John 10

John 10:11

JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD

[John 10, 11-16 Luke 15, 1-10]

JESUS having come to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, went to the Temple and taught there, saying: “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life¹ for his sheep. But the hireling², and he that is not the shepherd, seeth the wolf coming, and fleeth. I am the Good Shepherd, and I know mine, and mine know Me, and I lay down My life for My sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold³; them also I must bring⁴, and they shall hear My voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.”

On another occasion⁵ when the proud and conceited Pharisees complained because Jesus dealt kindly with publicans and sinners, He spoke to them this parable⁶: “What man among you that

¹ Giveth his life. i. e. the sure sign by which a good shepherd can be known, is that he is ready to lay down his life for his sheep.

² The hireling. A man hired for wages to look after the sheep, and to whom, therefore, the sheep do not belong.

³ Not of this fold. Who do not belong to the people of Israel. i. e. the Gentiles.

⁴ I must bring. Into My fold. ⁵ Another occasion. Cf. Luke 15, 1-10. Mat. 18, 11-14.

⁶ This parable was meant to show the love which the Good Shepherd has for individual sheep of his flock who go astray.

KNECHT, Commentary 3 ed. — XLIV. JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

hath a hundred sheep, and if he shall lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety-nine in the desert¹, and go after that which was lost, until he find it². And when he hath found it, doth he not lay it on his shoulders, rejoicing?² Then, coming home, doth he not call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them: ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.’ I say to you that even so³ there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doeth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just that need not penance.”

COMMENTARY.

The Love of Jesus for us. By the simile of the Good Shepherd our Lord teaches us how great is His compassionate love for all mankind. All men, Jews and Gentiles, are His sheep, and He gave His life for all, being sacrificed on the Cross to redeem them from sin and hell. He is therefore the only Good Shepherd, and all others who are called to the pastoral office are good shepherds only so far as they imitate Jesus in their love and care of the flock confided to them. Moreover Jesus knows His own. He knows all about them, their needs, their weakness, their thoughts, their endeavours; He leads them into the fold of His Church, He helps them by His grace, He enlightens them by His doctrine, and nourishes and strengthens them with His Flesh and Blood in the most Blessed Sacrament. His pastoral love is, therefore, infinite and divine.

The following doctrines are especially conveyed by this parable:

The Sacrifice and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord distinctly foretells His Sacrifice and Death in the words: “I lay down My life for My sheep.”

Jesus is the Lord and Chief Shepherd of the redeemed. The sheep belong to Him, because He has bought them with His Precious Blood.

The One, United, Catholic Church. Our Lord foretold that the Gentiles also would believe in Him, and that all the faithful, both Jews and Gentiles, would be united in one fold, under one Shepherd. According to our Lord’s words there was to be only one Church, and this Church was to be united. It was not to be split up into a multitude of national churches in every part of the world, but was to spread itself

¹ In the desert. Out on the hills where there were no enclosures, but good pasturage.

² Rejoicing. He does not chide or chastise it for having run away, but carries it back lovingly to the fold.

³ Even so. Our Lord now makes the application of the parable, saying that it is the same with God, His angels and His Saints.

— XLIV. JESUS THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

by degrees over the whole face of the earth, and all nations were to be gathered into its fold. The Church foretold by our Lord was to be a Catholic or universal Church. Now this one, united, and Catholic Church which, according to His good pleasure, our Lord founded, can only be the Roman Catholic Church, in which the faithful of the five parts of the world are joined together in real unity of faith and government under one Chief Shepherd, the Pope.

The Love of Jesus for sinners. The touching parable of the lost sheep shows our Lord’s compassionate love for individual sinners. The lost sheep signifies a sinner who, obeying his own evil inclinations and the allurements of sin, has separated himself from Jesus, and is shut out from the number of the faithful. But the Saviour does not withdraw His love from this wanderer. Even as, during His sojourn on earth, He laboured for the conversion of sinners, so does He now go after the sinner. He calls him by His grace, by His priests, and invites him to return once more to the fold, by means of the Sacrament of Penance. And when He has found him, He supports him on the difficult road of penance, and receives him back with joy. Jesus does this not for His own sake, since He does not require this straying sinner: He seeks him out of pure love and compassion for the poor sinner himself, wandering about and in momentary danger of falling into the abyss of hell. And it was because the Good Shepherd and His “friends” were so anxious about the salvation of that sheep which was in danger, that their joy at his return and salvation is greater, and shows itself more outwardly, than their calm joy about the faithful who are walking without wavering on the path of salvation.

Grace. We learn from this parable the important doctrine that it is God who gives the first impulse to the conversion or justification of a sinner, moving him to be converted by His preventing grace (conveyed either by inward inspirations, or by the warning words of parents or pastors, or else by misfortune, sickness &c.), and who then supports him by His grace on the road of penance, until he is once more restored to a state of justification in the holy Sacrament of Penance.

The Communion of Saints. If the blessed inhabitants of heaven rejoice over the conversion of sinners, they must have a knowledge of it. It follows, therefore, that the angels and Saints in heaven know about us, care for us, and pray for us.

APPLICATION. Does not the loving compassion of Jesus, the Good Shepherd of our souls, bind us to love Him with all our hearts, and above all things? How have you loved Him hitherto? He has given His life for you; He has called you into the fold of His one true Church without any merit on your part; He has fed you on the milk of His doctrine, and has showered

36* — XLV. THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON.

countless graces on you; and how have you repaid Him? Have you always listened to His Voice, and kept His Commandments? Have you not, on the contrary, offended Him every day of your life? Be sorry for your ingratitude, and try to excite in yourself a greater love for Jesus. Say this prayer: “Kindle in me the fire of Thy love.”

John 10:24

JESUS AT THE FEAST OF THE DEDICATION CLEARLY ASSERTS HIS DIVINITY

[John 10, 24-42]

JESUS assisted at the Feast of the Dedication¹ of the Temple. As He walked through the Porch of Solomon, a number of Jews² surrounded Him and said: “How long³ dost Thou hold our souls in suspense? If Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered: “I speak⁴ to you, and you believe not. The works that I do in the name⁵ of My Father, they give testimony⁶ of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep. My sheep bear my voice, and I know them and they follow me. And I give them life everlasting, and they shall not perish for ever, and no man⁷ shall pluck them out of my hand. That which my Father hath given me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father. I and the Father are one.”

¹ Dedication. This Feast was kept in commemoration of the purification of the Temple and consecration of the altar by Judas Machabeus (Old Test, LXXXV).

² Jews. The unbelieving leaders of the people, and especially the members of the Sanhedrin.

³ How long? It was no love of the truth which made them speak thus. They wished to force our Lord to declare Himself to be the Messias openly and before many witnesses. They meant then to accuse Him of making Himself a king; for most of the people believed that the Messias would be an earthly king.

⁴ I speak. I have told you that I am the Messias (see chapter XXVI) ⁵ In the name. In the power of the Father. ⁶ Testimony. That the Father hath sent Me

⁷ No man. No one, that is, has the power of separating them from Me, for “I and the Father are one”, and, therefore, His power is My power.

— III. JESUS CLEARLY ASSERTS HIS DIVINITY.

The Jews then took up stones¹ to stone Him. But He said to them: “Many good works I have shown to you from My Father; for which² of those works do you stone Me?” They replied: “For a good work we stone Thee not, but for blasphemy³; because that Thou, being a man, makest Thyself God.”

Jesus said to them: “If I do not the works of My Father⁴, believe Me not. But if I do, though you will not believe Me, believe the works⁵, that you may know, and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” Hearing this, they tried to seize Him⁶, but He escaped⁷ out of their hands.

COMMENTARY.

Our Lord’s Divinity is proved in several ways in this chapter. It is proved: 1. by His own distinct testimony, 2. by His miracles, 3. by the holiness of His life.

