Navarre Bible Commentary:Tuesday, 4th Week of Easter

Jesus in the Portico by James Tissot

John 10:22–30

22 It was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem; 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered round him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me; 26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; 28 and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”  

Cited in the Catechism:  In promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, St. John Paul II explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum). Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism, paragraphs 548, 582, 583 and 590.

Commentary

Jesus and the Father are one (10:22–30)

10:22. This feast commemorates an episode in Jewish history (cf. 1 Mac 4:36–59; 2 Mac 1–2, 19; 10:1–8) when Judas Maccabeus, in the year 165 bc, after liberating Jerusalem from the control of the Seleucid kings of Syria, cleansed the temple of the profanations of Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Mac 1:54). From then onwards, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kisleu (November–December) and throughout the following week, all Judea celebrated the anniversary of the dedication of the new altar. It was also known as the “festival of lights” because it was customary to light lamps, a symbol of the Law, and put them in the windows of the houses (cf. 2 Mac 1:18).

10:24–25. When these Jews ask Jesus if he is the Messiah, “they speak in this way”, St Augustine comments, “not because they desire truth, but to prepare the way for calumny” (In Ioann. Evang., 48, 3). We have already seen Jesus reveal, by his words and deeds, that he is the only Son of God (5:19ff; 7:16ff; 8:25ff). In view of their good dispositions, he explicitly told the Samaritan woman (4:26) and the man born blind (9:37) that he was the Messiah and Saviour. Now he reproaches his listeners for refusing to recognize the works he does in his Father’s name (cf. 5:36; 10:38). On other occasions he referred to works as a way to distinguish true prophets from false ones: “You will know them by their fruits” (Mt 7:16; cf. Mt 12:33).

10:26–29. Certainly faith and eternal life cannot be merited by man’s own efforts: they are a gift of God. But the Lord does not deny anyone grace to believe and be saved, because he “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). If someone tries to avoid receiving the gift of faith, his unbelief is blameworthy. On this point St Thomas Aquinas teaches: “I can see, thanks to the light of the sun; but if I close my eyes, I cannot see: this is no fault of the sun, it is my own fault, because by closing my eyes, I prevent the sunlight from reaching me” (Comm. on St John, ad loc.).

But those who do not oppose divine grace do come to believe in Jesus. They are known to and loved by him, enter under his protection and remain faithful with the help of his grace, which is a pledge of the eternal life which the Good Shepherd will eventually give them. It is true that in this world they will have to strive and in the course of striving they will sustain wounds; but if they stay united to the Good Shepherd nothing and no one will snatch Christ’s sheep from him, because our Father, God, is stronger than the Evil One. Our hope that God will grant us final perseverance is not based on our strength but on God’s mercy: this hope should always motivate us to strive to respond to grace and to be ever more faithful to the demands of our faith.

10:30. Jesus reveals that he and the Father are one in substance. Earlier he proclaimed that God was his Father, “making himself equal with God”—which is why a number of times the Jewish authorities think of putting him to death (cf. 5:18; 8:59). Now he speaks about the mystery of God, which is something we can know about only through Revelation. Later on he will reveal more about this mystery, particularly at the Last Supper (14:10; 17:21–22). It is something the evangelist reflects on at the very beginning of the Gospel, in the prologue (cf. Jn 1:1 and note).

“Listen to the Son himself”, St Augustine invites us. “ ‘I and the Father are one.’ He did not say, ‘I am the Father’ or ‘I and the Father are one [Person].’ But when he says ‘I and the Father are one,’ notice the two words ‘[we are]’ and ‘one’ … For if they are one, then they are not diverse; if ‘[we] are’, then there is both a Father and a Son” (In Ioann. Evang., 36, 9). Jesus reveals that he is one in substance with the Father as far as divine essence or nature is concerned, but he also reveals that the Father and the Son are distinct Persons: “We believe then in the Father who eternally begets the Son; in the Son, the Word of God, who is eternally begotten; in the Holy Spirit, the uncreated Person who proceeds from the Father and the Son as their eternal Love. Thus in the three divine Persons, coaeternae sibi et coaequales, the life and beatitude of God perfectly One superabound and are consummated in the supreme excellence and glory proper to uncreated Being, and always ‘there should be venerated Unity in the Trinity and Trinity in the Unity’ ” (Paul VI, Creed of the People of God, 10).

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome

Navarre Bible Commentary:Monday, 4th Week of Easter

The Good Shepherd by Tissot

John 10:11–18

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, 15 as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father.”  

Cited in the Catechism:  In promulgating the Catechism of the Catholic Church, St. John Paul II explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."  He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum). Passages from this Gospel reading are cited in the Catechism, paragraphs 553 and 754.

