I and My Father are One

 

 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 

 

Beginning with chapter 7, we have been reading about events concerning Jesus' attendance at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.  He has taught daily in the temple, and engaged in hostile disputes with the leadership, as their antagonism toward Him was already firmly rooted prior to this Festival.  They have sought to have Him arrested and failed, and also sought to stone Him and failed.  He has healed a man blind from birth, a spectacular "sign" considered to be the sixth of seven miraculous signs given in St. John's Gospel.  In yesterdays' reading, Jesus continued His expression of Himself to the religious leaders.  He said, "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 up 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?"  My study Bible comments that those who respond in faith are not merely impressed by the signs that Christ has done, but perceive the holiness of His words.  

 

 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.   The Feast of Dedication was a winter festival, which took place approximately three months after the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:1-10:21).  Known as the "Festival of Lights," it is also known more popularly today by the name Hanukkah.  This festival commemorates the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem after the Seleucid King Epiphanes desecrated it in 167 BC (see 1 Maccabees 1-4).  At this festival, my study Bible tells us, the leaders of Israel's past were commemorated, many of whom were themselves shepherds.  We read this in the context of Christ's dialogue from yesterday's reading (see above), which took place at the Feast of Tabernacles, in which He called Himself the Good Shepherd.

 

 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.  We recall that the term the Jews as used in St. John's Gospel indicates the religious leaders, not the people.  (Christ and His disciples, including the author of the Gospel, are all Jews.)  These men are the same Pharisees with whom Christ disputed three months earlier, as indicated by His phrase as I said to you (see above, esp. John 10:1-5).  My study Bible explains that both what Christ told them and the works He had done have already answered their question they present to Him here.  Only the Messiah could open the eyes of the blind (John 9:32) or perform the miracles that have borne witness to Him.  Likewise, only the Messiah could speak to the hearts of people in the ways that Christ had (John 7:46; 10:21).  

 

 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."  Here Jesus repeats again His teachings from their previous encounter (see yesterday's reading, above).  But in conclusion, He reveals Himself to be fully God.  My study Bible explains that One means one in nature or essence.  It says that He is God before all ages, and He remains God after the Incarnation and for all eternity.  Jesus uses the plural verb are, to indicate two distinct Persons, as he is confirming a continuous unity.  As we continue chapter 10, we will see in our next reading that the religious leaders clearly recognize this claim of divinity.  It will become the basis for their accusations of blasphemy.  

 

 Jesus says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."  Once again, He ties the personal into the greater sweep of a universal movement.  Who will follow Him to eternal life?  Jesus ties the intimacy of those sheep who hear His voice, and the depth of knowing between the sheep and Himself, to eternal life originating with the will of the Father.  The sheep follow Christ, but all is instituted by the Father to begin with.  He says of the sheep, "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."  There is a source of great strength here, extended from the lowliness of the sheep up through the greatest majesty which is found in the Father.  And Christ is the One who unites all, for they are all united in Him.  Most importantly, the fact that He and the Father are One is an insistence that these bonds are unbreakable.  The great chain of eternal life given to the sheep originates from the Father, and nothing will be able to break it.  In the Church, it is understood that no power of evil, no opposition to God the Father, to Christ, to the working of the Holy Spirit can break the bonds of the sheep and their Pastor, the Good Shepherd, Christ.  As Jesus says, the Father is greater than all.  These are words to remember when Jesus is lifted up on the Cross, death being the final enemy that will be defeated in this chain of eternal life.  We are perhaps the lowliest of God's servants, susceptible to the whims of the powerful, vulnerable in our weakness.  And yet, through the Father's institution, Jesus tells us His own shall never perish, nor be snatched out of His hand.  Let us ponder with awe the magnitude of what He's saying, and be ever-grateful for this grace beyond all our understanding.

 

 

 

 

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 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 up 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, Jesus is attending the Feast of Tabernacles (or Sukkot) in Jerusalem.  He has been teaching in the temple and disputing with the religious leaders.  Over the course of the past two readings, we have learned the story of the man blind from birth, whose sight was restored by Jesus, the sixth sign of seven in St. John's Gospel.  Yesterday we read that 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 disciples, 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.  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 Jesus continues the conversation with the Pharisees from yesterday's reading (see above).  It is the last day (the eighth day) of the Feast of Tabernacles.  Jesus begins to contrast His leadership with that of the Pharisees and other members of the ruling Council.   My study Bible sums it up as saying that they have failed as pastors of God's people ("Pastor" comes from the Latin word for "shepherd").  Their leadership is marked by deceit and pride, and lacks compassion.  On the other hand, Christ fulfills all virtue.  Jesus speaks of the door; my study Bible cites St. John Chrysostom's commentary here, in which he says that the door is God's Word, indicating both the Scriptures and Christ (Logos) Himself.  In St. John's Gospel, of course, He is revealed as the Word, or Logos (John 1:1).  Additionally, as Christ has intimate knowledge of each person, my study Bible says, so true pastors in the Church seek to know their people by name; in other words, personally.  These pastors try to understand each person's situation and needs, from the greatest to the least, and to share Christlike compassion for each one (Hebrews 4:15).  In return, my study Bible says, people will respond to a true leader, trusting he is a follower of Christ.  As St. Ignatius of Antioch has written, "Where the bishop is present, there the people shall gather."  Truly, in the Orthodox historical experience, the response of the faithful can 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 who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them."  Christ's phrase, "all who ever came before Me" does not refer to Moses or genuine prophets, but rather to people who claimed to be the Messiah both before and after Christ, such as Judas of Galilee and Theudas (Acts 5:36-37).  Each whom Jesus would call a thief and a robber are those who would try to lead in a way that is neither in Christ nor according to the teaching of the Scriptures.  

 

"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."  Rather than using this door so all can see His works openly, false shepherds use underhanded means to control, steal, and manipulate people, ultimately destroying their souls, my study Bible asserts.  In contrast, those pastors who lead according to Christ ("if anyone enters by Me") will find eternal life.  The ultimate thief, of course, is Satan, who steals, kills, and destroys by spreading lies and heresies, luring away both leaders and people.  My study Bible explains that life means living in God's grace here on earth, while the more abundant life indicates the Kingdom to come.  

 

 "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 in the following ways, my study Bible indicates:  He 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 will lay down His life for the sheep, a direct  prophecy of Christ's 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."  Those other sheep, of course, are the Gentiles, who will be brought into the one flock with the Jews under one shepherd.   So, therefore, the Church transcends ethnic and racial lines.  From the beginning, my study Bible notes, the Orthodox teaching has been that there be one bishop serving a city (Canon 8 of I Nicea), a principle affirmed in every generation.  In the early second century, St. Ignatius wrote the following 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, 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 up 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 clear that His life-giving death will be voluntary.  He does nothing apart from the will of His Father.  As Christ laid down His life for us, my study Bible says, we lay down our lives for Him and for the sake of others. 

 

 In today's reading, Jesus goes further in His expressions of Himself and His identity, speaking of Himself as the Good Shepherd.  He characterizes Himself as One who is entirely devoted in love to His sheep.  He is not just a placeholder, a hired hand, one who will run when there is trouble, and leave the sheep to their fate.  Instead, He lays down His life for them out of love.  This is yet another extension of His own service in love to the Father who sent Him.  John 3:16, the oft-quoted verse, expresses this fully:  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  Jesus says, "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."   As my study Bible points out, this gives us an image of the characteristics of the Good Shepherd not simply to claim what is particular to Himself, but He also sets out those practices that make a good pastor in any Church.  A good shepherd knows his sheep by name, knows who they are, and they know his voice.  This is a picture of depth of intimacy, but in a very particular kind of relationship shared in Christ.  We seek grace for all things in the Church, for this is the righteousness (right-relatedness) described by Jesus when He teaches, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20).  To share in grace gives us a very particular relationship, one held in a practice of compassion and love, which the Good Shepherd teaches in all ways He lives His earthly life.  In his book titled The Ethics of Beauty, Timothy Patitsas speaks of this type of relationship even among things we don't consider entirely personal, such as practices of city planning, for example, or urban renewal.  Even a neighborhood or city asks for love and "good shepherding" in its stewardship.  He speaks of a way of beauty inspired by Orthodox Christian tradition as that which loves, gets to know a place, a group, a community, an environment, intimately, to find the positive and the negative, and to focus first on what works.  We seek out this beauty in the way of Christ the Good Shepherd, who begins with love, willingly laying down His life for His sheep.  Effectively, Christ has not only come into the world to live for us and show us the Father, a way to see in the dark by giving us a light to guide us with His life; Christ has also come to die for us, to take on the worst of the world so that we might live in the abundance of life He can give us, even life eternal.

 

 

 

 

 

John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true

 

 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."  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.  Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father.  For which of those works do you stone Me?"  The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."  

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'?  If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), "do you say of Him who the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?  If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him." 

 

Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.  And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.  Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."  And many believed in Him there.

 

- John 10:19–42 

 

In our recent readings, events have been taking place at the Feast of Tabernacles, which is an autumn harvest festival (John 7:1-10:21).  Among other things, the last, great day of this eight-day feast features the lighting of the great lamps in one courtyard of the temple.  They were so brilliant, they illumined the city, and so, much of Christ's preaching and His great sign of healing a man blind from birth emphasize Christ as "light from Light" (the Creed) and as the fullness of all forms of light.  It is now the final year of Christ's earthly life.  At this festival He has been disputing with the Pharisees and religious leaders, who have already unsuccessfully sought to have Him arrested.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus said to the Pharisees, "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?"  These verses take place at conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles.  My study Bible comments that those who respond in faith are not merely impressed by Christ's signs, but they perceive the holiness of His words (see John 7:45-46).  

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."  The Feast of Dedication takes place approximately three months following the Feast of Tabernacles.  This feast is known as the "Festival of Lights" (or Hanukkah).  It commemorates the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem after the Seleucid King Epiphanes desecrated it in 167 BC (see 1 Maccabees 1 - 4).  At this festival, my study Bible informs us, the leaders of Israel's past were commemorated, many of whom were themselves shepherds.  

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."  Jesus tells these men (the religious leadership), ". . . as I said to you."  My study Bible comments on this that it indicates these are the same Pharisees whom Christ addressed three months earlier (see yesterday's reading, above).  Note that both what Christ told them, and also the works He had done, have already answered the question they ask Him.  Only the Messiah could open the eyes of the blind (see this reading) or perform the miracles which bear witness to Him.  In the same vein, only the Messiah could speak to the hearts of people as Christ had.

 

 "I and My Father are one."  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.  Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have  shown you from My Father.  For which of those works do you stone Me?"  The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."  Jesus responds to their question ("If You are the Christ, tell us plainly") by revealing Himself to be fully God.  One means one in nature or essence, my study Bible explains.  Christ is God before all ages, and He remains God after the Incarnation and for all eternity.  The plural verb are, it says, indicates two distinct persons, while confirming a continuous unity.  The religious leaders clearly recognize Jesus has made a claim of divinity, and so they therefore accuse Him of blasphemy.

 

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'?  If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), "do you say of Him who the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?  If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."   Jesus quotes from Scripture:  "You are gods" (Psalm 82:6).  My study Bible explains that people who receive God's grace in faith will partake of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) and can rightly be called gods.  According to St. John Chrysostom, Christ is effectively saying, "If those who have received this honor by grace are not guilty for calling themselves gods, how can He who has this by nature deserve to be rebuked?"

 

Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.  And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.  Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."  And many believed in Him there.  My study Bible comments that, because Christ is going to His Passion voluntarily and according to His own will (verses 17-18), His accusers cannot arrest Him until He is ready (John 7:30; 8:20; see Luke 4:28-30).

 

