We have been reading from the Good Shepherd Discourse and its sequence this week: Sunday (John 10:11-18), Monday (John 10:1-10), and Tuesday (John 10:22-30), as this is the Week of Good Shepherd Sunday (Fourth Week of Paschaltide). Today’s Gospel Reading (John 10:22-30) is not from the Good Shepherd Discourse (John 10:1-18), as it is a description of another debate between Jesus and those who stubbornly refuse to believe. And it was during the eight-day feast of the Dedication (John 10:22), also known as Chanukah, which celebrate the rededication of the Temple, upon redeeming its spiritual properness from desecration committed by the Greeks.
Just as how some pious people accused Jesus for
blasphemy and became hostile to him in response to his sign of healing a paralyzed
man (John 5:1-47), the Pharisees called Jesus “sinner”, when a man who had been
blind since his birth testified how Jesus made him see, after Jesus healed his
blindness (John 9:1-24). And this man was castigated and labeled as “born in
sin” and cast out of the faith community by the Pharisees for his testimony to
Jesus (John 9:25-34).
Then, Jesus
found him as asked if he believes in the Son of Man, and he said “Yes” and
began to worship (John 9:35-38). Upon this, Jesus said:
I
came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and
those who do see might become blind (John 9:39).
This is to indicate that those who were blind but
gain sight by Jesus are his sheep, while those who think to have sight but are
actually blind are not, with an implication that the former are the sheep,
while the latter are the goats, to be sorted at the judgement of eschaton (Matthew 25:31-33).
Those who see Jesus as the Christ, believing in him,
and follow his way are his sheep. But, those who do not are the goats. The
sheep that Jesus shepherds used to be blind and lived in sin. Upon their
encounter with him, they converted and came to believe in him and began
following his way as their eyes have been made open by him.
The Pharisees who called Jesus a sinner stubbornly
refused to believe that Jesus was from God, just because he healed the blind on
Sabbath.
This is what prompted Jesus to speak further the
Christological truth about him so that those who were blind can be made to see
the truth. And, he did it with a figure of speech (John 10:6), known as the
Good Shepherd Discourse (John 10:1-18) to reveal who he is and to rebuke those
who attack believers (sheep under Jesus’ care) because of their disbelief
(blindness). In this discourse, Jesus also addressed his relationship with the
believers as the relationship between the Good Shepherd and the sheep, who
listen to and follow him. Jesus also described how he, as the sheep gate, and
as the Good Shepherd, care for the sheep.
At first, Jesus identified himself as the sheep gate
(John 10:7) to make sure only his sheep can come in and go out of his sheep
pen. Then, Jesus identified himself as the Good Shepherd who lays down his life
for his sheep (John 10:11, 14) to protect and ensure of their wellbeing.
In this discourse, Jesus also touched on false
shepherds, as the hired hand”(John 10:12-13), in contrast to the Good Shepherd
(John 10:11, 14). Jesus implied “hired hands”, as false shepherds, to the
Pharisees for their hypocrisy. They are not good for the sheep. On the other
hand, Jesus, the Good Shepherd maintains a good relationship with the sheep
under his care, as he knows them and they know him, as intimately, as the
Father knows him and he knows the Father (John 10:14-15).
And, Jesus also mentioned that he is going to make
more disciples, saying that he has another sheep to bring into his sheep pen,
and they will be in one Church with the Christ in her head, as well as the
Cornerstone, as one flock with one shepherd (John 10:16).
Jesus being the Good Shepherd who lays down his life
for his sheep is in the Father’s will, and for this reason the Father loves him
(John 10:17). So, Jesus has the authority, given the Father, over his life and
to lay it down, but nobody can take his life (John 10:18).
In response to this discourse of Jesus on the Good
Shepherd, those who listened became divided (John 10:19) between those who do
not believe and accuse Jesus as possessed by demon and insane (John 10:20) and those who do not see Jesus
as possessed because a man possessed by demon would not open blind man’s eyes
(John 10:21).
Then, it was during the feast of the Dedication
(Chanukah), Jesus encountered the those who refused to believe him. They
gathered around him and asked, “How long
are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly”(John
10:24).
Keeping the unbelievers in suspense?
What is the problem here?
It is their refusal to believe. The man whose
blindness was healed by Jesus did not feel kept in suspense. Those who came to believe did not. And Jesus reminded them that he had already
explained (John 10:25), including through the Good Shepherd Discourse (John
10:1-18), but they just do not believe. When Jesus reminded that he had already
explained (John 10:25), he probably meant not only the Good Shepherd Discourse
(John 10:1-10) but also when they confronted his work of healing a paralyzed
man (John 5:10-47), and through debating with them (John 7:14-31,40-52;
8:12-59).
So, once again, Jesus reminded, again, that his work
(sign that he performs) is conducted in the Father’s name to bear witness (John
10:25b), reflecting John 10:17-18, and they were unable to believe because they
are not the sheep of Jesus (John 10:26; cf. 10:6). Jesus had reminded that he healed the
paralyzed man as work of the Father (John 5:17-47) and that he works as the ambassador of the
Father (John 8:31-59).
Basically, Jesus has been saying that his work –
sign that he performs – is not out of his will but the Father’s, because he was
sent by the Father to do his work on us as His ambassador.
So, Jesus reminded that he is the Good Shepherd sent
by the Father and spoke of his sheep and how he takes care of them, again:
My
sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand
(John 10:27-28).
In this, Jesus reiterates what he said in John 10:3,
9-11,14-15.
Jesus came to give his sheep life in abundance (John 10:10), and it means that he gives them eternal life (John 10:28). Given he said of himself in John 6:51, Jesus the Good Shepherd can feed his sheep with the Living Bread of Life so that they may have eternal life. Of course, by saying that he will make his sheep imperishable for eternal life (John 10:28), Jesus is referencing it to the resurrection of them (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:42, 53).
Upon speaking of himself and his sheep (John 10:27-28),
then, Jesus spoke of himself and the Father:
My
Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them
out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one (John 10:29-30).
Remember, Jesus came to the world, because the
Father sent him out of His love for us (John 3:16). Because of this, he did
works in His name.
Because Jesus and the Father are one (John 10:30),
the sheep of the Father are also his sheep. Because they are the Father’s
sheep, Jesus makes sure that nobody can take them out of the Father’s hand as
the sheep gate (John 10:7), as well as the Good Shepherd, who lays down his
life to save them as in the Father’s will (John 10:11, 14-15, 17-18).
We are the Father’s sheep, as well as the sheep of
the Good Shepherd, Jesus. And, our Good Shepherd leads us to eternal life all
in the Father’s name and will. Furthermore, our Good Shepherd and the Father
are one, meaning that he is consubstantial with the Father – he is in
hypostatic union with the Father in the Trinitarian context. So, we can see
where we are to the Trinity.
God is so good to us to lead us to Him through the
Good Shepherd!
Peter had taken up the role of the Good Shepherd, on
behalf of Jesus (cf. Matthew 16:16-20; John 21:15-19) upon Pentecost, filled
and empowered and guided by the Holy Spirit so that work of the Father carried
out by Jesus continues on to bring another sheep (John 10:16). And God instructed
Peter to bring more of another sheep among the Gentiles, not just the Jews in
his dream (Acts 10:9-16). So, Peter reached out to Cornelius, a Roman
centurion, and his family, and baptized them as another sheep to be brought in
(Acts 10:24-49). This was also the beginning of the Church to reach out to the
Gentiles. Though giving the Good Shepherd’s benefits to the Gentiles was
questioned by some Jewish followers of Jesus, Peter explained its reason as God’s
will (Acts 11:1-18).
In today’s First Reading (Acts 11:19-26), we can see
how more and more Gentiles were brought into the sheep pen of the Good
Shepherds by apostles, associates of the representative of the Good Shepherd.
So, Barnabas, filled with the Holy Spirit, shepherded the Gentile sheep in
Antioch, upon Cypriots and Cyrenians set the stage by their evangelization to
the Gentiles there. Barnabas also brought Saul (Paul), who died to the sin of
persecuting Christians and to live to Christ (cf. Romans 6:11), to Antioch.
This is just one aspect to see how the nascent
Church, which was the growing sheep pen of Jesus, by bringing the Gentiles,
another sheep to be one with those who had already been in.
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