John 10:27–30 ESV – Bible Gateway
Steve Ray in his commentary on the Gospel of John references this fact:
“The relationship between sheep and shepherd is quite different in Palestine. In Britain the sheep are largely kept for killing, but in Palestine largely for their wool. It thus happens that in Palestine the sheep are often with the shepherd for years and often they have names by which the shepherd calls them.… It is strictly true that the sheep know and understand the eastern shepherd’s voice; and that they will never answer to the voice of a stranger.… ‘The shepherd calls sharply from time to time, to remind them of his presence. They know his voice, and follow on; but, if a stranger call, they stop short, lift up their heads in alarm, and if it is repeated, they turn and flee, because they know not the voice of a stranger. I have made the experiment repeatedly’.… Every detail of the shepherd’s life lights up the picture of the Good Shepherd whose sheep hear his voice and whose constant care is for his flock.”[1]
At the surface level, this gives some insight into this metaphor. If we come to really know Jesus, we will not answer the call of his imitators. We will not be tempted by even the good things of the world and forget that he gave them to us. We will prioritize our relationship with Jesus over all worldly things.
One day I wish to know Jesus enough to say that I truly know Jesus. That I will not only hear his voice but trust and follow him. I know facts about Jesus, but that is not the knowledge that I truly need.
Peter Kreeft writes regarding this passage:
What kind of knowledge is that? Personal knowledge, not just factual knowledge. Not knowledge about a person but knowledge of a person. Most languages have two different words for those two different kinds of knowledge; English has only one. In French, they’re connaitre and savoir, in German they’re kennen and wissen. One kind of knowledge is like marriage; the other is like science. One kind is a personal relationship; the other is a set of ideas. Ideas are terribly important, but you don’t get to heaven by a set of ideas, by passing a theology test. It’s not what you know but who you know. Jesus’ sheep follow the good shepherd because they know him; they hear his voice and recognize it.[2]
In the Old Testament to know someone was used as a metaphor for sexual intimacy. The type of knowing God has for each of us is the most profound intimacy. We are totally open before him and he loves us. The intimacy of friendship is what he calls us to as his adopted children. He lifts us up in grace so that we can reply in gratitude and thanksgiving.
Jesus goes on to promise a supernatural life that never ends. A promise of salvation in that we will not experience eternal death. That he will protect us more so than a good shepherd protects his flock. There is nothing that can affect this, but our own will. Nobody can snatch us from his protection, but we can wander off and forego the protection of the shepherd.
Theophylact makes this point when he wrote:
But how then did Judas perish? Because he did not continue to the end. Christ speaks of them who persevere. If any sheep is separated from the flock, and wanders from the Shepherd, it incurs danger immediately.[3]
There is a lot going on here when Jesus identifies himself as our shepherd. An identification that directly invokes the famous lines in Psalm 23. In Ezekiel 34, Ezekiel makes a prophecy against the shepherds of Israel, who failed to hear the words of the Lord. God says “I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.” How he will care for them and also bring judgment to those who preyed on the sheep. Jesus identifies himself as this very shepherd referenced and then lays it out saying “I and the Father are one.”
Historically there is much quibbling over what Jesus meant by saying this. There was no confusion among those who heard him identify himself with God. They picked up stones and intended to kill him for committing blasphemy. There had been claimants before and after Jesus to be the messiah. This claim in itself was not considered blasphemy. It was not a capital offense. There was no confusion between what Jesus said and the implication of this to the hearers.
Still, even if they had given some time to reflect on Jesus’ words and his identification with the Father, what he said was shocking and this truth about God’s interior life could only be known through divine revelation. The early Church would grapple with this and all the heresies that tried to simplify what Jesus said.
Paragraph 590 of the Catechism says:
Only the divine identity of Jesus’ person can justify so absolute a claim as “He who is not with me is against me”; and his saying that there was in him “something greater than Jonah, … greater than Solomon,” something “greater than the Temple”; his reminder that David had called the Messiah his Lord,and his affirmations, “Before Abraham was, I Am”; and even “I and the Father are one.”
Going on to say in Paragraph 256:
St. Gregory of Nazianzus, also called “the Theologian,” entrusts this summary of Trinitarian faith to the catechumens of Constantinople:
Above all guard for me this great deposit of faith for which I live and fight, which I want to take with me as a companion, and which makes me bear all evils and despise all pleasures: I mean the profession of faith in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I entrust it to you today. By it I am soon going to plunge you into water and raise you up from it. I give it to you as the companion and patron of your whole life. I give you but one divinity and power, existing one in three, and containing the three in a distinct way. Divinity without disparity of substance or nature, without superior degree that raises up or inferior degree that casts down … the infinite co-naturality of three infinites. Each person considered in himself is entirely God … the three considered together.… I have not even begun to think of unity when the Trinity bathes me in its splendor. I have not even begun to think of the Trinity when unity grasps me.[4]
Sources
- Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Year C
- Catholic Productions, Commentaries by Brant Pitre
- St. John’s Gospel: A Bible Study Guide and Commentary for Individuals and Groups: Ray, Stephen K.
- Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels, Collected out of the Works of the Fathers, Volume 4: St. John – Verbum
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition
- Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
- St. John’s Gospel: A Bible Study Guide and Commentary for Individuals and Groups. Steve Ray, 2002 ↩
- Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Year C ↩
- Theophylact, Archbishop of Ohrid, A.D. 1078. Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels, Collected out of the Works of the Fathers: St. John. ↩
- St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 40, 41: PG 36, 417.↩︎ ↩
