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THE GOOD SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP GATE

The sheep pen metaphorically indicates the holy place of Israel, the Temple of Jerusalem, or its vestibule, which represents and symbolizes theocratic Judaism; while the shepherd of the sheep, he who enters through the door, it is Jesus, new Shepherd of Israel, that, effectively, he presented himself at the Temple in Jerusalem, to reveal himself to the Jews during the Feast of Tabernacles.

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The liturgy reserves a privileged place for the figure of the Good Shepherd on the Fourth Sunday of Easter. The whole Tradition conveys the fundamental idea that Christ is the savior of the sheep, since Jesus leads his followers beyond death, towards heavenly pastures, in the Father's house. The passage reported below expresses this tension which is both soteriological and Christological.

"In truth, verily I tell you: whoever does not enter the sheepfold through the door, but it comes up from another side, he is a thief and a brigand. Who instead enters the door, he is a shepherd of the sheep. The guardian opens the door and the sheep listen to his voice: he calls his sheep, each by name, and leads them out. And when he drove out all his sheep, walk before being, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. However, they will not follow a stranger, but they will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers". Jesus told them this simile, but they did not understand what he was talking to them about. Then Jesus said to them again: "In truth, verily I tell you: I am the door of the sheep. All those who came before me, they are thieves and brigands; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door: Whoever enters through me, will be saved; He will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance" (GV 10,1-10).

To better grasp the scope of the text, it is necessary to insert it into the large section of the fourth Gospel to which it belongs, that goes from GV 7,1 until Gv l0.42. These four chapters constitute the center of Jesus' public life, the culmination of his revelation to the world, in the Temple of Jerusalem. The thematic unity of this section is evident: Jesus reveals himself to the world (cf.. 7,4), but he is continually in controversy with "the Jews". A theme from the prologue returns that reaches here, regarding the public life of Jesus, its discriminating point: «He came to his own and his own did not welcome him» (GV 1,11).

First of all, what is this "sheep pen"?. In the Greek Bible it is often metaphorically associated with areas involving the Temple. Let's also add that, already in the AT, the term "sheep", it is often used in a simply allegorical sense to designate the people of Israel (This 34,31; Gives 23,1). The words in our verse would therefore evoke a situation similar to that of Shall 100,3-4 (LXX):

«Recognize that only the Lord is God: he made us and we are his, his people and flock of his pasture. Enter its doors with hymns of thanks, its halls with songs of praise, praise him, bless his name".

In Gv l0.1 the sheep enclosure metaphorically indicates the holy place of Israel, the Temple of Jerusalem, or its vestibule, which represents and symbolizes theocratic Judaism; while the shepherd of the sheep, he who enters through the door, it is Jesus, new Shepherd of Israel, that, effectively, he presented himself at the Temple in Jerusalem, to reveal himself to the Jews during the Feast of Tabernacles (GV 7,14).

They are veiled allusions, ma precise, that Jesus, according to St. John, he is doing regarding his mission and they mix both figurative elements together, and references to historical situations, with the aim of making people understand the value and quality of his messiahship. He is not a thief or a brigand — the same Greek term will be used to identify Barabbas in the passion story, defined by Matteo as a "famous" prisoner (Mt 27,16) — Jesus is not a rioter or rebel interested in violent liberation from Roman domination, in order to establish a Jewish power that was both political and religious. Instead he entered the Temple the normal way, during the Feast of Tabernacles; he presented himself legitimately to the Jewish people to reveal himself to them as their Shepherd, like the true Messiah. In the chapter. 10 of Saint John Jesus adopts figurative language, enigmatic, yet the teaching remains essentially the same: still always has as its object the messianic mission of Jesus.

The second verse of the passage is even more theologically relevant: "He (the Shepherd) calls his sheep, each by name, and leads them out". All the sheep in the pen, the Jews, they were able to know the word of Jesus (cf.. GV 18,20), but only some of them became "his sheep", that is, those that were given to him by the Father (v. 29; cf.. 6,37.39). By virtue of this gift, Jesus will be able to say that I am "in his hand" (v.28); for the same reason again, at the Last Supper, he will be able to consider the disciples as "his own" (GV 13,1). This predisposition on the part of the Father corresponds to a call on the part of Jesus: «He calls his sheep, each by name". It is the first act of the constitution of a new flock by Jesus.

