's reading, Jesus contrasts these men's leadership with His own.  It says that they have failed as pastors of God's people ("pastor" comes from the Latin word for "shepherd").  Their leadership has been marked by deceit and pride and has lacked in compassion.  Christ, on the other hand, fulfills all virtue.  According to St. John Chrysostom, the door is God's Word -- which indicates both the Scriptures and our Lord Himself, since the Scriptures reveal God the Word.  The one who tries 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.    Rather than using this door so that all can see Christ's works openly, the false shepherd use underhanded means to control, steal, and manipulate people, which ultimately will destroy their souls (verse 10).   By contrast, those pastors who lead according to Christ will find eternal life (verse 9).   

 

"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.  My study bible notes that as Christ has intimate knowledge of each person, so also a true pastor in the Church will seek to know their people by name; that is, personally.  These pastors seek to know each person's situation and needs, from the greatest to the least, and to possess Christ-like compassion for each one (Hebrews 4:15).  In return, the people will respond to a true leader, and trust that such a one is a true follower of Christ.  My study bible quotes St. Ignatius of Antioch:  "Where the bishop is present, there the people shall gather."  The response of the faithful may be a better indicator of who is a true shepherd than the claims of leaders (John 7:47-49).  

Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  All whoever 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."  My study bible tells us that the phrase all whoever came before Me does not refer to Moses or to genuine prophets, but rather to people who have claimed to be the Messiah, both before and after Christ, such as Judas of Galilee and Theudas (Acts 5:36-37).   But the ultimate thief 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, my study bible tells us, while the more abundant life indicates the Kingdom to come.  

"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."  Christ reveals Himself in today's passage as the good shepherd, and has declared (in verse 2) that He enters by the door.  That is, He fulfills the Scriptures concerning Himself.  Here He says that He knows and is known by the Father, but has also said that He knows His people personally and is therefore known by them (known by My own).   Finally, the good shepherd gives His life for the sake of His people (I lay down My life for the sheep), 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."    Other sheep are the Gentiles,  who will be brought into the one flock with the Jews under the one shepherd.  Therefore, for example, my study bible says, the Church transcends ethnic and racial lines.   From the beginning, it notes, the teaching was that there is one bishop serving a city (Canon 8 of I Nicea), a principle which is affirmed in every 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."   Jesus makes it very clear that His life-giving death will be voluntary.  Also, He does not separate from the will of His Father.  My study bible says that as He laid down His life for us, we lay down our lives for Him and for the sake of others.

Once again, we enter into themes of God's Word, which are so central to John's Gospel (see John 1:1).  Jesus declares, "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."    Jesus emphatically repeats, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  All whoever 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 cites St. John Chrysostom, who says that the door is God's Word -- which indicates both the Scriptures and our Lord Himself, since the Scriptures reveal God the Word.  We must remember that St. Chrysostom refers not only to the New Testament, but also the Old Testament Scriptures as well.  From the beginning, when the only Scriptures available to the Church were the Old Testament Scriptures, it has been considered so.  In this Gospel, Jesus frequently repeats the Name of God as revealed to Moses when He refers to Himself.  In Greek, this is Ego eimi, or "I Am" from Exodus 3:14.  It is the same phrase, from the Septuagint, that Jesus uses in John's Gospel, when He says, for example, "It is I; do not be afraid" in John 6:20.  The Lord speaks through the Scriptures, both Old and New.   In today's reading, Jesus couples His use of the illustrative term "the door" for Himself together with a clear prophecy of His coming Passion, His sacrificial death for the sheep.  He is at once the door by which the sheep enter and are protected, and at the same time He is the good shepherd, who will lay down His life for the sheep.  And so, a new element of what it is to be the Word is given to us:  as the good shepherd, He not only leads the sheep, but He will lay down His human life for the sheep as well.  As He will explain further on in the Gospel, this is an act of the highest love (John 15:13).  As with everything else Jesus does and is, this act of sacrifice is linked to the Father, for Christ does nothing that is outside of the command of the Father.  Jesus says, "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."   These are possibly the most powerful words in the Gospel, because we are to understand that the Word is transcendent of both life and death.  In effect, it sets the tone for our entire understanding of God:  that God is Resurrectional, and ultimately this is the true character of Jesus' ministry and power at work in the world.  Every sacrifice is meant for resurrection, to renew and to restore, to give life, to care for the sheep.  It is only the false hireling who asks sacrifices in order to steal and to destroy.  But the good shepherd, who lays down His own life for the sheep, is the One who sacrifices so that we might live and have life in abundance.  The power of the Word is not simply one category of life as opposed to death, but rather a resurrectional power.  It is a power over both life and death, and He will lay down His life in order to take it up again, that we might have not simply life, but life in abundance, as expressed in today's reading:  "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).   In effect, the Word comes into this world as a human being, voluntarily experiencing even human death, in order to destroy death for all human beings.  And this is life "more abundantly."  As followers of Christ, we must be assured that it is in the power of this Word that every death we experience (even those small "deaths" that we count as loss or failure or end), every sacrifice, and the cross that we are asked to carry, also holds with it the promise of Resurrection, Christ's power of not only life and death, but also life more abundantly.  We do not carry our crosses alone.  We do not suffer loss alone.  We don't reach "dead ends" all alone.  Our faith connects us to something deeper and greater, and this is despite the work of the hireling and the thief.  So, in today's reading, Christ adds more for us to understand about the Word:  the Word is Logos, the Word is Christ Himself, the Word is the Scriptures, which are also called the Breath of God (again, an image of "word" and spirit; see John 6:63).  But the word is also a door for the sheep, those who would enter in Christ's kingdom and be His followers, and seek God, and protection from the evil one, the thief.  Finally, though, the Word becomes the One who will sacrifice voluntarily out of an abundance of love for the sheep, and the Word is the One who promises life in abundance, even Resurrection in the defeat of death, the ultimate weapon of the thief (see 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, Hebrews 2:14-15).  So let us ask ourselves, what has died in our lives?  What do we need to allow to pass away?  For to take up our crosses and follow Him is to find that life more abundantly, and the promise of the Resurrection given to us through His love.  For these are also the power and truth of the Word.