Page 221 - Demo

JOHN 
7* So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8* All who came [before me] are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and nd pasture. 10A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. 11I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.c 12A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them.d 13This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.e 16I have other sheep* that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one ock, one shepherd.f 17This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.g 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.* This command I have received from my Father.”h
19Again there was a division among the Jews because of these words.i 20Many of them said, “He is possessed and out of his mind; why listen to him?”j 21Others said, “These are not the words of one possessed; surely a demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?”k Feast of the Dedication. 22The feast of the Dedication* was then taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter.l 23* And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. 24So the Jews gathered
around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in *m25
suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you* and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me.n 26But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep.o 27My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand.p 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,* and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.q 30* The Father and I are one.”r
10:1
In this discourse, Jesus emphasizes mutual knowledge and recognition. The sheep follow the good shepherd “because they recognize his voice” (10:4), because they know him as
a friend and not a stranger. And Jesus, the shepherd, will stay with his sheep, even die for them, because he knows them even as he knows his Father. We are completely known and completely loved.
c. [10:11] Ps 23:1–4; Is 40:11; 49:9–10; Heb 13:20; Rev 7:17.
d. [10:12] Zec 11:17.
e. [10:15] 15:13; 1 Jn 3:16.
f. [10:16] 11:52; Is 56:8; Jer 23:3; Ez 34:23; 37:24; Mi 2:12.
g. [10:17] Heb 10:10.
h. [10:18] 19:11.
i. [10:19] 7:43; 9:16.
j. [10:20] 7:20; 8:48.
k. [10:21] 3:2.
l. [10:22] 1 Mc 4:54, 59.
m. [10:24] Lk 22:67.
n. [10:25] 8:25 / 5:36; 10:38.
o. [10:26] 8:45, 47.
p. [10:28] Dt 32:39.
q. [10:29] Wis 3:1; Is 43:13.
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* [10:8] [Before me]: these words are omitted in many good early manuscripts and versions. * [10:16] Other sheep: the Gentiles, possibly a reference to “God’s dispersed children” of Jn 11:52 destined to be gathered into one, or “apostolic Christians” at odds with the
community of the beloved disciple.
* [10:18] Power to take it up again: contrast the role of the Father as the e cient cause
of the resurrection in Acts 2:24; 4:10; etc.; Rom 1:4; 4:24. Yet even here is added: This
command I have received from my Father.
* [10:22] Feast of the Dedication: an eight-day festival of lights (Hebrew, Hanukkah)
held in December, three months after the feast of Tabernacles (Jn 7:2), to celebrate the Maccabees’ rededication of the altar and reconsecration of the temple in 164 B.C., after their desecration by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (Dn 8:13; 9:27; cf. 1 Mc 4:36–59; 2 Mc 1:18– 2:19; 10:1–8).
* [10:23] Portico of Solomon: on the east side of the temple area, o ering protection against the cold winds from the desert.
* [10:24] Keep us in suspense: literally, “How long will you take away our life?” Cf. Jn 11:48– 50. If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly: cf. Lk 22:67. This is the climax of Jesus’ encounters with the Jewish authorities. There has never yet been an open confession before them.
* [10:25] I told you: probably at Jn 8:25 which was an evasive answer.
* [10:29] The textual evidence for the rst clause is very divided; it may also be translated: “As for the Father, what he has given me is greater than all,” or “My Father is greater than
all, in what he has given me.”