His sheep, the Shepherd "lets them out" of the enclosure. The verb used here by the evangelist is the technical term from the vocabulary of Exodus: God "brought his people out of Egypt"., the children of Israel (It is 3.10; 6,27); the same way later, at the time of the second Exodus, he will "bring them out" from among the peoples (This 34,13). The idea evoked by this word is clear: «let out», it means freeing from slavery. It is considerable and at the same time tragic, that this term, a time used to indicate the end of captivity, must now be used against Israel itself; since his eyes have not been opened to the true light of the messianic times and therefore the Messiah Jesus himself must now "bring out" his sheep, as once from Egypt.

But to grasp all the implications of this idea in the general economy of the life of Jesus, it must be connected to the previous story, that of the man born blind, in which it had already been formulated. For this man of the people, Jesus at the beginning was just a stranger (GV 9,11). Ma, after healing, during the controversy with the Jews, he progressively discovers a prophet in him (v. 17), a messenger of God (v.33), the Son of man (vv. 35-37), thus becoming the very type of the believer. The Jews, instead, who believed themselves to be so clairvoyant in religious matters, they have become totally blind to the light of the world (vv. 39-4l). Now, noting the former blind man's attachment to Jesus, "they threw him out" (GV 9,34). This is when discrimination takes place (pity) which Jesus will talk about at the end of the controversy (GV 9,39), discrimination that prefigures and announces the rupture between Church and Synagogue (synagogue dis GV 9,22). In today's passage the behavior of the Jews themselves is thus taken up and sanctioned, who had excluded from the synagogue the man born blind who was healed by Jesus and became his disciple. The call that the Shepherd addresses to his sheep in the Jewish enclosure thus becomes the first act of a separation, the one that will contrast the ancient flock Israel and the new, Judaism and the Church. And it is likely that John is writing at this particular moment in which the separation is taking place, which in any case does not authorize anyone to make anti-Jewish revenge or justify anti-Semitism.

The relationships between the Shepherd and his sheep are described in these terms: “He walks before them and the sheep follow him”. As he already did, the evangelist again uses the typical vocabulary of the Exodus cycle: "The Sir, your God, that precedes you, he himself will fight for you, as he did with you, before your eyes, in Egypt" (Deut 1,30; Mich 2,13). In the fourth gospel, the verb «to walk (journey)» is almost always referred to Jesus in relation to his mission, which is a new Exodus (cf.. GV 14,2.3.12.28; 16,7.28). Thus the Shepherd, who walks before his sheep, he presents himself as the new leader of God's people. The sheep "follow" him, expressing that essential docility of the disciple towards the Master (cf.. GV 1,37.38.41.43), based on the fact that they know his voice. These themes, then, they will be taken up with greater insistence in the second part of the speech (vv. 14-16) and then in the final declarations of Jesus at the feast of the Dedication (v. 27).

As necessary, at last, interpret the formula «the sheep gate»? If the old fence has ceased its function, it is no longer necessary to mention it, in fact logically Jesus could have said: «I am the door of the enclosure». But instead he uses a new expression because He is now the door for the sheep themselves. Between Jesus and his, new relationships are outlined from now on; once you leave the enclosure, the sheep must now "enter" through the door that is Jesus. Here we move from the historical level to the typological and spiritual level. It is no longer about the enclosure of Judaism: entering through the "door" that is Jesus, the sheep enter a new environment, of a completely different nature. In this regard, the exegetes recall the Shall 118,19-20: «Open the doors of justice to me: I will enter to thank the Lord. This is the door of the Lord: the righteous enter through it". That the background of our verse is constituted by this psalm is likely as Ps 118 it was used in the liturgy of the Feast of Tabernacles and we remember that the speech on the Good Shepherd was given, according to John, near the Temple, at the final moment of that great solemnity. The whole context therefore favored the use of this metaphor of the door. But the insistence with which Jesus applies it to himself - "I am the door of the sheep" - clearly demonstrates that this can no longer be a question of the Temple of the ancient economy. Jesus, taking inspiration from the realities that surround him, he wants to talk about the new Temple that he himself inaugurates. In figurative speech, the gate and the enclosure still designated historical realities: the Temple of Jerusalem and theocratic Judaism; but starting from the moment in which these realities are metaphorically referred to Jesus, they are transposed from the plane onto another plane, which is spiritual.

