The Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 30, 2023

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 the shepherd 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, the Pharisees 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.”

The Gospel Reading for today’s Mass follows St. John’s record of the Lord’s healing of the man born blind in Jerusalem.  In his account, John does not tell us that the Lord spoke to the Pharisees, but that they spoke to the blind man and even to his parents in order to discredit the miracle.  Immediately after the blind man recognized Jesus and understood that he was the Son of God, he prostrated himself and adored him.  Jesus then said, “For judgment I am come into this world: that they who see not may see; and they who see may become blind” (John 9, 39).  To this, some Pharisees who were nearby, retorted, “Are we also blind?”  To which the Lord replied, “If you were blind, you should not have sin: but now you say: We see. Your sin remains.”  At this point today’s Reading commences, with Jesus declaring, “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.”  He is challenging the Pharisees as “the teachers of Israel” (cf. John 3, 10) who have usurped “the chair of Moses” (cf. Matthew 23, 2) though they were not duly appointed by any legitimate authority.  But the Lord Jesus shows that he does possess such authority through the many signs he has performed that show that he has come from God.  To make this clear, he uses a metaphor drawn from everyday life that all people could agree on: the shepherd goes through the sheep gate but those who would steal sheep would have to go over the fence.  They would not attempt to enter through the gate because the gatekeeper would raise the alarm and the thieves would be beaten off.  The Lord is saying that the shepherd goes to the proper entrance, which is opened for him to enter.  He does not go over the fence.  This is the Lord who comes openly to his people in order to lead them to pasture.  

“The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”  Sheep as well as other farm animals become excited when they see, hear, or smell the one who customarily feeds them coming towards them, and they even know the times when he comes so that they become agitated if he does not.  They run toward him and cry out in their excitement.  These are the believers who rejoice to go to Holy Mass, to read the Scriptures, to learn about the Faith, and to pray.  “When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.”  “Driven out” should be “brought forth”, according to the Greek, a very different meaning: “When he has brought out all his own, etc.”  The shepherd walks ahead to lead the sheep to the pasture where he wants them to eat that day, and the sheep know from experience that they will eat well if they follow him.  They do not go out grudgingly or have to be “driven out”, but follow after him gladly.  “But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”  If two shepherds mix their flocks together in the same pasture, as sometimes happens, and one shepherd calls to his sheep, his own sheep will leave the rest behind and follow him.  The other sheep do not even look up when the shepherd calls.  Each shepherd, of course, has his own voice, but he also uses a certain whistle or grunt or other sound which belongs to him alone and his sheep know it very well.  We might think here of how Mary Magdalene recognized the risen Jesus when he called her name.  She did not recognize his form or his voice, but she did know the way he spoke her name.  Only he ever spoke her name the way he did, and when she heard it, she knew the “gardener” could only be Jesus.  We will thus be called by name when we leave this life if we persevere in the Faith.

“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.”  The Lord did not often explain his parables and metaphors unless he was asked, but he wanted the Pharisees to understand exactly what he meant.  The phrase “before me” is not found in the Greek but is understood.  A literal translation of this verse is: “All others, as many as came, are thieves and robbers: and the sheep heard them not.”  We might wonder about these “others”.  These would have been false messiahs and rebels.  The Lord could also be alluding to the chief priests and the Sanhedrin, who were widely distrusted by the people for their corruption.  By contrast, he himself had drawn such crowds as threatened to crush him with their numbers.  When word of his approach spread in any area, people dropped what they were doing and hurried to him.  The jealousy of the Pharisees, the chief priests, and Sanhedrin of his widespread following had much to do with their eagerness to kill him.  If a thief is going to steal a flock, he will have to kill the shepherd.

“I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.”  The Lord has identified himself as the shepherd who leads the sheep to pasture, and he now identifies himself as the gate through which the sheep must pass.  That is, he is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14, 6).  He is the only way to the pasture where the sheep will graze.  (And he is the Food that they will eat, as well).  

“A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”  The Lord draws up the distinction between himself and any other who would claim his prerogatives as the Son of God who has come down from heaven to save his people.  These thieves include not only the flock’s enemies from the outside, but those among the Shepherd’s assistants who scheme to seize the flock and exploit them for their own purposes: to “slaughter and destroy” them.  These include heretics and any in the Church who contest the Church’s teachers and propose false teachings in their stead, and attempt to lead the faithful astray.  But those who know the Church’s teachings are like the sheep who know their shepherd’s voice and do not follow strangers.

The Lord teaches the Pharisees in this way not in order to antagonize them but in order to convince them to look hard at themselves and at what they were doing so that they might repent and be saved.  Several Pharisees, including Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, did.