 John's Gospel is the one that reports to us Pilate's question to Jesus:  "What is truth?" (see John 18:37-38).  Clearly we learn from today's passage, which begins at the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles, that the truth is not self-evident to everyone.  This is perhaps very clear when we speak about spiritual truth, but one would be a fool not to notice it seems to be also a phenomenon in our every day lives as well, whether we speak of things physical, metaphysical, emotional, or otherwise.  Witnessing a real-time physical worldly event is also fraught with contradictions from witness to witness regarding the same event.  Our "filters" (to put it one way) seem to be always at work.  Perhaps, indeed, the great work of God in us is to refine those filters, to take away the things that keep us blind, that block the light of God from getting in.  In terms of the truth of Christ, our "freedom" comes from the depth of truth we can accept.  Jesus tells us also in this Gospel, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (see John 8:31-32).  But in the context of that passage, it's important that it's prefaced with Christ's words, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed."  In other words, the depth and dedication of our discipleship is directly linked to the truth we can receive.  Just as we've just read Jesus' sixth sign (of seven) in John's Gospel, the giving of sight to a man who was blind from birth, in chapter 9, so perhaps we are to extrapolate and to understand that it is Christ who truly gives us spiritual sight, and it is through discipleship to Him that any of us receives sight enough to receive the truth that He is talking about.  Hence, Pilate's question, and his perplexity in trying to understand what Jesus is talking about.  Moreover, in talking about events in today's reading, perhaps it's most important -- in the context of this discussion about truth -- that we notice that Christ's truth, even the tremendous news and evidence before them of the giving of sight to the man blind from birth -- creates division.  Not everyone can accept Christ's truth.  In those "filters" of which we speak there may be many obstacles that cause darkness, even inspire human beings to cling to their own darkness so as to avoid that light, that truth.  In terms of the religious leaders in our story, they certainly have reasons to reject that Jesus could be the Messiah; their authority is threatened if Jesus is the Christ.  Many say that He has a demon and is mad.  But others say the obvious, "These are not the words of one who has a demon.  Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"  We know that at least some of the religious leaders, including Nicodemus the Pharisee, are well on their way to being full disciples of Christ.  But these divisions tell us something important about truth.  We so often make assumptions that truth -- on any level -- is obvious to everyone.  But this is not the case.  As we are still in the period of Lent, and heading toward Holy Week starting on Palm Sunday, let us keep well in mind that it is through abiding in His word that we may come to know the truth, for this is what He says to us.  Let us continue our efforts at discipleship, so that we may truly know what it is to be free.  For it is discipleship that works on the filters that keep us from the light.  Let us note also the great significance of the saintly and faithful in today's reading, and consider the long lineage of the work of God among us.  For where is it that many believed in Him?  It is among those who heard the word about Jesus from John the Baptist.  They say, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."  Let us bear in mind that it is John's Gospel which also tells us clearly that many of Jesus' disciples were first disciples of John, and that John sent them to Jesus the Lamb of God (John 1:29).  Let us abide in His word.

 

 

 

I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own

 

 "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 present readings, Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, an eight day harvest festival.  It is the final year of Christ's earthly life.  On this last, great day of the feast, Jesus has been disputing with the religious leaders.  He has healed a man blind from birth, the sixth sign of seven in John's Gospel, something unheard of in the Scriptures.  Yesterday we read that 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 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.  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.  In today's reading, Jesus continues His conversation with the Pharisees.  Once again, we know that all of this is taking place at the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles.  Here Jesus begins to contrast their leadership with is own.  My study Bible comments that they have failed as pastors of God's people ("pastor" being from the Latin word meaning "shepherd).  It says their leadership has been marked by deceit and pride and has lacked compassion.  On the other hand, Christ's fulfills all virtue.  In these verses, we are to understand that, as Christ has intimate knowledge of each person, so also true pastors in the Church strive to know their people by name, that is, personally, according to my study Bible.  These pastors, it teaches, endeavor to understand each person's situation and needs, from the greatest to the least, possessing Christlike compassion for each one (Hebrews 4:15).  In return, the people will respond to a true leader, trusting that such a person is a follower of Christ.  My study Bible quotes St. Ignatius of Antioch:  "Where the bishop is present, there the people shall gather."  In fact, the response of the faithful can be a better indicator of who is a true shepherd than the claims of leaders (see John 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 explains that the phrase all who ever came before Me does not 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 (see Acts 5:36-37).  The ultimate thief, it notes, is Satan, who spreads lies and heresies among the people of God, luring away both leaders and people.  Life means living in God's grace here on earth, while the more abundant life speaks of the Kingdom to come.  Jesus says, "I am the door."  According to St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible comments, the door is God's Word, which means 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 according to the teaching of the Scriptures, is a thief and a robber.  Rather than using this door so all can see Christ's words openly, the false shepherds use underhanded means to control, steal, and manipulate people, ultimately destroying their souls.  In contrast, the pastors who lead according to Christ will find eternal life.  