Even the use of the terminology of our verse in the pre-John Christian tradition it is very enlightening. The Synoptics speak several times about the door that gives access to the Kingdom (Mt 7,13-14; 25,10-12; LC 13,24-26); it was a metaphor for the eschatological vocabulary. The same goes for the verb «to enter», which was commonly used to designate entry into the Kingdom of God (Mt 7,21; At 14,22). Giovanni takes up this usage again (GV 3,5), but in the current context, everything focuses on Jesus: it is through him that we must "enter" to be saved.

This necessarily brief analysis of the vocabulary of our passage highlights the theological significance of Jesus' phrase: "I am the door of the sheep". The first idea he expresses is that of mediation, therefore of the possibility of access to salvation. It is explicitly said in the text of v. 9: "I am the door: whoever enters only through me will be saved". The other part, Jesus is not just a mediator. The door is not just a place of passage through which one "enters", it already belongs to the enclosure itself. Indeed, in the Old Testament, the "gate" of the city or of the Temple often metonymically indicates the whole of the city or the Temple in its entirety: cf.. Shall 122,2; 87,1-2; 118,20. Referring to Jesus, the image of the door therefore does not only mean that salvation and life are accessed through him; it also indicates that the sheep find these goods in him. In other words, Jesus is not just a way of access; it is also the new fence, the new Temple, in which his people can obtain messianic goods. Here we find the theme of Jesus the new Temple, stated by S. John from the beginning of his gospel (2,13-22). But if so, we may perhaps wonder why the metaphor of the door was preferred to that of the enclosure or temple. Probably, the image of the door, with everything its biblical background suggested, it was better suited to expressing two related ideas simultaneously: one part, the entrance one, of mediation; on the other, that of a vital environment and communion. These are the two ideas that will reappear in the very suggestive text of GV 14,6: «I am the Way, the Truth and the Life"; Jesus is the Way to the Father, the perfect mediator who gives us access to the life of the Father; but at the same time it is Life: in Jesus himself we find the life of the Father, because he, the Only Begotten Son "now returned to the bosom of the Father" (GV 1,18), he possesses it fully within himself.

The patristic tradition will highlight the future aspect more, specifically eschatological, of the door theme: through Jesus we have access to eternal life, to the kingdom of heaven. But here as elsewhere, John anticipates eschatological themes in the very person and historical work of Jesus: at the same time through him and in communion with him, end of ora, we can obtain the goods of salvation, divine life. The idea expressed here was commented magnificently in an anonymous text that circulated under the name of Augustine in various anthologies of patristic quotations: «Jesus is the door, the door in which is the house, the house in which the weary rests». See also Ignatius of Antioch: «He is the door of the Father, through which Abraham enters, Isaac and Jacob and the prophets and the apostles and the Church"; Erma: «The door is the Son of God. It is the only entrance that leads to the Lord. Therefore no one will bring us to him except his Son."; St. Augustine: «For Christ is that door, and through Christ we enter into eternal life».

from the Hermitage, 26 April 2026

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THE GOOD SHEPHERD AND THE GATE OF THE SHEEP

The sheepfold metaphorically indicates the holy place of Israel, the Temple of Jerusalem, or its vestibule, which represents and symbolizes the theocratic Judaism; while the shepherd of the sheep, the one who enters through the gate, is Jesus, the new Shepherd of Israel, who, in fact, presented himself in the Temple of Jerusalem to reveal himself to the Jews during the feast of Tabernacles.

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The liturgy assigns a privileged place to the figure of the Good Shepherd on the Fourth Sunday of Easter. The whole Tradition conveys the fundamental idea that Christ is the savior of the sheep, since Jesus leads his own beyond death, toward the heavenly pastures, into the house of the Father. The passage reported below expresses this tension, which is at once soteriological and Christological.

«Amen, amen, I say to you: whoever does not enter the sheepfold through the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens to him and the sheep listen to his voice: he calls his own sheep, each one by name, and leads them out. And when he has brought out all his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. A stranger, however, they will not follow, but they will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers». Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus said to them again: «Amen, amen, I say to you: I am the gate of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate: if anyone enters through me, he will be saved; he will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly» (Jn 10:1–10).

In order to grasp more fully the scope of the text, it is necessary to situate it within the great section of the Fourth Gospel to which it belongs, which extends from Jn 7:1 to Jn 10:42. These four chapters constitute the center of the public life of Jesus, the culminating point of his revelation to the world, in the Temple of Jerusalem. The thematic unity of this section is evident: Jesus reveals himself to the world (cf. 7:4), but he is continually in controversy with «the Jews». A theme from the Prologue returns here and reaches, with regard to the public life of Jesus, its decisive point: «He came to his own, and his own did not receive him» (Jn 1:11).

First of all, what is this «sheepfold»? In the Greek Bible it is often metaphorically associated with areas concerning the Temple. We must also add that, already in the Old Testament, the term «sheep» is frequently used in a purely allegorical sense to designate the people of Israel (This 34:31; Because 23:1). The vocabulary of our verse would therefore evoke a situation analogous to that of Ps 100:3–4 (LXX):

«Know that the Lord alone is God: he made us and we are his, his people and the flock of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise; give thanks to him, bless his name».

In Jn 10:1 the sheepfold metaphorically indicates the holy place of Israel, the Temple of Jerusalem, or its vestibule, which represents and symbolizes the theocratic Judaism; while the shepherd of the sheep, the one who enters through the gate, is Jesus, the new Shepherd of Israel, who indeed presented himself in the Temple of Jerusalem to reveal himself to the Jews during the feast of Tabernacles (Jn 7:14).

These are veiled yet precise allusions that Jesus, according to Saint John, is making regarding his mission; they combine both figurative elements and references to historical situations, in order to make understood the value and the nature of his messianic identity. He is not a thief or a robber — the same Greek term will be used to identify Barabbas in the Passion narrative, described by Matthew as a «notorious» prisoner (Mt 27:16) — Jesus is not a revolutionary or a rebel interested in violent liberation from Roman domination, in order to establish a Jewish power that is at once political and religious. Rather, he entered the Temple by the proper way, during the feast of Tabernacles; he presented himself legitimately to the Jewish people in order to reveal himself as their Shepherd, as the true Messiah. In chapter 10 of Saint John, Jesus adopts a figurative, enigmatic language, yet the teaching remains essentially the same: it always concerns his messianic mission.

The second verse of the passage is even more theologically significant: «He calls his own sheep, each one by name, and leads them out». All the sheep of the fold, the Jews, were able to hear the word of Jesus (cf. Jn 18:20), but only some of them became «his sheep», that is, those who were given to him by the Father (v. 29; cf. 6:37,39). By virtue of this gift, Jesus can say that they are «in his hand» (v. 28); for the same reason, during the Last Supper, he will consider the disciples as «his own» (Jn 13:1). To this disposition on the part of the Father corresponds a call on the part of Jesus: «He calls his own sheep, each one by name». This is the first act in the constitution of a new flock brought about by Jesus.

His sheep, the Shepherd «leads out» from the fold. The verb used here by the evangelist is the technical term of the vocabulary of the Exodus: God «brought out» his people, the children of Israel, from Egypt (Ex 3:10; 6:27); likewise later, at the time of the second Exodus, he will «bring them out» from among the peoples (This 34:13). The idea evoked by this word is clear: «to lead out» means to liberate from slavery. It is striking, and at the same time tragic, that this term, once used to indicate the end of captivity, must now be used against Israel itself; for its eyes did not open to the true light of the messianic times, and therefore the Messiah Jesus must now «lead out» his sheep, as once from Egypt.

But in order to grasp all the implications of this idea within the overall economy of Jesus’ life, it must be connected to the preceding account, that of the man born blind, where it had already been formulated. For this man, Jesus was at first only an unknown figure (Jn 9:11). But after the healing, in the course of the controversy with the Jews, he progressively discovers in him a prophet (v. 17), one sent by God (v. 33), the Son of Man (vv. 35–37), thus becoming the very type of the believer. The Jews, on the other hand, who considered themselves so clear-sighted in religious matters, became completely blind before the light of the world (vv. 39–41). Now, seeing the attachment of the former blind man to Jesus, «they cast him out» (Jn 9:34). At this moment the κρίμα is fulfilled, the judgment of which Jesus speaks at the end of the controversy (Jn 9:39), a judgment that foreshadows and announces the rupture between Church and Synagogue (Synagogue of Jn 9:22). In the present passage, the behavior of those same Jews is thus taken up again and ratified: they had excluded from the synagogue the man born blind, healed by Jesus and become his disciple. The call that the Shepherd addresses to his sheep within the Jewish fold thus becomes the first act of a separation: that which will oppose the old flock, Israel, and the new one, the Church. It is probable that John is writing precisely in this moment when this separation is taking place, which nevertheless does not authorize any anti-Jewish retaliation or justification of antisemitism.

The relationship between the Shepherd and his sheep is described in these terms: «He goes before them, and the sheep follow him». As he has already done, the evangelist once again uses the vocabulary typical of the Exodus cycle: «The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes» (Deut 1:30; Mic 2:13). In the Fourth Gospel, the verb «to go» (journey) almost always refers to Jesus in relation to his mission, which is a new Exodus (cf. Jn 14:2,3,12,28; 16:7,28). In this way, the Shepherd who walks ahead of his sheep presents himself as the new leader of the people of God. The sheep «follow» him, expressing that essential docility of the disciple toward the Master (cf. Jn 1:37,38,41,43), founded on the fact that they know his voice. These themes will then be taken up more insistently in the second part of the discourse (vv. 14–16) and later in Jesus’ final declarations at the feast of Dedication (v. 27).

How, finally, must the expression «the gate of the sheep» be interpreted? If the old fold has completed its function, it is no longer necessary to mention it; logically, Jesus could have said: «I am the gate of the fold». But instead he uses a new expression, because now he himself is the gate for the sheep. New relationships are henceforth outlined between Jesus and his own; once they have gone out of the fold, the sheep must now «enter» through the gate which is Jesus. Here we pass from the historical level to the typological and spiritual level. It is no longer a matter of the fold of Judaism: by entering through the «gate» that is Jesus, the sheep enter into a new environment of a completely different nature. The exegetes refer in this regard to Ps 118:19–20: «Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will enter them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it». It is likely that the background of our verse is this psalm, since Ps 118 was used in the liturgy of the feast of Tabernacles, and we recall that the discourse on the Good Shepherd was delivered, according to John, in the vicinity of the Temple, at the concluding moment of that great solemnity. The whole context therefore favored the use of this metaphor of the gate. But the insistence with which Jesus applies it to himself — «I am the gate of the sheep» — clearly shows that it can no longer refer to the Temple of the old economy. Jesus, drawing inspiration from the realities that surround him, intends to speak of the new Temple that he himself inaugurates. In the figurative discourse, the gate and the fold still designated historical realities: the Temple of Jerusalem and the theocratic Judaism; but from the moment in which these realities are referred metaphorically to Jesus, they are transposed to another level, which is spiritual.

The use of the terminology of our verse in the pre-Johannine Christian tradition is also very illuminating. The Synoptics speak several times of the gate that gives access to the Kingdom (Mt 7:13–14; 25:10–12; Page 13:24–26); it was a metaphor belonging to the eschatological vocabulary. The same applies to the verb «to enter», which was commonly used to designate entry into the Kingdom of God (Mt 7:21; Acts 14:22). John takes up this usage (Jn 3:5), but in the present context everything is centered on Jesus: it is through him that one must «enter» in order to be saved.

This necessarily brief analysis of the vocabulary of our passage highlights the theological significance of Jesus’ statement: «I am the gate of the sheep». The first idea it expresses is that of mediation, and therefore of the possibility of access to salvation. This is explicitly stated in v. 9: «I am the gate: whoever enters only through me will be saved». On the other hand, Jesus is not only mediator. The gate is not merely a place of passage through which one «enters»; it already belongs to the fold itself. Indeed, in the Old Testament, the «gate» of the city or of the Temple often metonymically indicates the entire city or the Temple in its totality: cf. Ps 122:2; 87:1–2; 118:20. Applied to Jesus, the image of the gate therefore does not only mean that through him one has access to salvation and to life; it also indicates that the sheep find these goods in him. In other words, Jesus is not only a way of access; he is also the new fold, the new Temple, in which his own can obtain the messianic goods. Here we find again the theme of Jesus as the new Temple, proclaimed by Saint John from the very beginning of his Gospel (2:13–22). But if this is so, one might ask why the metaphor of the gate has been preferred to that of the fold or of the Temple. Probably the image of the gate, with all that its biblical background suggested, was better suited to express simultaneously two connected ideas: on the one hand, that of entrance, of mediation; on the other, that of a vital environment and of communion. These are the two ideas that will reappear in the very evocative text of Jn 14:6: «I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life»; Jesus is the Way to the Father, the perfect mediator who grants us access to the life of the Father; but he is at the same time the Life: in Jesus himself we find the life of the Father, because he, the Only-Begotten Son «who is in the bosom of the Father» (Jn 1:18), possesses it in himself in fullness.

The patristic tradition will place greater emphasis on the future, specifically eschatological aspect of the theme of the gate: through Jesus we have access to eternal life, to the kingdom of heaven. But here, as elsewhere, John anticipates the eschatological themes in the very person and historical work of Jesus: at the same time, through him and in communion with him, already now we can obtain the goods of salvation, the divine life. The idea expressed here has been magnificently commented upon in an anonymous text that circulated under the name of Augustine in various florilegia of patristic citations: «Jesus is the door, the door in which is the house, the house in which the weary rests». See also Ignatius of Antioch: «He is the door of the Father, through which enter Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the prophets and the apostles and the Church»; Hermas: «The gate is the Son of God. It is the only entrance that leads to the Lord. No one will therefore be introduced to him except through his Son»; Saint Augustine: «For Christ is that door, and through Christ we enter into eternal life».

From the Hermitage, 26 April 2026

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THE GOOD SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP GATE

The sheepfold metaphorically indicates the holy place of Israel, the Jerusalem Temple, or your hallway, which represents and symbolizes theocratic Judaism; while the shepherd of the sheep, the one who enters through the door, It's Jesus, the new Shepherd of Israel, what, indeed, He appeared in the Temple of Jerusalem to reveal himself to the Jews during the Feast of Tabernacles.

.

The liturgy reserves the figure of the Good Shepherd a privileged place on the Fourth Sunday of Easter. All Tradition transmits the fundamental idea that Christ is the savior of the sheep, because Jesus leads his people beyond death, towards the heavenly pastures, in the Father's house. The passage presented below expresses this tension that is at the same time soteriological and christological..

"Actually, truly I tell you: he who does not enter the sheepfold through the door, but it goes up on the other hand, that is a thief and robber. But he who enters through the door is a shepherd of the sheep. The guardian opens it and the sheep hear his voice: he calls his sheep, to each one by name, and takes them out. And when he has taken out all his sheep, walk in front of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. to a stranger, instead, they won't follow, but they will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers". Jesus told them this parable, but they didn't understand what he was talking about. Then Jesus told them again: "Actually, truly I tell you: I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door: if one enters for me, will be saved; will come and go and find grass. The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; "I have come so that they may have life and have it abundantly." (Jn 10,1-10).

To better understand the scope of the text, it is necessary to place it within the great section of the fourth Gospel to which it belongs, which goes from Jn 7,1 until Jn 10,42. These four chapters constitute the center of Jesus' public life, the climax of his revelation to the world, in the Temple of Jerusalem. The thematic unity of this section is evident: Jesus reveals himself to the world (cf. 7,4), but he finds himself continually in controversy with "the Jews". Here we return to a theme from the prologue that reaches its decisive point with regard to the public life of Jesus.: "He came to his own and his own did not receive him" (Jn 1,11).

First of all, What is this "sheep fold"? In the Greek Bible it is frequently associated, in a metaphorical way, to spaces related to the Temple. Let us also add that, already in the Old Testament, The term "sheep" is often used in an allegorical sense to designate the people of Israel. (This 34,31; Because 23,1). The vocabulary of our verse would evoke, therefore, a situation analogous to that of Sal 100,3-4 (LXX):

«Recognize that the Lord is God: he made us and we are his, his people and the flock of his pasture. Enter its doors with thanksgiving, through its courts with hymns of praise; thank him, bless his name".

And Jn 10,1 the sheepfold metaphorically indicates the holy place of Israel, the Temple of Jerusalem or its vestibule, which represents and symbolizes theocratic Judaism; while the shepherd of the sheep, the one who enters through the door, It's Jesus, the new Shepherd of Israel, who in fact appeared in the Temple of Jerusalem to reveal himself to the Jews during the Feast of Tabernacles (Jn 7,14).

These are veiled but precise allusions that Jesus, according to Saint John, is doing about your mission; They mix figurative elements and references to historical situations., in order to make understand the value and nature of his messiahship. He is neither a thief nor a robber — the same Greek term will be used to identify Barabbas in the passion story., described by Mateo as a "famous" prisoner (Mt 27,16) — Jesus is neither a revolutionary nor a rebel interested in a violent liberation from Roman rule to establish a Jewish power that is both political and religious.. On the contrary, He entered the Temple by the legitimate path, during the Feast of Tabernacles; He legitimately presented himself to the Jewish people to reveal himself as their Shepherd, like the true messiah. In the chapter 10 of Saint John, Jesus adopts figurative and enigmatic language, but the teaching remains essentially the same: always has as its object its messianic mission.

The second verse of the passage It is even more relevant from a theological point of view: "He calls his sheep, to each one by name, and takes them out". All the sheep of the fold, the jews, they were able to know the word of Jesus (cf. Jn 18,20), but only some became "his sheep", that is to say, those that were given to him by the Father (v. 29; cf. 6,37.39). By virtue of this gift, Jesus can say that they are "in his hand" (v. 28); for the same reason, during the last supper, will be able to consider the disciples as "his own" (Jn 13,1). This disposition on the part of the Father corresponds to a call from Jesus: "He calls his sheep, to each one by name. This is the first act of the constitution of a new flock carried out by Jesus.

The Shepherd "takes" his sheep out of the fold. The verb used here by the evangelist is the technical term of the vocabulary of the Exodus: God “brought” his people out of Egypt, the children of Israel (Ex 3,10; 6,27); in the same way, later, at the time of the second Exodus, He will "take them out" from among the peoples (This 34,13). The idea evoked by this word is clear: "take out" means to free from bondage. It is notable and at the same time tragic that this term, once used to indicate the end of captivity, must now be applied against Israel itself; because their eyes were not opened to the true light of the messianic times, and therefore the Messiah Jesus must now "take out" his sheep, as in another time of Egypt.

But to understand the full implications of this idea in the whole life of Jesus, It is necessary to relate it to the preceding story, that of the man blind from birth, where it had already been formulated. for this man, Jesus at first was nothing more than a stranger (Jn 9,11). But, after healing, in the course of the controversy with the Jews, progressively discovers in him a prophet (v. 17), to a messenger from God (v. 33), to the Son of man (vv. 35-37), thus becoming the very type of the believer. The Jews, instead, who believed themselves to be so clairvoyant in religious matters, They became completely blind to the light of the world (vv. 39-41). Now, seeing the former blind man's attachment to Jesus, "they expelled him" (Jn 9,34). At that moment the κρίμα is fulfilled, the judgment that Jesus will speak about at the end of the controversy (Jn 9,39), judgment that prefigures and announces the break between Church and Synagogue (synagogue de Jn 9,22). In today's passage the behavior of those same Jews is taken up and sanctioned., that they had excluded from the synagogue the man born blind who was cured by Jesus and became his disciple. The call that the Shepherd addresses to his sheep within the Jewish fold thus becomes the first act of a separation: the one that the old flock will oppose, Israel, and the new, the Church. It is likely that John is writing precisely at this moment when the separation is taking place, which, however, absolutely does not authorize anti-Jewish reprisals or justifications of anti-Semitism.

The links between the Shepherd and his sheep are described in these terms: "He walks before them and the sheep follow him". As you have already done, the evangelist uses again the vocabulary typical of the Exodus cycle: "The Lord your God, that marches before you, will fight for you, as he did to you in Egypt before your eyes." (Dt 1,30; friends 2,13). In the fourth Gospel, the verb "walk" (journey) almost always refers to Jesus in relation to his mission, what is a new Exodus (cf. Jn 14,2.3.12.28; 16,7.28). Thus, The Shepherd who walks before his sheep presents himself as the new leader of God's people. The sheep "follow" him, expressing the essential docility of the disciple towards the Master (cf. Jn 1,37.38.41.43), founded on the fact that they know their voice. These topics will be taken up with greater insistence in the second part of the speech. (vv. 14-16) and later in the final statements of Jesus on the feast of the Dedication (v. 27).

