Monday in the Fourth Week of Easter, May 9, 2022

John 10, 1-10

Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.  So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” 

I mentioned last week that I attended a convocation for the priests of the Diocese of Arlington.  Every year, soon after Easter, the bishop has us gather at a particular site in order to hear talks given by a professor or bishop on some subject of interest.  Usually we go to a hotel in Pennsylvania.  In order to keep the parishes staffed, half the priests go to the Monday through Wednesday morning session and half go to the Wednesday afternoon through Friday morning one.  The bishop usually attends both.  This also gives us a chance to see and spend time with friends and colleagues we have not seen in a while.  A free afternoon affords some of us the chance to play golf and some of us the chance to work on our translations of St. Albert the Great’s commentary on Matthew.  The topic of the talks this year was on the Holy Eucharist.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.”  The Lord Jesus continues to teach how he is the Good Shepherd.  He provides a “sheepfold” or shelter for his sheep, which is enclosed by a fence and entered through a gate.  We can think of his “fence” as his commandments, which keep his sheep safe from the devil.  Those who climb over the fence despise the commandments of God.  They are the wicked and heretics.  They seek to steal eternal life from the sheep.  “But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.”  Christ the Good Shepherd enters the sheepfold in order to lead his sheep to the pastures of life in heaven.  “The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out to the pastures of life in heaven.  “The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”  The Father, who has given these sheep to the Good Shepherd, is the “gatekeeper”.  He calls them by name from the Book of Life: “And the books were opened: and another book was opened, which was the book of life. And the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works . . . and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the pool of fire” (Revelation 20, 12 and 15).  

“When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.”  They recognize his voice as the voice of one who loves them: “Behold my beloved speaks to me: Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come, for winter is now past, the rain is over and gone” (Song of Songs 2, 10-11).  “But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”. The voice of “strangers” says, “All these will I give you, if falling down you will adore me” (Matthew 4, 9).  

“Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.”  The Apostle John carefully notes here that the Lord was using a figure of speech, and when the people failed to understand him, he modified his approach.  This is very different from John’s telling of the Bread of Life teaching.  John clearly does not say that the Lord was using a figure of speech when he told the crowd that they must eat his Body and drink his Blood.  And even though the people did not understand at first what he was saying to them, the Lord repeated himself over and over without trying a different approach.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep.”  The Lord solemnly declares that he is the gate for the sheep — the “way of the sheep, for he is the way, the truth, and the life of us all.  There is no other gate, no other way.  “All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.”  The thieves and robbers he speaks of here were the rebels who waged guerrilla war and conducted terrorism against the Romans and their Jewish collaborators before and during his lifetime.  The historian Josephus speaks of five of these in particular, among them Judas the Galilean and one simply called “the Egyptian”.  Those who followed these men looked not for an eternal kingdom but for an earthly one.  Those seeking God’s will gravitated to John the Baptist rather than these, and then came to Jesus.  “I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.”  We should try to imagine the shock that the crowd must have been feeling as the Lord Jesus taught this doctrine to them.  No one had ever spoken like this.  Who was this who could say these things?  Only the fact of his miracles kept these people from walking away.  “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”  That is, he came to die for us so that we might have life and have it more abundantly.  The life he gives us is not some ordinary life, and not even merely eternal life, but eternal life in heaven.  He leads us not to a land where we can be free from slavery, but to a land flowing with milk and honey — to the sweetness of the full experience of his love.