 

 "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."  Here Christ reveals Himself as the good shepherd.  My study Bible says that this role is fulfilled in the following ways:  First, Christ enters by the door; that is, He fulfills the Scriptures concerning Himself.  Second, He knows and is known by the Father.  Third, He knows His people personally, and therefore is known by them.  Finally, He gives His life for the sake of His people, which 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."  Other sheep, my study Bible explains, are the Gentiles.  They will be brought into the one flock with the Jews under the one shepherd.  So, therefore, for example, the Church transcends ethnic and racial lines.  My study Bible comments that it has been the Orthodox teaching from the beginning that there be one bishop serving a city (Canon 8 of Nicea), a principle which is affirmed in every generation.  It quotes a letter from St. Ignatius written in the early second century to a Church that held separate liturgies for Jewish and Gentile Christians.  In this letter St. Ignatius taught, "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 says, "I lay down My life . . ."  Here He makes clear that His life-giving death will be voluntary, my study Bible says.  He does nothing apart from the will of His Father.  Moreover, as He laid down His life for us, we lay down our lives for Him and for the sake of others.

 

 Jesus speaks of Himself as the Good Shepherd, and my study Bible gives us several ways in which this title and role is fulfilled in His life.  Moreover, He remains the Good Shepherd for us, as He also lives with us and among us, albeit in a mystical presence.  How do we know this?  He has said so.  He speaks of the kingdom of God in this way when asked by the Pharisees:  "The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you" (see Luke 17:20-21).  In Matthew 18:20, Jesus tells the disciples, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."  He is also our Good Shepherd because He is the light; He is the light by which we need to see in a darkened world, and sometimes one in which we can see nothing at all to show us the way through.  In John 8:12, Jesus has taught, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."  Perhaps it is Jesus as the Light which plays the most significant role in our own lives, so many centuries after His earthly life.  Of course, John's Gospel is the Gospel of the Light, emphasizing in so many ways how Christ is the light of the world.  Right from the beginning of this Gospel, in introducing to us the Logos, the Word, John writes, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:4-5).  As the Door, and as the Good Shepherd, Jesus warns us that the way to life is narrow, and particular.  In Matthew 7:13-14, He tells us, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."  Again, He is the Door, just as He is also the Gate -- He is the Good Shepherd who leads us to the place of pasture that is proper to us, just as He is the One who is the bread of heaven, the Bread of Life with which we need to be fed for the everlasting life He offers, the life more abundantly we read about in today's reading.  All of these things point to the ways in which Jesus is active in our lives, and remains so as our Good Shepherd.  And He will not leave us alone, for He has said, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).  When we pray, when we worship, when we read the Scriptures, let us remember the ways that He remains active in our lives, close by, teaching us the things we need, showing us the way through our lives.  In John's 14th chapter, Jesus promises, "I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. . . . If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him" (see John 14).  Through all of these means, through the faithful, and the communion of saints, in the Church, and in all the ways we may participate in the life of the Body of Christ, He is with us as the Good Shepherd, who sees us through our lives.  He knows all our names.  Now the question is, how do we live as His sheep?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?

 

 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.  Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father.  For which of those works do you stone Me?"  The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."  Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in our law, 'I said, "You are gods"'?  If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?  If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."  Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.  And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.  Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."  And many believed in Him there.

 

-  John 10:31–42 

 

In our recent readings (from the beginning of chapter 7), Jesus has been attending the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.  It is the final year of His earthly life.  There He has disputed with the religious authorities, and restored the sight of a man who was blind since birth.  Yesterday we read that there was a division again among the leaders 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."

 

  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.  Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father.  For which of those works do you stone Me?"  The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God."   At the end of yesterday's reading (see above), Jesus responded to the question of the religious leaders, "How long do You keep us in doubt?  If You are the Christ, tell us plainly."  He answered clearly when He said, "I and My Father are one."  For this they take up stones again to stone Him.  (We recall that the term the Jews is most often used in John's Gospel to designate the religious leaders, and not the people.)   In so doing, Jesus reveals Himself to be fully God.  To be one with the Father means one in nature or essence.   Christ's opponents clearly recognize this claim of divinity, my study Bible says, and therefore accuse Him of blasphemy.  

Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in our law, 'I said, "You are gods"'?  If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?  If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him."   My study Bible comments on Christ's quotation from Scripture, "You are gods" (Psalm 82:6):  People who receive God's grace in faith will partake of God's divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) and can rightly be called gods.  St. John Chrysostom paraphrases Christ as effectively saying, "If those who have received this honor by grace are not guilty for calling themselves gods, how can He who has this by nature deserve to be rebuked?"  Again, Christ cites His works as witness to His divinity and His union with the Father.  

Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.  And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed.  Then many came to Him and said, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."  And many believed in Him there.  As Christ is going to His Passion voluntarily and according to His own will (verses 17-18), those who accuse Him cannot arrest Him until He is ready (John 7:30; 8:20; see Luke 4:28-30).  

 

In today's reading, when Jesus goes beyond the Jordan (that is, east of the Jordan River, the place where John was baptizing at first), the people say, "John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true."  Note how, in the people's response to Jesus beyond the Jordan, it is first of all His works that speak as witness for them.  That is, the things that He does prove that John's word about Jesus was true.  Moreover, we are once again given John the Baptist as effective witness, for the people now see for themselves that all the things John spoke about Jesus were true.  So, in subtle ways, even though the religious leaders don't believe Christ, and don't accept His witness (nor the people or things He names as witnesses to His divinity), the people believe.  They accept Him, and affirm that the things John the Baptist said about Him were true.  This seems to be clearly the perspective of the Gospel, at least among those who have faithfully pursued the holy ones dedicated to God, like the prophet John the Baptist.  Perhaps there is a lesson here about witnessing and truth, in that these things teach us that the acceptance of truth also depends not simply upon witnesses, but also upon the disposition of the heart of the beholder in the first place.  If a person is dead set against accepting someone or something, then no amount of witnesses will be entirely persuasive.  This is especially true if there is a particular reason of self-interest or group interest for people to reject a particular truth.  Such things can form a compelling reason to deny or reject truth.  In the case of the religious leaders and Jesus, He criticizes them freely.  They stand to lose their positions of authority, and He also alludes to their corruption.  They have a tight control on positions in the temple and even for some faction of the ruling Council, on the wealth and property around Jerusalem.  So important is this aspect of faith that John the Evangelist begins this Gospel with verses that focus on the rejection of light for darkness (John 1:1-5).  At any rate, Christ's emphasis on repentance comes in here as an important aspect of His preaching, because in the sense of the Greek of the Gospels, the word translated as "repentance" means literally "change of mind."  In this context of witnessing and belief (or, more accurately, trust), the possibility of changing one's mind, the minimal awareness that there is perhaps something one cannot be absolutely certain about, is the one thing that opens one to the places God may lead us.  In the story of the Publican and the Pharisee (Luke 18:9-14), we read that the Pharisee prayed "with himself," while the Publican's position of humility at least allows for the possibility that there is something he has to learn, something left undone, something God calls him to that he doesn't know.  To be at least capable of changing one's mind means that God's work within us is still possible, and we know that this is important because -- especially in our recent readings -- Jesus has emphasized God the Father's role in drawing us to Christ (see above, "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").  In yesterday's reading, Jesus also said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." Without the possibility of "changing our minds," of allowing for the unknown and unexpected, how would we hear Christ's voice?  For God will always call us to what is greater than we know, what we haven't considered, or perhaps especially what we need to reconsider in our own choices and behaviors.  For God will always be asking us to grow, leading us forward into what is greater than what we think we know.  Even the works that Christ does, those "signs" such as healing a man blind from birth, ask of us to open our own minds to accept them, and especially to accept what they mean about Christ's divine identity, and the kingdom of God present with Him.  Let us consider what it is to witness, and how we receive that witness.  For how will we be prepared to understand and accept the evidence that is before us?

 

 

 

 

 

I and My Father are one

 

 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.  This is an eight-day autumn festival which commemorates the time when Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai, and dwelt in tents or "tabernacles."  The chief priests and Pharisees have sought unsuccessfully to have Him arrested, and they have also sought to stone Him and failed.  Since then, He has healed a man blind since birth, and the healing was on a Sabbath.  On Saturday, we read the continuation of Christ's dialogue with the religious leaders.  He said,  "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 leave 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 the 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?"  Once again we recall that most often, the use of the term the Jews in John's Gospel is meant to denote the religious leadership.  Here, it's clear that Jesus' truth has sown division (Matthew 10:34-39); we read the controversy He has caused and the conflicting perspectives.  At this backdrop to this autumn festival, and now in this final year of Christ's life, we see the effect He has had on the people as reflected here.  My study Bible notes here that those who respond in faith are not merely impressed by the signs, but perceive the holiness of His words.  

Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.   Here, Christ attends another festival.  The Feast of Tabernacles is held in autumn; this is the Feast of Dedication which takes place approximately three months afterward.  This is also known as the "Festival of Lights," also called Hanukkah. It commemorates the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem after the Seleucid King Epiphanes desecrated it in 167 BC (see 1 Macabbees 1 - 4).  At this festival, my study Bible explains, the leaders of Israel's past were commemorated, many of whom were themselves shepherds. 

