St John Chapter x : Verses 7-11
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| I am the good shepherd. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
7 Jesus therefore said to them again: Amen, amen I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers: and the sheep heard them not.
9 I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures.
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep.
7 Εἶπεν οὖν πάλιν ⸀αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ⸀ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα τῶν προβάτων.
7 Dixit ergo eis iterum Jesus : Amen, amen dico vobis, quia ego sum ostium ovium.
8 πάντες ὅσοι ἦλθον ⸂πρὸ ἐμοῦ⸃ κλέπται εἰσὶν καὶ λῃσταί· ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἤκουσαν αὐτῶν τὰ πρόβατα.
8 Omnes quotquot venerunt, fures sunt, et latrones, et non audierunt eos oves.
9 ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα· δι’ ἐμοῦ ἐάν τις εἰσέλθῃ σωθήσεται καὶ εἰσελεύσεται καὶ ἐξελεύσεται καὶ νομὴν εὑρήσει.
9 Ego sum ostium. Per me si quis introierit, salvabitur : et ingredietur, et egredietur, et pascua inveniet.
10 ὁ κλέπτης οὐκ ἔρχεται εἰ μὴ ἵνα κλέψῃ καὶ θύσῃ καὶ ἀπολέσῃ· ἐγὼ ἦλθον ἵνα ζωὴν ἔχωσιν καὶ περισσὸν ἔχωσιν.
10 Fur non venit nisi ut furetur, et mactet, et perdat. Ego veni ut vitam habeant, et abundantius habeant.
11 Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός· ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ τίθησιν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων·
11 Ego sum pastor bonus. Bonus pastor animam suam dat pro ovibus suis.
Annotations
7. Jesus therefore said to them again: Amen, amen I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. Maldonatus thinks that Christ here speaks of two doors, the door of the house, i.e., Holy Scriptures, and the door of the sheepfold, which is Christ. He believes that the word door is used in two senses, one by which the shepherds themselves, and the other by which the sheep enter. But this distinction is more subtil than solid. For Christ speaks in both cases of one and the same door, that is of the sheepfold. What He said obscurely and parabolically (ver. 1) He explained in the parable. “He opened,” says S. Augustine, “that which was closed. He is the door. Let us enter that we may rejoice in having so done.” This distinction evades indeed one difficulty, i.e., how Christ enters as a shepherd through the door; that is, how He enters the door of the Church by Scripture witnessing to Him. But it does not escape the other difficulty—how the same person is both the shepherd and the door. We must say, therefore, that He united together two parables (as was said above, ver. 2). For Christ intended to teach two things. 👉First, that no one could enter into the Church, and afterwards into heaven, that is be justified and sanctified, except through Him. This He shows by the parable of the door. For as there is no ingress into the fold except through the door, so there is no entrance into the Church, militant and triumphant, except through Christ; and secondly, that 👉He is the true Shepherd, as laying down His life for the sheep; but that the others were hirelings, whom the sheep ought not to follow. This He sets forth by the parable of the shepherd. But because this latter subject is connected with the former, He mixes up the two parables together.
8. All others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers: and the sheep heard them not. What then! were all the prophets thieves and robbers? S. Augustine (contra Faustum xvi. 12, and S. Jerome, lib. ii. contra Pelag.) replies that the prophets came not of their own accord, but were sent by God. And again they were not sent in addition to Christ, but with Christ, as His precursors, and announcing His advent. They were therefore not contrary to Christ, but counted as one with Him, as having come for His sake, and by His order and guidance. “They came with the Word of God. He sent them as the heralds of Him who was to come, and He possessed the hearts of those whom He had sent.” Euthymius adds, “They came indeed before Christ, but they entered through the door.” ➤He speaks specially of those impostors who claimed to be the long-expected Messiah. They were thieves and robbers, such as ➤Judas of Galilee, Theudas, and afterwards Simon Magus. Barchochebas, and many others, who claimed for themselves the name and title of the Christ. So S. Cyril, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius, and others.
and the sheep heard them not. Because they discovered that they did not bring the token of the Messiah, as predicted by the prophets, but wished to steal away the faithful from Christ, to claim them for themselves, and to cast them into hell.
9. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures. Rupertus thinks that this relates to a different door and a different sheepfold from the other, according to what is said (ver. 16), “Other sheep I have,” &c. But there is only one fold of Christ; one Church, that is. As He subjoins, “There shall be one fold and one shepherd.” The meaning of the door already spoken of, Christ partly confirms, partly explains when He adds, “By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” That is, if any man believe in Me, and therefore through faith in Me and by My grace enters the Church, “he shall be saved,” i.e., shall be justified and blessed, if he continues, that is, in My faith, grace and charity even unto death. So S. Gregory (Epist. lib. vii. 49).
👉“He enters through the door into the sheepfold who enters through Christ. But he enters through Christ who believes and teaches the truth concerning Him—the Creator and Redeemer of mankind, and abides by what he preached.”
and he shall go in, and go out. Will go out to the pastures, and after having fed will return to the resting-place, as sheep do. For the faithful will, when well fed, enter the fold of the Church, and again when hungry will go forth to the pastures of the soul, without any peril, for I will guide them to and fro. So Maldonatus.
But to go in and out signifies among the Hebrews to act with freedom, do one’s own work, &c., and is connected with what follows. It means, the faithful man will move about everywhere without fear; will do his duty, and whatever he does, whether at home or abroad, will everywhere find food for his soul.
👉The phrase denotes security, confidence, and freedom of converse; and of doing everything, everywhere, for and through Christ. So Cyril, Chrysostom.
Symbolically and tropologically, S. Gregory (Hom. xiv.) “The faithful withdraws within himself by contemplation, and comes forth in action to do good works.” “He will enter in,” says S. Augustine, “for inward meditation, he will go forth for outward action.” The author of De spiritu et anima, says, “He will enter within to contemplate My Godhead, he will go forth to contemplate My Manhood, and in either case will find wondrous pastures.” And in another place S. Gregory writes, “Within, they have the pastures of contemplation; without, the pastures of good works; inwardly they enrich their mind with devotions, outwardly they satiate themselves with good works.” And lastly, Theophylact says, “He will enter in who has a care for the inward man; he will go out who mortifies his members upon earth.”
Anagogically, Rupertus says, “He enters the Church by faith, to find therein pastures; he will go out when at death he migrates therefrom into heaven.” “He enters,” says S. Augustine “into the Church through the door of faith, and goes forth through the same door of living faith into eternal life, where he will find pasture.” And S. Gregory, “He will enter into faith, he will go forth to hope, and will find pasture in eternal satiety.”
10. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly. He shows what is the end and aim of him whom before He called a thief, and what on the contrary was His own. ➤The thief and robber of the sheep,—as for instance a heretic or schismatic, a Scribe or Pharisee, or especially a false Christ,—comes to carry off the sheep (i.e., the faithful) from God and the Church, whose property they are, to hand them over to the synagogue of Satan, and there kill them by heresy and sin, and cast them into hell. 👉But I who am the true Shepherd of the sheep (i.e., of the faithful) came down from heaven, not for My own sake, but for that of the faithful, that being freed by Me, they may have the life of grace, even yet more abundantly. The word περισσὸν may be taken either as an adverb (abundantly), or as an adjective (abundant), that is, surpassing, exceeding all measure, that is, that they may abound in My doctrine and grace, and may live thereby, quick in spirit, enriched with spiritual gifts both in this world by grace, and in the world to come by glory. So S. Cyril and others. Rupertus adds, “that Christians may have more abundant grace than the Jews under the old law.” This abounding life of the spirit, inspired by Christ, you may see in S. Peter and the other Apostles, in Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, &c. Hence the glowing language of S. Paul, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ,” &c. (Rom. viii.)
