10 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John 10.1–10 ESV – Bible Gateway
In this week’s readings from the Lectionary, we have a common theme of shepherding in all the readings. The first reading from Acts echoes Peter’s role as shepherd of the Church. The rest of the readings elude or directly show Christ as our true Shepherd. During the Easter season, the First Reading is from Acts. Still, Jesus seems to refer to Ezekiel 34, which provides background to understanding God as the true shepherd, especially “I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest—oracle of the Lord GOD (Ezekiel 34:15) and I will appoint one shepherd. (Ezekiel 34:23).
Dr. Peter Kreeft has a salutary reminder for us as we hear the “Good Shepherd Discourse”:
This parable is so familiar to us that it puts us into a doze, a comfortable semi-sleep. “That’s nice” is our usual response to the image of Jesus as the good shepherd. But Jesus never puts us to sleep; he always surprises us. He doesn’t pat us on the head and smile and coo and tell us how wise we are. He doesn’t waste time telling us things we already know. He tells us things that we don’t know and need to know, and therefore he always surprises us and challenges us.[1]
The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture gives us an introduction to this reading.
The Good Shepherd Discourse divides into two sections (10:1–6, 7–18). In the first section, Jesus gives his teaching in “veiled speech” (10:6, our translation), using the imagery of sheep and shepherds, but he does not indicate what these images mean. After John specifies that Jesus’ hearers did not understand him (10:6), Jesus moves to the second section of the discourse (10:7–18), where he interprets the meaning of the shepherd, sheep, gate, and pasture given in the first section.[2]
Dr. Brant Pitre gives us some Jewish context to understand what John means by a “figure of speech.”
So the first thing I want to highlight here is that John refers to this teaching that Jesus is giving here as a paroimia. That is the Greek word; it means a figure of speech. It is very similar to what we see in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, where Jesus will give _parabole_—in other words parables. Because in the parables, Jesus compares one thing to another. Usually he’s comparing something to the Kingdom of God. So he will say “the Kingdom of God is like X” or “the Kingdom of God is like Y” or “the Kingdom of God is like Z.” So in this case Jesus is doing the same thing here. He’s giving us a figure of speech that involves a comparison, but it is not called a parable—although you could maybe call it that…like the parable of the shepherd o the sheep or whatnot. So each of the images in this figure of speech—just like in the parables—is a comparison that is meant to have a particular meaning. So in order to understand it you have to understand what the images are.[3]
Understanding these images in both their symbolism and their reality can open this up more to us.
Steve Ray in his Commentary on this Gospel, opens up the historic reality:
“❲Jesus❳ compares his work to that of a good shepherd and the society he has founded to a sheepfold. The sheepfold in modern Palestine (and it was more or less the same twenty centuries ago) is nothing more than an enclosure within a little low wall of stone where the sheep of one or more flocks pasturing in the vicinity are gathered in the evening. The animals go in and out one by one through a low, narrow door in the wall which makes it easy to count them both times. At night one shepherd stands guard alone to protect the fold against thieves and wild beasts; and toward dawn, it is he who opens the little door to the shepherds coming to claim their flocks. Each shepherd gives his own particular call and his sheep come crowding to the door and trot out one by one to follow him all day long over the heath. The other sheep wait until they hear the special cry of their own shepherd; only his voice, which is to guide them throughout the day, brings them to the entrance. Thus, flock by flock, the sheep go out by the little gate in obedience to the cries of the shepherds, who sometimes even call their favorite sheep by name: ‘Hey! Whitie!’ ‘Come on, Beautiful!’ That little door, then, is the mainspring of the fold and it alone inspires confidence. Whoever does not pass through it but climbs over the wall proclaims himself an enemy—a thief or a wild beast.”[4]
He also points out what is more than just metaphor here regarding shepherds living in this area:
“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.”[5]
There is much to reflect on here. In my meditation on this, I was thinking about the aspect of what it means to hear his voice. This is obviously not just the act of hearing what he says, but in the hearing, discerning, and acting on his words. There are so many competing voices in the world and Jesus’ voice is lost in the clutter. Even when we think we are acting on his voice, we need a daily examination of our life to see if this is indeed true. Especially considering how often we deceive ourselves by justifying sin. I know in my experience, the voice I hear from Jesus can just be me acting as a ventriloquist spouting his words, which really are my own, where I have filtered out the uncomfortable things he said.
The comparison to us as sheep is unflattering, but accurate. I can too easily relate to my stupidity and wandering off. Along with intentional stupidity, where I reinterpret Jesus’ voice to match what I want instead. His original audience for this discourse probably had a range of people who either did not understand his figure of speech or willfully did not want to understand as it applied to them.
We hear Jesus’ voice via the Gospels and the Magisterium. There are many ways for us to hear his voice indirectly, such as in the lives of the saints where they imaged Jesus.