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."  My study Bible comments that both what Chris told them and the works He had done have already answered the question these religious leaders pose to Him.   For only the Messiah could open the eyes of the blind (no other miracle story of the healing of a person blind from birth occurs in Scripture), or perform these miracles or "signs" that bear witness to Christ.  Similarly, only the Messiah could speak to the hearts of people as Christ does (John 7:46).

"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."   Christ's words, "As I said to you . . ." gives us the assurance that He is speaking to the same Pharisees He addressed three months earlier at the Feast of Tabernacles (John 10:1-5).   Here as He begins to respond to their question, He reveals Himself as fully God.  To be one together with Father, my study Bible says, means one in nature or essence.  So, Christ is God before all ages, He remains God after the Incarnation, and for all eternity.  Jesus says, "I and My Father are one" -- the plural verb are indicates two distinct Persons, and at the same time confirms a continuous unity.  We will witness the response of the religious leaders in our following reading. 

Jesus today returns to a theme He has continually gone back to already:  His relationship with the Father.  Nothing could be more affirming of their unity than the statement "I and My Father are one."  For this, of course, the religious leaders have already sought to have Him arrested and to stone Him (see John 8:58-59).  But here Jesus speaks of unity with the Father once more in order to emphasize the power of the faith of His sheep, for it's to emphasize that there is nothing anyone can do if the Father wills something be so.  He says,  "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."   In the Gospel according to St. Matthew, when St. Peter makes the confession of faith on behalf of all, the same thing is affirmed, but in different words.  In that passage, Simon Peter says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  And Jesus replies, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."  We first hear from Jesus that it is the Father who has revealed this faith in Christ's identity to Peter, "and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."  That is, the powers of the devil or the evil one cannot prevail against the rock that is found in that faith.  For, just as Christ was surely both fully divine and fully human, there is another type of divine-human connection here that Jesus is pointing out, and that is the Father at work within human beings revealing the Son, and the faith that is born of that.  That divine-human connection of faith, of what is revealed in the human being by the Father, is such a bond that Christ describes it as a rock.  Here in today's reading, Jesus speaks to the religious leaders who wish to be rid of Him, who cannot "hear His words" because they are not His sheep, because they do not hear the Father nor this revelation of the identity of Christ.  Their hearts are far from God, even though they are the chief religious leaders of all of Israel, the custodians of her spiritual history and life.  But they work with the one who opposes God:  Jesus has said to them, "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it" (John 8:44).  This is why they are not of Christ's sheep, they cannot hear the words He says, they cannot understand what He is talking about nor accept it.  But despite all that they do to defeat Him, His ministry, and His followers, they will not prevail, for Jesus and the Father are one, and no one can snatch the sheep from His Father's hand.  For the Father is greater than all, and it is the Father who gives the faithful to Christ.  So, when we ponder this divine-human connection, let us consider how God works among us and has come to us -- not only in the Person of Jesus Christ, both divine and human, but also how the Father continues to reveal faith within and among human beings, and how powerful that true revelation is.  Let us consider how we are so elevated and exalted as to play a part in the redemption and salvation of the cosmos, for God the Father works in us sheep as well.  It is in our humility that grace truly works most powerfully of all.  

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep

 

 "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 leave 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 the 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, Jesus is in Jerusalem, and attending the Feast of Tabernacles.  This is an autumn harvest festival commemorating the time that Israel wandered in the wilderness of Sinai, and dwelt in tents or "tabernacles."  It is now the final year of Christ's earthly life.  The religious leaders have sought to arrest Him and even stone Him, but unsuccessfully.  We have just read the sixth of seven "signs" in John's Gospel, the miraculous healing of a man blind from birth.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus continued His dialogue with them, and they have been grilling the formerly blind man.  We read that the Jews 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 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."  Of today's entire passage, my study Bible explains that Christ's conversation with the Pharisees continues, as there is no break between the final verses of the last chapter (above) and today's reading.  All of this is taking place at the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles (readings since the beginning of chapter 7 cover this events of this festival).  Here Christ contrasts the religious leadership in Jerusalem with His own.  My study Bible comments that they have failed as pastors of God's people ("pastor" comes from the Latin word for "shepherd").  It notes that their leadership has been marked by deceit and pride and has lacked compassion.  But Christ, on the other hand, fulfills all virtue.  My study Bible says that according to St. John Chrysostom, the door is God's Word, meaning both the Scriptures and Christ our Lord Himself (verses 7, 9), as the Scriptures reveal God the Word.  The one who tries to lead in a way that is neither in Christ nor according to the teaching of the Scriptures is a thief and a robber.  Instead of using this door so that all can see Christ's works openly, these false shepherds are using underhanded means to control, steal, and manipulate people, ultimately destroying their souls (verse 10).  By contrast, those pastors 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. My study Bible explains that, as Christ has intimate knowledge of every person, so also true pastors in the Church seek to know their people by name; that is, personally.  These pastors, it says, seek to understand each person's situation and needs, from the greatest to the least, and having Christ-like compassion for each one (Hebrews 4:15).  In return, people will respond to a true leader, whom they trust to be a follower of Christ.  St. Ignatius of Antioch is quoted as saying, "Where the bishop is present, there the people shall gather."  My study Bible adds that the response of the faithful can 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 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 notes that the phrase all whoever came before Me doesn't refer to Moses or to genuine prophets, but to people who claimed 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.  Satan spreads lies and heresies among the people of God, and lures away both leaders and people.  Life in this context means living in God's grace here on earth, and life more abundantly is that of 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 leave 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."  Here Jesus reveals Himself as the good shepherd.  My study Bible lists those characteristics as follows:  He enters by the door; that is, He fulfills. the Scriptures concerning Himself.  Secondly, Christ knows and is known by the Father (verse 15).  He also knows His people personally, and therefore He is known by them (verses 3, 14).  Finally, He gives His life for the sake of His people (verse 11), which is a direct prophecy of His coming Passion. 

 

"And other sheep I have which are not of the 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, my study Bible says, who will be brought into the one flock with the Jews under the one shepherd.  So, for instance, the Church transcends ethnic and racial lines.  From the beginning centuries of the Church, it has been the Orthodox teaching that there be 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 which held separate liturgies for Jewish and Gentile Christians; he taught:  "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 i 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 states clearly, I lay down My life.  His life-giving death will be voluntary, and He does nothing apart from the will of His Father.  As He laid down His life for us, my study Bible says, we lay down our lives for Him and for the sake of others.

Christ is the good shepherd; He is our good shepherd.  And in today's reading, He gives a number of reasons why He is that good shepherd.  Strongly, Jesus affirms that "My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again."  These words indicate, in the context of John's Epistle that declares to us that God is love (1 John 4:8), that the good shepherd is beloved of the Father because of the great love Christ shows for the sheep -- that He is willing to lay down His life for the sheep.  Within the embrace of Father and Son there is a union of love that includes the faithful, the sheep.  As Jesus' words seem to indicate the more that love is shared, the more love results; He is beloved because He loves -- and the Father loves in turn because the Son loves the sheep; so much so that the Son will even lay down His life out of love.  So, in this, Christ is the good shepherd.  He shows His love of and loyalty to the Father by loving the sheep to the greatest extent possible, making the greatest sacrifice because of that love.  This Jesus contrasts with the hireling, the one to whom the sheep do not truly belong, the one who presumably works simply for a wage, and not for love:  "But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leave 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."   Moreover, here is the great characteristic of love, it is personal, it makes all things personal:  "To [the good shepherd] 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."  We the faithful are these sheep; we are those who are called by name: called by name out of the love so great on the part of the shepherd that He would lay down His life for us.  It's in that love that we hear His voice; we know Him and He knows us.  So where do you hear this call of love?  Can we forget that this tremendous, exalted love begins with the Father, circles through us and is once again reciprocated by the Father?  It's a great kind of dance of limitless potential and unending process, and perhaps that is also part and parcel of what makes the kind of life Christ offers "everlasting."  Moreover we must consider that it is this great circulating love that gives us life, and even life more abundantly.  If there is ever any doubt about what and Whom we follow, let us look to the heart, to this love, to its deeply personal call and voice that comes to us.  The One who loves us so much He would lay down His life, because the Father asks it, for the purpose of our life, so that we may have life more abundantly.  The one thing we need to know most assuredly is that love and that it runs through us.  This is where we know and are known.  For this, He is the One in whom we trust.