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.
Other people claimed to fill the role of shepherds but they dared not pass through the gate which was the way by which the true shepherd came. The true shepherd was known by the gatekeeper because the Son came forth from the Father. It was safe to open this gate to this shepherd because, unlike others, he was neither a thief nor a robber. He did not shepherd for personal gain. One could even say that the self sacrificial style by which he gave himself to sheep was in some sense the gate that others dared not enter, as though the gate were the cross itself.
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 he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
Jesus accepted suffering and even the cross for the sake of his sheep. The Father received the offering of his Son and unlocked the blessings of life and salvation. It made it possible for the sheep to follow where the shepherd led, through the cross and into the pastures of eternal life. No wonder, then, that the sheep would only follow a familiar voice on this journey. A stranger, one who might be a thief or a robber, could not be trusted when they made imposing demands, since he probably made them for his own benefit. Yet Jesus was a shepherd who knew individual sheep and called them each by name. This was the voice that called Lazarus from the tomb and which Mary Magdalene recognized after the resurrection. Where others were not persuasive, this voice was utterly compelling.
But they will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him,
because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.
As Jesus implied, other voices do try to juxtapose themselves between us and our shepherd. They try to mislead and misdirect us so that they may use us for their own illicit gain. They do this by teaching doctrines that are false and ultimately by trying to lead us away from the narrow path proclaimed by Jesus. We are meant to know the voice of truth sufficiently that we are able to run from that of strangers when those strangers endanger our relationship with the shepherd.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
Jesus is both gate and shepherd because he is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the destination we seek and the path we take to seek it. Others in the time of Jesus and in our time try to lead the sheep in a direction that can only end in destruction. Whether they have thought things through this far, whether they even realize that they are thieves and robbers, or whether they are just proceeding to unreflectively seek there own self interest is somewhat beside the point. The point is rather to make sure we recognize that, compared to Jesus, they have nothing to offer.
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
The thieves and robbers promise something that superficially appears to be life but turns out to be death. Jesus offers something that looks at first to be death but turns out to be true and abundant life. We are meant to grow in our ability to recognize his voice, to grow in our trust of our shepherd so that he can lead us beyond our fears into the pastures of the blessed.
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
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