Father Joseph Knabenbauer's Commentary on John 10:1-10

 FATHER JOSEPH KNABENBAUER: COMMENTARY ON JOHN 10:1-10

 The sheep follow him, because they know his voice

Context & Connection to Preceding Discourse The ancient commentators already noted that this discourse is closely connected with what precedes and continues what was said in John 9:39 ff. (Cyril, Chrysostom, Augustine, Bede, Rupert, Cajetan, Toletus, Jansenius, Barradius, etc.). Hence Cajetan, less perceptively, remarks that whoever divided the text into chapters began a new chapter here; but Maldonatus observes that the division was made with regard to the parable, and therefore this point was chosen as the chapter’s beginning. Although all concede the literary connection and coherence, they conceive differently how this parable coheres with the preceding narrative. But if we consider the event just narrated and the subject of the allegory, the connection is not difficult to grasp. The Pharisees refuse to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah; indeed, they decree to cast out of the synagogue those who confess Him. They boast that they alone are the leaders and teachers of the people. Against them, in this discourse, Jesus demonstrates that they are not shepherds of the Lord’s flock, but corrupters and deceivers; that He is the one through whom true shepherds must be appointed; that He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life as a ransom for His own, and establishes the Lord’s flock from Jews and Gentiles (cf. Toletus, Jansenius, Scholz). Hence is also contained what Cyril wants: that the Pharisees would be stripped of their leadership and dignity; or what Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius propose: that Jesus countered their secret thought, by which they rejected Him as a seducer, not at all blind but seeing clearly. Also touched upon is what Augustine and Bede suggest: that these words are spoken on account of the Pharisees’ pride and arrogance.

The Pastoral Allegory & Verse 1 The Lord draws the allegory from pastoral life. For in Palestine, in early spring, sheep were led to pastures, where they remained continually until the beginning of the rainy season. At night, however, they were gathered into enclosures open to the air above, but enclosed on all sides and fortified with a door, over which a doorkeeper (thyroros) stood guard. Sometimes several flocks were enclosed at night in a single fold. Through this door the shepherds entered the enclosure or sheepfold; each morning, each shepherd would call his own sheep to him and lead them to pasture. The called sheep would come, each to its own shepherd (Cornelius à Lapide; cf. Schegg, Fillion). Hence the Lord’s figurative discourse is easily understood.

Jn 10:1: “Amen, amen, I say to you.” By these words it already appears that the discourse is continued; for a new discourse never begins with this formula. Likewise, who is designated here by “you” and in v. 6 by “them” is not explained here, but in Jn 9:40. “He who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up another way, that man is a thief and a robber.” He who is sent by the master of the flock and has the right to enter the folds enters by the door. But he who, with a ladder placed, climbs up and scales the wall, then lets himself down, is a thief who steals secretly and by fraud, or a robber who intends to seize the sheep even by open force and violence. Since Jesus in v. 7 says that He is the door, those are designated here who, not called by Him, arrogate to themselves the office of teaching and ruling, or generally, those who without a divine vocation usurp such a dignity.

Jn 10:2: “But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.” Jn 10:3: “To him the doorkeeper opens.” Many ask who the doorkeeper is in the application, and the answers vary: that he is Moses (Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius, Theodoret of Mopsuestia); or an angel or the Savior (Cyril); or Christ Himself (Augustine, Bede, Rupert, Bonaventure); or the Holy Spirit (Augustine, Theophylact, Cajetan, Jansenius, Maldonatus); or grace, or God (Schegg). But it does not satisfy to say that God, Christ, or the Holy Spirit performs the office of the thyroros (doorkeeper), a role which servants usually performed. It is better to apply what one must often note in allegory and parable: frequently something is said merely to complete and adorn the allegory and parable, whose specific application need not be sought at all. Hence, the doorkeeper is named because he is really present in sheepfolds, yet his office or name need not be required in the spiritual application (cf. Scholz, Fillion). “And the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name... they know the voice of the shepherd and obey him.” And that the shepherd gives names to the sheep and calls each by its own name shows the shepherd’s diligent care (Euthymius). “And he leads them out” (ἐκβάλλει) – he takes them by the hand, sends them out through the door, compels them to go out. Several flocks having been led out of the folds, now each shepherd chooses the path by which he wishes to lead his flock to pasture, and calling his sheep to him with his voice, begins to proceed; and the sheep, knowing his voice, leave the others and follow him. Jn 10:4: “And when he has brought out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice.” Jn 10:5: “But a stranger they will not follow, but flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers,” which is likewise confirmed by everyday experience (cf. Fillion). Jn 10:6: “This proverb [παροιμίαν, מָשָׁל] Jesus spoke to them; but they did not understand what He was saying to them, or where the discourse was tending.” They did not understand that He was describing themselves; for since they were zealots of the Law and, as they thought, preceded others in the observance of the Law, and saw themselves honored by many as leaders and teachers, they by no means thought that the distinction between the shepherd and the thief, between the shepherd and the stranger, applied to them.

Jn 10:7–8 Christ declares what the allegory means in Jn 10:7: “Therefore Jesus said to them again, because they did not understand (cf. 9:39–41): Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.” Since Christ speaks of true and false shepherds (vv. 1 ff.), Jn 10:8 must be explained accordingly. The door to the sheep, the door by which one enters to the sheep, He explains again: that one attains to leadership and to ruling flocks only through Him, according to that saying: “Neither does anyone take the honor to himself, but he who is called by God” (Cyril and similarly Rupert, Cajetan, Barradius, Schogg, Scholz, Fillion). Others explain generally that through Christ both shepherds are appointed and the faithful are admitted into the Church (Augustine, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, Toletus, Cornelius à Lapide, Schegg), or they take it as referring only to the sheep who are introduced into the fold through Christ (cf. Theodoret of Mopsuestia, Euthymius, Bede, Jansenius). It is certainly true that Christ is the door for all, because He is the teacher and bestower of salvation through faith and grace. But in what sense He calls Himself the door here must be determined from the context of the discourse, which is clear enough from Jn 10:8. “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers; and the sheep did not listen to them.” These, therefore, did not enter through the door to the sheep (v. 1). “They came before Me” (Augustine: not sent by Me). For none of those who had come then and were tyrannizing in the fold had entered through Him, because they came not to preach and keep God’s word, but to deny and blaspheme the Son of God. And it is manifest that He spoke of those who were then present, because He used the present tense “are thieves and robbers,” not the past “were thieves.” Thus well explains Rupert, and the Fathers, Cornelius à Lapide, Scholz, Fillion, Weiss, Keil, and others teach that the words must be explained of the scribes and Pharisees. For these constituted themselves leaders by their own authority, burdened the people with human precepts and traditions (Matt. 23:4; Luke 11:46), kept them from faith in Christ, shutting the kingdom of heaven and not allowing others to enter (Matt. 23:13; Luke 11:52). He calls them thieves and robbers because those ruled by them were harassed and lying down like sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36). They are thieves because they crave their own advantages, even devouring widows’ houses, full of rapacity and avarice (Matt. 23:14, 25; Mark 12:40; Luke 16:14; Lk 20:47); robbers because they dominate others by force and tyranny (cf. John 2:2; Jn7:13; Jn 4:9; Jn 9:22, 34). “And the sheep did not listen to them” – certainly those who were truly Israelites clung to Jesus, notwithstanding the hatred, persecution, and calumny of the Pharisees and scribes. Thus the man born blind did not listen to them, did not obey them. By the force of the words, it is not necessary to include also false prophets and heretical teachers (Cyril, Jansenius, Scholz), although these certainly had not entered to the sheep through the door and truly were thieves. Before Jesus, no one claimed to be the Messiah; therefore the words cannot be drawn to pseudochrists (Toletus), nor to Theudas and Judas (Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius).

Jn 10:9–10 Moreover, as elsewhere (John 6:41, 48, 51), Jesus repeats the statement for emphasis: Jn 10:9: “I am the door. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.” As in Jn 10:8, so also in Jn 10:10, the discourse is certainly about thieves, i.e., about bad shepherds, about those who rule the flock badly. Therefore, even in Jn 10:9, the subject is not sheep in general, but shepherds. “The door” is therefore said in the same sense as in Jn 10:7, and “he who enters through the door” in the same sense as Jn 10:2. Sōthēsetai (“will be saved”), placed here before the rest, cannot be understood primarily of eternal salvation, but of security from dangers and divine protection; therefore he will escape unharmed, even if assailed in many ways. He will therefore safely go in and go out (the shepherd, namely, leading the sheep into the fold in the evening, bringing them out in the morning, as is stated similarly in Jn 10:3), and he will find wholesome pastures. Therefore, because they are called by Christ to feed the flock, i.e., they enter through Christ and are governed and led by His Spirit, they will have divine protection: “Do not be afraid, I have overcome the world, I am with you,” etc. These will look after the flock, which is expressed by the fact that they lead the sheep into the fold in the evening and bring them out in the morning to pasture, and they will never lack what they can provide for prosperity and safety. “He will find pasture”: Christ by His doctrine, graces, and sacraments abundantly supplies what enables them to teach, strengthen, and lead men to salvation. But he who does not enter, called by Christ, miserably harasses and ruins the flock, and seeks only his own advantage and lust. Jn 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” He who does not enter by the door is a thief (Jn 10:1; see Jn 10:8). He acts for the sake of shameful gain, that he may grow rich; he does not promote the flock’s welfare, but partly slaughters other sheep to inflict damage on the master of the flock out of hatred for him; he destroys, maims, kills. The damages described are spiritual: the destruction and ruin of souls which these thieves, these bad shepherds, effect in the Church of Christ, to whom the application is easily made, and who are presented to us in the very scribes and Pharisees as in a certain type. How the Pharisees steal and slaughter, see on v. 8; how they destroy, see Matt. 12:24; Mt 15:7–14; Mt 16:12; Mt 23:13–15, 34. They destroy by drawing the people away from faith in Jesus. But Jesus says: “I came that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.” He therefore bestows true life and all things abundantly that are required for preserving, promoting, and enriching this life, so that they may have perisson (περισσόν, abundance) – not only life, but something more, that they might be heaped with every kind of good. And this, which is more excellent or honorable and takes the place of an addition and accumulation, it is fitting to say is the most perfect participation of the Spirit (Cyril, similarly Maldonatus; see John 1:16; Jn 6:35, 58).

Alternative Interpretations Noted & Dismissed Not a few explain v. 9 of the sheep, i.e., of all the faithful: that Christ is the door through which all must enter into the Church and to the Lord’s flock (Theophylact, Euthymius, Rupert, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, Cajetan, Toletus, Maldonatus, Lapide, Cornelius à Lapide, Fillion). This is certainly true in itself, but the elegance of the discourse and the immediate context are lost. Moreover, “going in and going out” is taken in various ways. Barradius rightly conceives it of the shepherd who goes in before the sheep, goes out before them, leading them to pasture. Maldonatus also well: going in to the place where they lie down, going out to pasture. Others explain it from a Hebraism concerning the affairs and works of life, according to that saying: “The Lord will guard your coming in and your going out” (Ps. 120:8; cf. Deut. 31:2; 1 Sam 18:13; 2 Sam 3:25, etc.) (Jansenius, Toletus). Augustine proposes various things: “going in” is to think something interiorly, “going out” to work exteriorly; or “going in” is to live the temporal life, “going out” is to pass to eternal life. And in the same way, he explains “to have life” as life in faith, “to have it more abundantly” as eternal life in heaven, which many take the word “abundantly” to refer to (cf. Rupert, Bede, Thomas, Bonaventure, Cajetan). Since Christ says here generally “I am the door,” it might seem that He extends the notion to signify that He is the door both for shepherds and for sheep, as Augustine, Bede, and Schegg also conceive. But because of vv. 8 and 10, this explanation too is improbable, although it can certainly be fitted to the words.

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