Year of the Bible
John 10
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Commentary on The Gospel According to St. John, Chapter 10:
Shepherding is a familiar image from Jewish Scripture and a common cultural setting that Jesus’ audience would know intimately. Jesus uses this familiar context to explain His relationship to His followers. He is the Good Shepherd to His followers the sheep. Jesus leads and speaks to His sheep so that they can recognize His voice and follow Him. He lays down His life to save His sheep from death. His flock includes sheep from another fold, which means non-Jews. Jesus has received this responsibility from His Father, but there are thieves and wolves who want to steal sheep and hurt the flock. This reality of good vs. evil is further illustrated when Jewish leaders want to stone and arrest Jesus despite His good works.
The Gospel According to St. John, Chapter 10:
Jesus the Good Shepherd
1 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber; 2 but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gate keeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them. 9 I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and 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. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees be cause he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd;* I know my own and my own know me, 15 as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father.”
19 There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them said, “He has a demon, and he is mad; why listen to him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the sayings of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
Jesus Is Rejected by the Jews
22 It was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem; 23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. 24 So the Jews gathered round him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me; 26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; 28 and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
31 The Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “We stone you for no good work but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35 If he called them gods to whom the word of God came (and Scripture cannot be nullified), 36 do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; 38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” 39 Again they tried to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands. 40 He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John at first baptized, and there he remained. 41 And many came to him; and they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” 42 And many believed in him there.
*Daily Lectio Divina Question:
“But you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (Jn. 10:26-27) The Jews did not believe what Jesus was saying because they “did not belong to His sheep,” they did not recognize the voice of the Lord when He spoke.
Lord, have I allowed You to train me to hear Your voice? Help me to recognize Your voice in my life today, that I might follow You as sheep follow their shepherd!
Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).
Permission to use the RSV-2CE given for Bishop's Year of the Bible by Ignatius Press. Many thanks to Ignatius for this. If you're looking for a good Catholic edition of the Bible, look no further
Juan 10
1 »En verdad, en verdad os digo: el
que no entra por la puerta del redil
de las ovejas, sino que salta por otra parte,
ése es un ladrón y un salteador. 2 Pero el que
entra por la puerta es pastor de las ovejas.
3 A éste le abre el portero y las ovejas
atienden a su voz, llama a sus propias
ovejas por su nombre y las conduce fuera.
4 Cuando las ha sacado todas, va delante
de ellas y las ovejas le siguen porque
conocen su voz. 5 Pero a un extraño
no le seguirán, sino que huirán de él porque
no conocen la voz de los extraños.
6 Jesús les propuso esta comparación,
pero ellos no entendieron qué era
lo que les decía.
7 Entonces volvió a decir Jesús:
–En verdad, en verdad os digo: yo
soy la puerta de las ovejas. 8 Todos cuantos
han venido antes que yo son ladrones
y salteadores, pero las ovejas no les
escucharon. 9 Yo soy la puerta; si alguno
entra a través de mí, se salvará; y entrará
y saldrá y encontrará pastos. 10 El ladrón
no viene sino para robar, matar y destruir.
Yo he venido para que tengan vida
y la tengan en abundancia.
11 »Yo soy el buen pastor. El buen
pastor da su vida por sus ovejas. 12 El
asalariado, el que no es pastor y al que
no le pertenecen las ovejas, ve venir el
lobo, abandona las ovejas y huye –y el
lobo las arrebata y las dispersa–, 13 porque
es asalariado y no le importan las
ovejas. 14 Yo soy el buen pastor, conozco
las mías y las mías me conocen. 15 Como
el Padre me conoce a mí, así yo conozco
al Padre, y doy mi vida por las ovejas.
16 Tengo otras ovejas que no son de
este redil, a ésas también es necesario
que las traiga, y oirán mi voz y formarán
un solo rebaño, con un solo pastor.
17 Por eso me ama el Padre, porque doy
mi vida para tomarla de nuevo. 18 Nadie
me la quita, sino que yo la doy libremente.
Tengo potestad para darla y tengo
potestad para recuperarla. Éste es el
mandato que he recibido de mi Padre.
19 Se produjo de nuevo una disensión
entre los judíos a causa de estas palabras.
20 Muchos de ellos decían:
–Está endemoniado y loco, ¿por qué
le escucháis?
21 Otros decían:
–Cosas así no las dice uno que está
endemoniado. ¿Es que puede un demonio
abrir los ojos de los ciegos?
22 Se celebraba por aquel tiempo en
Jerusalén la fiesta de la Dedicación.
Era invierno. 23 Paseaba Jesús por el Templo,
en el pórtico de Salomón. 24 Entonces le rodearon
los judíos y comenzaron a decirle:
–¿Hasta cuándo nos vas a tener en
vilo? Si tú eres el Cristo, dínoslo claramente.
25 Les respondió Jesús:
–Os lo he dicho y no lo creéis; las
obras que hago en nombre de mi Padre
son las que dan testimonio de mí. 26 Pero
vosotros no creéis porque no sois de mis
ovejas. 27 Mis ovejas escuchan mi voz, yo
las conozco y me siguen. 28 Yo les doy
vida eterna; no perecerán jamás y nadie
las arrebatará de mi mano. 29 Mi Padre,
que me las dio, es mayor que todos; y
nadie puede arrebatarlas de la mano del
Padre. 30 Yo y el Padre somos uno.
31 Los judíos recogieron otra vez piedras
para lapidarle. 32 Jesús les replicó:
–Os he mostrado muchas obras
buenas de parte del Padre, ¿por cuál de
ellas queréis lapidarme?
33 –No queremos lapidarte por ninguna
obra buena, sino por blasfemia; y
porque tú, siendo hombre, te haces Dios
–le respondieron los judíos.
34 Jesús les contestó:
–¿No está escrito en vuestra Ley: Yo
dije: «Sois dioses»? 35 Si llamó dioses a
quienes se dirigió la palabra de Dios, y
la Escritura no puede fallar, 36 ¿a quien
el Padre santificó y envió al mundo, decís
vosotros que blasfema porque dije
que soy Hijo de Dios? 37 Si no hago las
obras de mi Padre, no me creáis; 38 pero
si las hago, creed en las obras, aunque
no me creáis a mí, para que conozcáis
y sepáis que el Padre está en mí y yo en
el Padre.
39 Intentaban entonces prenderlo
otra vez, pero se escapó de sus manos.
40 Y se fue de nuevo al otro lado del Jordán,
donde Juan bautizaba al principio,
y allí se quedó. 41 Y muchos acudieron a
él y decían:
–Juan no hizo ningún signo, pero
todo lo que Juan dijo de él era verdad.
42 Y muchos allí creyeron en él.
Pregunta de Lectio Divina del día de hoy
“Pero vosotros no creéis por que no sois de mis ovejas. Mis ovejas escuchan mi voz, Yo las conozco y me siguen.” (Jn. 10:26-27) Los judíos no creían lo que Jesús estaba diciendo porque ellos “no eran de sus ovejas,” ellos no reconocieron la voz del Señor cuándo habló. Señor, ¿te He permitido que me entrenes para oír tu voz? ¡Ayúdame hoy a reconocer Tu voz en mi vida, para que yo te siga como las ovejas siguen a su pastor!
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