Brant Pitre brings out another example:
If you think about John 10 and Jesus as the true shepherd, then the priest, who is striving to be an image of Christ the Shepherd, should not only smell like the sheep, he should also sound like the shepherd. Because what does the shepherd do? He calls the sheep by name and they hear his voice and they recognize his voice. So when the priest not only lives with his people and ministers to them, but also calls to his people, he wants to have the voice of Christ. He needs to use the words of Christ, the words of the Gospel, the teaching of the Church, so that he can develop and cultivate the voice of Christ so that when people hear his voice, they will hear Christ speaking to them as the true shepherd of the sheep, as the good Shepherd who ministers to them and who leads us all to the green pastures of eternal life.[6]
In paragraph 6 of Lumen Gentium, we find that:
The Church is a sheepfold whose one and indispensable door is Christ. It is a flock of which God Himself foretold He would be the shepherd, and whose sheep, although ruled by human shepherds; are nevertheless continuously led and nourished by Christ Himself, the Good Shepherd and the Prince of the shepherds, who gave His life for the sheep.[7]
From the Catechism, Paragraph 754:
“The Church is, accordingly, a sheepfold, the sole and necessary gateway to which is Christ. It is also the flock of which God himself foretold that he would be the shepherd, and whose sheep, even though governed by human shepherds, are unfailingly nourished and led by Christ himself, the Good Shepherd and Prince of Shepherds, who gave his life for his sheep.[8]
There is also a good detail of historical background regarding John 10:8, that Dr. John Bergsma summarizes:
When Our Lord declares “all who came before me are thieves and robbers,” he may well be referring to the majority of those who had claimed leadership over Israel since the deposition of the last reigning son of David, Zedekiah, in 587 BC (see 2 Kgs 25:7). Many of these leaders had questionable if not outright illegitimate pedigrees. The Levite clan of the Maccabees had taken over in the mid–100s and set themselves up as kings of Israel although they were not of the line of David. Herod the Great, who was only half-Jewish, took over Israel by political manipulation of the Roman authorities and established a dynasty that had even less legitimacy than the Maccabees. Meanwhile, the high priesthood had been corrupted at least since 175 BC, when the high priest Onias III was ousted by political maneuvering and replaced first by his brother, Jason, and then by Menelaus, a Benjaminite (2 Macc 3–4).
…
But as well-meaning as the Pharisees were, they did not have any biblical claim to authority. No prophets had ever promised that self-appointed scholars of the law would arise to save Israel in the last days. All these false leaders, intent too often on enriching themselves at the expense of the people of Israel, may be whom Jesus has in mind as the “thieves and robbers” who have come before him.[9]
The Gospels often reinforce the idea that Jesus is calling us to union with him. That this is a relationship where he calls us as sons and daughters (Divine affiliation). A point Peter Kreeft brings out:
The second surprising thing in Jesus’ parable is that he says that the shepherd calls each of the sheep by name. We name our pets, but we don’t name our sheep. But Jesus knows each of us by name. We have unique names because we are unique selves. We are not just clones or Xerox copies. There is one thing that only you can do. Nobody else who ever lived or ever will live can do it. And that is to be you. When you die, no one can ever, ever replace you. And Jesus knows that and loves that unique self that is you. In fact, if you had been the only person in the world who had ever sinned and needed salvation, Jesus would have done everything that he did just for you, including the Incarnation and the cross.[10]
St. John Henry Newman brings this aspect out in his wonderful meditation on “Meditations on Christian Doctrine.” The following is only a sample from this:
God was all-complete, all-blessed in Himself; but it was His will to create a world for His glory. He is Almighty, and might have done all things Himself, but it has been His will to bring about His purposes by the beings He has created. We are all created to His glory—we are created to do His will. I am created to do something or to be something for which no one else is created; I have a place in God’s counsels, in God’s world, which no one else has; whether I be rich or poor, despised or esteemed by man, God knows me and calls me by my name.[11]
Jesus calls us to have an abundant life with him. How often to we think that in following Jesus we are being deprived of something we should have? That rejecting the things of the world and embracing the cross isn’t really fair. Maybe thinking that threefold temptations of “‘The Concupiscence of the flesh’, ‘The Concupiscence of the eyes’; and ‘The Pride of Life’” is really not that bad.
Jesus comes not to “steal and slaughter and destroy,” but that they “might have life and have it more abundantly.” Another translation could be “I have come that they may have life, and have it excessively” (John 10:10, my translation). This statement taps into a theme in the Gospel of John, that of the abundance that Jesus comes to provide. This theme is announced in the first chapter of the Gospel, where it says of Jesus, “From his abundance we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16, my translation). It is visibly demonstrated in the abundance of wine at Cana (John 2) and the excessive supply of bread and fish on the mountain (John 6). Jesus has come that his sheep may abound in life, experiencing a fullness unlike anything else.
Our imaginations are so limited in seeing the abundant life and just how overflowing the graces we receive are.
Sources
- Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Cycle A
- The Gospel of John (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture)
- Catholic Productions, Commentaries by Brant Pitre
- St. John’s Gospel: A Bible Study Guide and Commentary for Individuals and Groups: Ray, Stephen K.
- The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year A – John Bergsma
- Newman Reader – Meditations and Devotions – Part 3
- Lumen gentium
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition
- Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
- Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Cycle A, Fourth Sunday of Easter ↩
- Francis Martin, William M. Wright IV, The Gospel of John (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture) ↩
- Catholic Productions, Brant Pitre, Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A ↩
- St. John’s Gospel: A Bible Study Guide and Commentary for Individuals and Groups. Steve Ray, 2002 ↩
- ibid ↩
- Catholic Productions, Brant Pitre, Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A ↩
- Lumen gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, “Light of the Nations”, Second Vatican Council, 21 November 1964 ↩
- Catholic Church. (2000). Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd Ed). United States Catholic Conference, Paragraph 754. ↩
- The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year A, John Bergsma, Fourth Sunday of Easter ↩
- Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Cycle A, Fourth Sunday of Easter ↩
- This is only the second paragraph of this meditation for March 7, 1848. ↩
