John 10:1-10 (NRSV)
“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
7 So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
John 10:1-10, part of a segment that extends to verse 21, is the aftermath of Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles with the theme of Jesus as sheepgate and shepherd. It occurs between the Feast of Tabernacles in September to October and the Feast of Dedication in December. The segment looks forward to the transition to the Feast of Dedication in 10:26-27. John envisions the same audience as that of Chapter 9, namely, the Pharisees.[1]
This section is a figurative attack on the Pharisees. Thus, the theme of attacking Jewish authorities continues from Chapter 9. In verses 1-5, we have a parable. In referring to the thief and bandit, who sneak into the sheep by another gate, the parable refers to the Pharisees. It refers to the morning task of the shepherd, who in the morning will lead the sheep to pasture. It refers to the bond between shepherd and sheep. In fact, it exaggerates the bond by saying that this shepherd has a name for each of the sheep. In verse 6, they do not understand the meaning of the parable. In verses 7-10, we have an explanation of the parable. The gate is Jesus. The point is that anyone else who claims to lead the people and does enter through Jesus is someone to whom the sheep must not listen. We can think of the false messiahs of the first century, even as we might think of false leaders throughout history. The warning offered is to leaders; for they must be sure they lead because they have listened to Jesus. Yet, the warning is also for the sheep, who need to discern the voice of the Good Shepherd. We can think of modern Pharisees who may be quite “spiritual” but seek to lead the people of God down a wrong path. However, the passage challenges us with an implied question. Do we accept the revelation of God in Jesus? Do we turn aside to another supposed revelation? As we become increasingly knowledgeable of ways to live that are not consistent with that of Jesus, this question becomes a struggle for us at some point. If we say Yes to Jesus, we will receive pasture and abundant life. Yet, our Yes is not a one-time matter. As the challenges of various stages of our lives come toward us, we will need to keep saying Yes. Thieves and robbers will lead to death, while Jesus has come to bring life.
Are we to assume a single parable or several interplaying ones? Do allegorical features play a part right from the start? To what extent does the discourse represent a development in line with the writer’s purpose and his theological perspective? The elements of this figurative discourse are: the shepherd, the sheep and the “own” sheep respectively, the door, the doorkeeper, the thieves and robbers, the strangers.
John 10: 1-5 contain a parable. “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The Council of Trent (DS, 1769) used this verse for the notion that only bishops had the right of confirmation and ordination, thereby making Luther and those appointed by him thieves and robbers.[2] 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. There is a proper way to approach the sheep, namely through the gate opened by the keeper. The emphasis is on the Pharisees being thieves and robbers. In the witness of John, his claim to unity with the Father, and to a present inbreaking of the divine rule for those who receive his message, met with the response of an accusation of blasphemy.[3] He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” There is a close relationship between sheep and shepherd. The proceedings such as the text presents in the narrative take place in the morning, when shepherds lead the sheep out to pasture. It explains local conditions in a variety of ways, which can be resolved into two. One, what we are dealing with is a sheepfold, such as one erects at pasture-time out in the open, outside the village. The shepherds have their camp nearby, and a man adjoins, a house, and a wall protects it. People knowledgeable in Palestinian conditions divide in their judgments. To go by linguistic usage, the door more likely signifies a yard, one that abuts on another building. What may well lend support to this view is the apparent fact that the writer here has in mind several owners of small flocks who jointly pen their sheep in a secure yard, having first engaged someone to watch over them. One cannot rule out the joint penning of several small flocks in a large fold situated out in the open. The gate can equally well denote a simple entrance to a fold as the door set in a solid wall. However, one might prefer the second possibility inasmuch as the gatekeeper fits in better thereby. The shepherd comes early in the morning to the entrance to the fold and the gatekeeper admits him. He calls and attracts his own sheep, but he must assist some so that all come out. Having left the fold, the shepherd positions himself at the head of the column. He leads his sheep, and they follow him because they know his voice. Along with the polemical emphases in v. 1-2, and v. 5, one can discern another tendency. One is to underline the bond between the shepherd and the sheep. In this connection, there comes to our attention a feature that does not altogether square with reality. The shepherd calls his own sheep. Now the shepherd certainly used to give names to some sheep as suggested by physical traits. He did not do this for all of them. Even in the case of small flocks, this would scarcely be conceivable. The subject matter itself brings this exaggeration home to us. Noteworthy is the fact that both these tendencies dominate the subsequent Christological imagery as well. The polemical resistance evinced towards those others who represent a threat to the well-being of the flock and the positive elaboration of the factors making for the welfare of the sheep evidently decides its arrangement. In respect of the I am words, their repetition marks on both occasions the transition from a harmful aspect to one of well-being.