11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. I, the one only Prince of Shepherds, who will lay down My life for My sheep, to redeem them by My death from death, and confer on them both present and eternal life. Neither prophets, nor apostles, nor any one else could do this. For though they were slain for the sake of the faithful, yet they did not redeem them, sanctify, or beatify them. So Rupertus, Chrysostom, &c. S. Augustine adds that the prophets and apostles are counted as one and the same shepherd with Christ, as being under Him, sent also and guided and protected by Him. Christ therefore is that special and singular Pastor foretold by Ezekiel xxxiv. 23.
Christ passes from the parable of the door to the more striking parable of the Shepherd. He is the door by which the sheep enter, and also the Shepherd of the sheep: that is not any ordinary one, but the chief, special, and Divine Shepherd. And He enters through the door, that is, by Himself and His own authority.
Besides this Christ rejoices in the title of Shepherd, as being most appropriate and most sweet. He used to be thus represented in very ancient pictures, at Rome, as carrying a sheep on His shoulders. Many of the patriarchs, who were types and ancestors of Christ, were shepherds, learning thereby (says Philo) to be shepherds of men, &c. “If therefore thou wishest to know and to discharge the office of a true Pastor, see how a shepherd treats his sheep. Be so eminent in doctrine and sanctity among thy faithful ones, as to appear like a rational pastor among the irrational sheep, and as an angel among men” (S. Chrysostom).
👉He attends to his sheep one by one; let him lead them into richer pastures.👉He goes before them by his virtuous example, as S. Paul exhorts Titus (Tit. ii. 7).👉As a parish priest he drives away all heretics and hurtful persons.👉And let him feed his flock with sound doctrines and sacraments, ➤and not fatten himself on the milk of his flock (Ezek. xxxiv. 2).➤Let him not be mercenary, seeking his own profit, paying court to the well-to-do and noble, and despising the rustics and mean of his flock.
For Christ went about villages and towns, preaching the Gospel to the poor (Matt. xi.) Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, was a noble example of this; he refused to exchange his poor bishoprick for a wealthier one, saying that he could render a better account at the day of judgment for his few sheep and small gains than he could for greater ones. For he said, “If men did but know how exact an account would be required, they would not seek to obtain great and wealthy bishoprics” (Sanders in Schism. Angl.) A good shepherd tenderly feeds and fosters the lambs and delicate ones of his flock (see Ezek. xxxiv. 4). And so does a parish priest and a bishop. (See the life of S. Abraham written by S. Ephrem.) He came from being an anchoret to be the pastor of a wild and barbarous people, and though cruelly entreated by them, brought them by his indomitable patience, gentleness, and charity, to submit to the laws of Christ.
Jacob, like a true shepherd, watched over his flock by day and night (Gen. xxxi. 40); and shepherds were watching over their flocks by night when Christ was born. So too should a parish priest or a bishop vigilantly watch over his flock, as his first duty. A shepherd risks his own life in guarding his sheep. So should a parish priest, when persecution or pestilence threatens; as did SS. Athanasius, Chrysostom, Basil, Ambrose. Lastly, S. Peter, the chief pastor of the Church, lays down notes for the pastors under him (1 Pet. v. 2). See also S. Gregory (in Pastorali), S. Bernard (de Consider. ad Eugenium), and S. Augustine (Tract de Pastoribus et Ovibus).
All these duties are summed up in charity, for charity supremely loves God, and for His sake the faithful committed to its care by God.
The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. This does not relate so much to the parable itself, as to that which is signified by it. For the natural Shepherd ought to count his own life of greater value than the lives of his sheep. And yet he ought to protect his sheep even at the risk of his life. But the shepherd of souls is bound, by his duty, to expose his bodily life to danger, for the spiritual life of the faithful committed to his charge. And hence he is bound to stand by them in the time of the plague, or provide some other qualified person to administer the sacraments to the sick, as did S. Charles Borromeo: and for this reason was canonised. And so also all the apostles, excepting S. John, suffered martyrdom for the sake of the faithful committed to their care. And so also nearly all the Roman Pontiffs down to S. Sylvester. But the leader of them all was Christ, who alone, as the best of Shepherds, laid down His life as a ransom, while all the others did so merely to manifest their faith, and as a pattern of virtue.
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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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