1. Our Lord’s own testimony. He called God His Father; therefore He is the Son of God.

He says: “I give My sheep life everlasting.” God alone can give everlasting life; therefore Jesus is God.

¹ Stones. In their blind fury they actually attempted to stone the Son of God for blasphemy against God¹. But Jesus remained calm and unmoved in their midst, and, cowed by His look, they did not venture to cast at Him the stones which they held in their hands.

² For which: “You can reproach Me with no evil. I have done nothing but good to you; and is it for that you wish to stone Me?”

³ Blasphemy. They could not deny His good works, but reviled Him as a blasphemer, in spite of the many and wondrous miracles by which the Father testified to Him.

⁴ Of My Father. The same works as My Father. My works, my miracles testify that I have the power of the Father, and that therefore I am one with Him.

⁵ The works. Which bear unimpeachable witness to My Divine power. They ought to make you believe that the Father is in Me &c.

⁶ Seize Him. Such was the only response which these stiff-necked people vouchsated to our Lord’s glorious revelation of Himself. They thought now of proceeding to extremities, and tried to seize Him, so as to thrust Him out of the Temple, and drag Him before the Sanhedrin.

⁷ Escaped. As they were on the point of laying hands on Him, Jesus disappeared from their midst. They surrounded Him on all sides, and yet they could not capture Him. “He went beyond the Jordan”, Holy Scripture says, “into that place where John was baptizing first; and many resorted to Him, and said: ‘All things whatsoever John said of this Man were true.’ And many believed in Him.” The memory of the holy Baptist’s words still lived in those parts. The people there believed now, not only on John’s testimony, but on account of our Lord’s holiness and miracles.

— LII. JESUS CLEARLY ASSERTS HIS DIVINITY.

He says again: “No man shall pluck My sheep out of My Hand.” No one is stronger than He; and therefore He ascribes to Himself a might superhuman or divine.

He says, lastly: “I and the Father are one”; one in power, one in nature. There are two Persons, indeed, I and the Father; but only One Being, One God. The same truth of the unity of nature of the Father and the Son is further expressed by the words: “The Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” On these words St. Cyril writes thus: “The effect of this unity of the Divine Nature is that the Son is in the Father, and the Father in the Son. Even as the sun is in the ray which proceeds from it, and the ray is in the sun from which it proceeds, so is the Son in the Father and the Father in the Son; and they, being two Divine Persons, are One God, existing for and in one another by the unity of their Divine Nature.”

The Jews understood perfectly well that by these words our Lord ascribed to Himself the Divine Power and Nature, or, in other words, that He called Himself the real Son of God. They reproached Him with making Himself God, and wished to stone Him as a blasphemer. Had the Jews understood His words wrongly, He would have said “I am not God”, in the same way as St. John the Baptist said “I am not the Christ” (chapter XI). Jesus, however, retracted none of His words, but, on the contrary, reproached the Jews for not believing them.

2. The testimony of our Lord’s miracles. Our Lord appealed to His wonderful works as a proof of His divine power, and as a means whereby the Jews might know that “the Father was in Him and He in the Father”. This shows us that our Lord’s chief aim in working miracles was to induce men to believe in His divine mission and in the truth of His doctrine. Even as He spoke, He confirmed His testimony by a fresh miracle, disappearing from the midst of His infuriated enemies when they were on the point of laying hands on Him.

3. The testimony of our Lord’s holiness, which was a further proof of the truth of His words, and therefore of His divine nature. Even His enemies, who hated Him, could not reproach Him with any evil deed, but admitted by their silence, when He appealed to them, that He had never done anything but good.

APPLICATION. Excite in your hearts a living faith in your Divine Saviour. He is the Eternal Son of God, who, by His Omnipotence, created the world, and for love of you became Man, and suffered Himself to be blasphemed and persecuted! Hold fast to Him, and you will not be lost, but will attain to everlasting life. No power in the world can snatch you from Him, unless you separate yourself from Him by mortal sin. Die rather than commit a mortal sin!

— LIII. THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD.