1-41 CHAPTER 10 VER. 1. _Verily, verily_ (that is in truth, most truly and most assuredly), _I say unto you, He that entereth not_, &c. He puts forth this parable to show who He is, and who are His rivals and adversaries. The occasion for it was because the Pharisees had cast out of the synagogue fo... [ Continue Reading ]
_But he that entereth_, &c. By the door S. Chrysostom understands the Holy Scriptures. "For these," he says, "lay open the knowledge of God, protect the sheep, drive away wolves, by precluding access to heretics." So also Theophylact, Leontius, and Euthymius. And also Theodorus of Heraclea (_in Cat_... [ Continue Reading ]
_This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they knew not what things they were which he snake unto them._ In the Greek _παζοιμίον_, _a similitude, proverb._ (See note on Proverbs 1:5.) The Pharisees and Jews, against whom He launched it (and the apostles also), did not understand it, as being involved... [ Continue Reading ]
_The thief cometh not_, &c. He shows what is the end and aim of him whom before He called a thief, and what on the contrary was His own. The thief and robber of the sheep, as for instance a heretic or schismatic, a Scribe or Pharisee, or especially a false-Christ, comes to carry off the sheep (_i.e.... [ Continue Reading ]
. _am the good Shepherd_, &c. I, the one only Prince of Shepherds, who will lay down My life for My sheep, to redeem them by My death from death, and confer on them both present and eternal life. Neither prophets, nor apostles, nor any one else could do this. For though they were slain for the sake... [ Continue Reading ]
_The hireling fleeth because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep._ As though it were said directly, he who loves not the sheep, but worldly gain, cannot stand firm when the sheep are in danger. For while he is aiming at honour, and rejoicing in worldly gain, he is afraid of exposing hims... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am the good shepherd, and know My sheep._ Christ knows His sheep not merely with the watchful and tender eyes of His Godhead (as 8. Cyril says), but also with the eyes of His manhood (for it is as man that He is the Pastor of His Church). He knows who are His faithful ones, what are their gifts,... [ Continue Reading ]
_As the Father knoweth Me_, &c. By this comparison Christ points out both the origin and also the greatness of the love which He bestows on His sheep. The boundless knowledge and love which exists between the Father and Myself, is the source of the love which exists between Myself and My faithful on... [ Continue Reading ]
_And other sheep I have_, &c. _Other sheep, i.e._, those who will be My sheep. This is spoken by anticipation. He means the Gentiles, and thus predicts their call and conversion, to show that He was to be the King and Shepherd of all nations, just as up to this time He had been of the Jews: and that... [ Continue Reading ]
_No one taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself._ For though the Jews are about to slay Me by force, yet this force of theirs would not avail against Me, unless I allow it of My own accord. And again, "Though I allow it, yet it is still in My power to die, or not to die. For by My Godhead I c... [ Continue Reading ]
_And many of them said_, &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Others said_, &c. For he is proud as Lucifer, and instigated by him, He calls God His Father and makes Himself the Son of God. He is thoroughly mad in saying that he lays down His life of Himself, though we see that He is alive, and no one does so except by compulsion. Moreover, Christ did not rep... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then came the Jews_, &c. How long dost thou keep us in suspense? We wish to see the Messiah, and hope that Thou wilt declare Thyself to be He. They pretend this, in order to draw a confession from Christ, on which to accuse Him. For as says S. Augustine, "They do not desire the truth, but are getti... [ Continue Reading ]
_But ye believe not,_ &c. Ye will not submit to Me as your Shepherd, and accept Me as your Messiah. But ye rather wish Me to submit Myself to you, and to be My superiors, censors, and calumniators. It is ambition which makes you grudge Me the headship of the Church; and that ye refuse to believe Me.... [ Continue Reading ]
_My Father which gave them Me is greater than all_ (the Vulgate and Latin fathers read " _majus_," the Greek fathers _μείξων_), _and no one is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand_. Because the Divine Nature which the Father gave Me, and its almighty power, is greater than all created beings,... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Jews therefore look up stones to stone Him_, as a blasphemer. The Jews show in this their hypocrisy, malignity, and hatred of Christ, and that they did not honestly, but craftily and insidiously, ask Him whether He were the Christ. But Christ as being God kept them from casting on Him the stone... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 32. _Jesus answered_, &c. He replied not to the words, for none had been spoken, but to the crafty intention of the Jews. He answered, _i.e._, He asked them for what cause do ye wish to stone Me? By works He means the miracles which He had wrought by the authority and supernatural aid of God th... [ Continue Reading ]
_And went away again beyond Jordan, into the place where John at first baptized._ In Bethabara, or Bethania, where Christ was baptized by him. He afterwards baptized in Ænon (see Joh 3:23), frequently shifting His abode. He went through other districts of Jordan, He withdrew to Bethabara, that the p... [ Continue Reading ]
_And many believed on Him_, for doubtless, as S. Augustine says, "they apprehended Him when He was tarrying with them, and not as the Jews wished to apprehend Him, as He was going away. Let us therefore by the lamp attain to the day; for John was a lamp, and bore witness to the day." . Used in a lo... [ Continue Reading ]