John 10:6 contains the reaction to the parable. 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
John 10:7-10 explain the meaning of “gate” in the parable, where Jesus is the gate. 7 So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. The door-word shows at the same time that, because of the self-revelation of Jesus, all other claimants are usurpers through their conviction of a false claim to being saviors. So long as Jesus, the shepherd, has his function as door, every illegitimate claim in respect of revelation, leadership and the bringing of salvation falls to pieces when it encounters him. There is but one entrance to the sheep, and Jesus occupies it. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. Jesus is the gate whereby the shepherd approaches the sheep. The bandits are Pharisees, rather than false messiahs. It has to do with people claiming leadership on false messianic or religious grounds. The precise identification of characters under attack in the polemic is a difficult matter. The shift in phraseology could be conditioned upon the pattern of images and the orientation of what is being said and does not oblige us to hold that different groups of characters are envisaged. The passages introduce thieves and robbers, branding them as destructive persons that came before Jesus, no longer classified as strangers whom the sheep will not follow in future. The hireling is the very opposite of the good shepherd, to characterize and typify those that care nothing for the sheep. Consequently, we need to allow considerable scope for the identity of those characters who are stigmatized and set in opposition to the shepherd. As the writer sees it, individuals and groups from the past enter the picture just as much as false claimants to reference to Judaism’s ruling circles in the time of Jesus but also in that of the writer is intimated in advance. One can also envision false claimants to the title of Messiah. Nor would a rejection of Zealot aspirations be out of the question. We cannot altogether rule out the notion of Hellenistic savior figures. As for Gnostic conceptions about redemption, their exclusion from the pastoral discourses of John becomes evident only when one detects an exchange of ideas. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. Jesus now offers pasture, just as before he offered water and bread. This is opposed to the slaughter the bandits will bring. He reaffirms that the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. In contrast, Jesus has come that people may have abundant life.
Jesus is the gate or door. Jesus is the way or path. Christians are people who think that, of all the possible ways that one might get to God, the best and most sure way is Jesus. In the Jew Jesus of Nazareth, who lived briefly, died violently, and rose unexpectedly, we have our way to God. The image is humble, for if he is the door through which we enter, he is not the destination but the way to the end. Of course, the door is important. The door tells the outside much about what goes on inside. He is the door that tells us much about the house, for he tells us all that we can hope to know about who God is. In the mouth of some Christians, declaring Jesus as the door, the gate, the way, it can sound arrogant and unbearably exclusivist. It can sound as if we are incredibly brilliant people who recognize this door and walk through it. Rather, our perspective could be closer to the humility of Jesus if we acknowledge that people like us, so full of pride, so lazy in spiritual matters, and so prone to lying to self and others, discovered Jesus as the door, the gate, the opening, the way, through which we have come close to God. We cannot imagine any other way to God than in the loving, compassionate, suffering, self-sacrificial way that was the way of Jesus. Other people attempted to save others by raising an army, by starting a revolution, by overthrowing government, by coercion violence, or military might. Jesus saves through the words of his preaching and teaching and his sacrificial action of love. Those who move through this door, the gate, and choose this way, desire Jesus to be the criterion or model of their life choices. It will take a lifetime to discover what such salvation, such finding of pasture, such abundant life, will look like in our lives. As we keep coming back to this door/gate, we steadily realize that it relativizes all political and economic ideology, for this door does not demand that we accept an ideology or worldview in order to enter. This door gives us the freedom to learn from all such systems. We refuse to set up an idol of our systems so that they become our door, gate, or way. We exercise great care, for we can so easily impose our political, economic, and ethical proclivities upon this door. Such an act is a matter of projecting onto this door, this Jesus, our image, ideas, opinions, and desires. In doing so, we have at least valued Jesus enough to want him to endorse our ideas and we may even imagine that our ideas have come directly from Jesus. The point is that we can be grateful that Jesus did not present his followers with a detailed political, economic, or moral system. We can freely engage the uniqueness of this historical moment without the prison that human intellectual systems can become.[4]
We can lead lives in which we will experience the safety of entering by the gate, hearing the voice of the shepherd, and find pasture. We can lead the abundant life. John is affirming the human desire for a happy life, even if he challenges our conception of happiness or the path to get there. We only live once, so we want a significant life, an exciting life, and a life that has a meaningful end. Sadly, some people will use the notion of only having one life as justification for living superficially, grabbing for the all the gusto one can, and wasting the one life they have. For some people, each day is like an amusement ride. It does not have to take you anywhere to be wonderful.
An incredibly large percentage of people are unhappy with their jobs. They do not like their lives, and certainly do not view it as an abundant life. Job satisfaction has little to do with salary, responsibilities, and possibilities for advancement. The millionaire sports star can be unhappy and the janitor in the stadium can be happy. A marketing executive earning a quarter of a million a year can be unhappy and the waitress who serves him coffee can be happy. In general, the difference is the relationships formed on the job, both between manager and employee, but also with other employees. Such relationships are the difference between having your dream job and having it become a soul-sucking nightmare. One example of vocational hell is anonymity. People sense they have their unique personality and gifts that they want honored and respected in the workplace. Receiving such recognition from one in authority as well as colleagues is a powerful source of fulfillment in the job. A second example is the irrelevance of what one is doing, that the job matters to someone. Someone can replace us, of course, but we want to know someone would miss what we do if we were gone. A third example is some objective criteria that gauges our progress and the contribution we make. The point here is that purely subjective opinion or the politics of the workplace do not tend to contribute to satisfaction. Misery on the job tends to spill over into other aspects of life, such as personal health, addictions, and broken relationships.[5]
We want satisfaction in something as important as our jobs. However, if you have decided to follow Jesus, your primary vocation is to learn what it means to be a Christian. We may wrestle at various stages of our lives with what that means. I want to offer some signs of living your life abundantly as a follower of Jesus.
First, you have a relationship with the shepherd of the sheep. The shepherd knows you. The shepherd calls you by name and leads you. As part of the flock, other sheep recognize you and value you. You are far from anonymous.
Second, your vocation is to witness to the saving of human life by having a relationship with the shepherd and joining other sheep. This mission matters. Having an abundant life is larger than the immediate concerns of job, family, and friendships. Abundant life is the fruit of connecting with a larger purpose of our lives. We have a reason to be here, connected to the purposes God has for the world.
Third, gauging the relevance of our vocation involves prayerful consideration of how well have represented Jesus in our word and deed this day. We prayerfully consider whether our beliefs and values represent Jesus, whether our work performance has represented Jesus, and whether our relationships in family, with friends, and the community represent Jesus.
Our vocation as Christians is not an easy one, but it is working at it patiently, enduringly, and lovingly can contribute to our experiencing an abundant life.
[1] Contrary to some scholars, we do not need to reconstruct the text in order to give it a better chronological sequence.
[2] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 400.
[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 337.
[4] Inspired by and working against William Willimon, The Door, Pulpit Resource, 2005.
[5] Lencioni, Patrick. The Three Signs of a Miserable Job. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007.
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