How should it be interpreted, Finally, the expression "the sheep gate"? If the old fold has finished its function, no need to mention it anymore; logically, Jesus could have said: «I am the door of the sheepfold». But use a new expression, because now he himself is the door for the sheep. New relationships are now being outlined between Jesus and his people.; once out of the fold, the sheep must "enter" through the door that is Jesus. Here we move from the historical level to the typological and spiritual level.. It is no longer about the fold of Judaism: entering through the "door" that is Jesus, the sheep enter a new realm of a completely different nature. For this purpose, exegetes refer to Ps. 118,19-20: «Open the doors of justice for me: I will enter through them to give thanks to the Lord. This is the door of the Lord: through it the righteous enter. It is likely that the background of our verse is this psalm, since the Salt 118 It was used in the liturgy of the Feast of Tabernacles, and let us remember that the Good Shepherd speech was given, according to John, in the vicinity of the Temple, at the concluding moment of that great solemnity. The entire context favored, therefore, using this door metaphor. But the insistence with which Jesus applies it to himself – “I am the gate of the sheep” – clearly shows that it can no longer be the Temple of the old economy.. Jesus, inspired by the realities that surround him, He wants to talk about the new Temple that he himself inaugurates. In figurative speech, the door and the sheepfold still designated historical realities: the Temple of Jerusalem and theocratic Judaism; but from the moment in which these realities refer metaphorically to Jesus, they move to another plane, what is the spiritual.

Also the use of terminology of our verse in the pre-Johannic Christian tradition is very illuminating. The synoptics speak several times of the door that gives access to the Kingdom (Mt 7,13-14; 25,10-12; LC 13,24-26); It was a metaphor for eschatological vocabulary. The same thing happens with the verb "enter.", which was commonly used to designate entry into the Kingdom of God (Mt 7,21; Hch 14,22). Juan takes up this use (Jn 3,5), but in the current context everything focuses on Jesus: It is through him that we must "enter" to be saved..

This necessarily brief analysis of the vocabulary of our passage highlights the theological scope of Jesus' statement: "I am the door of the sheep". The first idea he expresses is that of mediation, and therefore the possibility of access to salvation. It is explicitly stated in v. 9: «I am the door: "Whoever enters only through me will be saved.". Besides, Jesus is not just a mediator. The door is not only a place of passage through which one "enters"; already belongs to the same fold. Indeed, in the Old Testament, The "gate" of the city or the Temple frequently indicates, by metonymy, the entire city or the Temple in its entirety: cf. Shall 122,2; 87,1-2; 118,20. Applied to Jesus, the image of the door does not mean, therefore, only that through it you access salvation and life; It also indicates that the sheep find these goods in it. In other words, Jesus is not just an access; It is also the new fold, the new temple, in which his own can obtain messianic goods. Here the theme of Jesus as a new Temple reappears, stated by Saint John from the beginning of his Gospel (2,13-22). But, if this is so, One may wonder why the metaphor of the door has been preferred to that of the sheepfold or the Temple.. Probably, the image of the door, with everything that its biblical background suggested, was better suited to simultaneously express two related ideas: on the one hand, the entrance, mediation; on the other, that of a vital atmosphere and communion. These are the two ideas that will reappear in the suggestive text of Jn 14,6: «I am the Way, "Truth and Life"; Jesus is the Way to the Father, the perfect mediator who introduces us into the life of the Father; but it is at the same time life: In Jesus himself we find the life of the Father, because he, the Only Begotten Son “who is in the bosom of the Father” (Jn 1,18), he possesses it in himself in fullness.

The patristic tradition will emphasize the future aspect more, specifically eschatological, of the door theme: through Jesus we have access to eternal life, to the kingdom of heaven. but here, like in other places, John anticipates eschatological themes in the same person and in the historical work of Jesus: at the same time, through him and in communion with him, From now on we can obtain the goods of salvation, divine life. The idea expressed here has been magnificently commented on in an anonymous text that circulated under the name of Augustine in various florilegiums of patristic quotations.: «Jesus is the door, the door in which is the house, the house in which the weary rests». See also Ignatius of Antioch: «He is the door of the Father, through which Abraham enters, Isaac and Jacob and the prophets and the apostles and the Church"; Hermas: «The door is the Son of God. It is the only entrance that leads to the Lord. "No one will be brought before him except by his Son."; Saint Augustine: «For Christ is that door, and through Christ we enter into eternal life».

From the Hermitage, 26 April 2026

 

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