Commentary

10:11–15. “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”: “Here,” says St John Chrysostom, “he is speaking of his passion, making it clear this would take place for the salvation of the world and that he would go to it freely and willingly” (Hom. on St John, 59, 3). Our Lord spoke further about giving abundant pasture; now he speaks about giving his very life: “He did what he said he would do,” St Gregory comments; “he gave his life for his sheep, and he gave his body and blood in the Sacrament to nourish with his flesh the sheep he had redeemed” (In Evangelia homiliae, 14, ad loc.). Hired men, on the other hand, run away if there is any danger, leaving the flock at risk. “Who is the hireling? He who sees the wolf coming and flees. The man who seeks his own glory, not the glory of Christ; the man who does not dare to reprove sinners. You are the hireling; you have seen the wolf coming and have fled […] because you held your peace; and you held your peace, because you were afraid” (St Augustine, In Ioann. Evang., 46, 8).

“Let them remember that their priestly ministry … is—in a special way—‘ordered’ to the great solicitude of the Good Shepherd, solicitude for the salvation of every human being. And this we must all remember: that it is not lawful for any one of us to deserve the name of ‘hireling’, that is to say, the name of one ‘to whom the sheep do not belong’, one who, ‘since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep and runs away as soon as he sees the wolf coming, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; this is because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep.’ The solicitude of every good shepherd is that all people ‘may have life and have it to the full’, so that none of them may be lost, but should have eternal life. Let us endeavour to make this solicitude penetrate deeply into our souls; let us strive to live it. May it characterize our personality, and be at the foundation of our priestly identity” (John Paul II, Letter to priests, 8 April 1979).

The Good Shepherd knows each of his sheep and calls it by name. This touching simile seems to be an exhortation to future pastors of the Church, as St Peter will later on explain: “Tend the flock of God that is your charge, not for shameful gain but eagerly, not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock” (1 Pet 5:2).

“The holiness of Christ’s Spouse has always been shown—as it can be seen today—by the abundance of good shepherds. But our Christian faith, which teaches us to be simple, does not bid us be simple-minded. There are hirelings who keep silent, and there are hirelings who speak with words which are not those of Christ. That is why, if the Lord allows us to be left in the dark even in little things, if we feel that our faith is not firm, we should go to the good shepherd. He enters by the door as of right. He gives his life for others and wants to be in word and behaviour a soul in love. He may be a sinner too, but he trusts always in Christ’s forgiveness and mercy” (St Josemaría Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 34).

10:16. “One flock, one shepherd.” Christ’s mission extends to everyone even though his own preaching is addressed, in the first instance, to the sheep of the house of Israel, as he himself revealed to the Canaanite woman (cf. Mt 15:24), and even though he sent the apostles on their first mission to preach to the people of Israel (cf. Mt 10:6). Now, however, foreseeing the fruits of his redemptive death (v. 15), he reveals that these will be applied to “other sheep, that are not of this fold”, that is, Israel, and, after the resurrection, he does send the apostles to all nations (cf. Mt 28:19), to preach the Gospel to all creation (cf. Mk 16:15), beginning in Jerusalem and extending to all Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth (cf. Acts 1:8). This fulfils the ancient promises about the rule of the Messiah covering the whole world (cf. Ps 2:8; Is 2:2–6; 66:17–19). The universal scope of salvation caused St Paul to exclaim: “Remember that at one time you … were … separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ” (Eph 2:11–13; cf. Gal 3:27–28; Rom 3:22).

The unity of the Church is to be found under one visible head, for “it was to the Apostolic College alone, of which Peter is the head, that we believe that our Lord entrusted all the blessings of the New Covenant, in order to establish on earth the one Body of Christ into which all those should be fully incorporated who belong in any way to the people of God” (Vatican II, Unitatis redintegratio, 3). It is a Catholic’s constant yearning that everyone should come to the true Church, “God’s only flock, which like a standard lifted high for the nations to see, ministers the Gospel of peace to all mankind, as it makes its pilgrim way in hope towards its goal, the fatherland above” (ibid., 2).

10:17–18. Jesus shows that of his own free will he will give himself up to death for the sake of the flock (cf. Jn 6:51). Having been given supreme authority, Christ is free to offer himself as a sacrifice of expiation, and he voluntarily accepts his Father’s commandment, in an act of perfect obedience. “We will never fully understand Jesus’ freedom. It is immense, infinite, as is his love. But the priceless treasure of his generous holocaust should move us to ask, ‘Why, Lord, have you granted me this privilege which I can use to follow in your footsteps, but also offend you?’ Thus we come to appreciate that freedom is used properly when it is directed towards the good; and that it is misused when men are forgetful and turn away from the Love of loves” (St Josemaría Escrivá, Friends of God, 26).

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome