John 10:1-21 continues the conversation Jesus was having with the Jews in Jn. 9:40-41. Jn. 10:19-21 recalls 9:16 as to the "schism"; the mention of the opening of the blind man's eyes as a defense for Jesus cements the relationship. Below is a diagram illustrating the relationship of the Good Shepherd discourse with the preceding chapter and how the parts of the discourse cohere to make 1-21 a literary unit.
John 10:1-21 can be divided into three parts: (a) the parabolic part (vv. 1-6), (b) the allegorical explanation (vv. 7-18) and (c) the conclusion (vv. 19-21) which also serves as a transition for Jn. 10:22-42.
The parabolic discourse in vv. 1-6 employs the figures of a gate, a sheepfold, shepherd, doorkeeper, the sheep, and a thief. Among these figures, only that of the doorkeeper is left out in the explanation given in vv. 7-18. In this latter, Jesus is both gate and shepherd but not at the same time and in the same respect. R. Brown's comment that "confusion will occur if we try to make a consistent allegory of them all" (R. Brown, The Gospel and Epistles of John: A Concise Commentary, p. 58) should be taken seriously in this regard.
The parabolic part of the discourse can be broken down into the following points:
(a) the gate of the sheepfold (one who does not pass through it is "a thief and a robber"
(b) the one who passes through the gate is the shepherd and the sheep recognize his voice
(c) the doorkeeper is the one who lets the shepherd in through the gate
The "gate" finds its explanation in verses 7-10. Two ideas are emphasized here: those who came before Jesus were thieves and robbers. Jesus may be referring here to false shepherds -- the self-proclaimed Messiahs who have come before him or those who consider themselves the shepherds of Israel (e.g. the Pharisees of the previous chapter). The second idea is that through Jesus, one finds life. The rest of the Gospel of John has this as one of its dominant themes. It is through Jesus that one finds eternal life. He offers the water of life (Jn. 4), he is the bread from heaven (Jn. 6), and he is the light of life (Jn. 9, cf. Jn. 1:1ff). Jesus' declaration "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full" (Jn. 10:10) sums up what he has been saying in previous discourses.
From verse 11 to 18, Jesus explains the "Shepherd". In the OT, the Shepherd of Israel par excellence is God (Pss. 23, 80). In prophetic literature about the future that God prepares for His people, the figure of a Davidic king (Ez. 34:23;37:24), the shepherd after God's heart, the one through whom God will shepherd his people (Is. 40:11;Jer. 31:10; 50:17-19; Ez. 34:15), stands out. Jesus presents himself as the shepherd that the prophets talk about. When he declares later on "the Father and I are one" (10:30), he is saying that Israel's Eternal Shepherd is "in him" (cf. 10:38).
As "the Good Shepherd" Jesus has qualities that distinguish him from other "shepherds": he knows his sheep, his sheep recognize his voice, and above all, he gives up his life for them. This latter quality distinguishes him from "wage earners" whose interest is not the sheep but in their pay. In verses 17-18, there is a clear reference to Jesus' death and resurrection:
I give up my life
and I will take it up again
No one takes my life from me
but I lay it down of my own accord.
I have the power to lay it down,
and the power to take it up again.
The sheep for which the Good Shepherd lays down his life are those who like the man born blind have received light from Jesus and believe in him. Jn. 10:4 makes a clear reference to this. Literally it goes
When one throws out all that is his own
he walks before them (his own)
and his sheep follow him
because they recognize his voice.
The verb ekballw in 10:4 was used in Jn. 9 to designate the excommunication of the former blind man (9:34.35). The phrase ta idia ta idia ("his own") designates "the sheep", that for which the Word came in the first place (cf. Jn. 1:11). The main characteristic of the sheep is that they recognize the voice of their shepherd. Later, Jesus will explain the unbelief of the Jews by saying thay they are not of his sheep (10:26). In Jn. 10:16, Jesus mentions "other sheep" which he will lead so that "there will be but one sheep and one shepherd." These latter are the Greeks whose arrival in Jn. 12:20 will signal the coming of Jesus' hour.
Note for the 4th Sunday of Easter (A)
The liturgy for Good Shepherd Sunday covers verses 1-10. The faithful are expected to make the identification between "shepherd" and Jesus on the basis of Psalm 23, the day's responsorial psalm. Jn. 10:3-5 describes the sheep who recognize and obey the shepherd's voice. The intimate knowledge that exists between shepherd and sheep which Jesus talks about as a reflection of his and the Father's mutual knowledge (10:14-15) has its equivalent in the mention of the shepherd calling the sheep "by name" (3b) and the sheep's refusal to follow a different voice (v. 5).
We already mentioned that Jesus' identifying himself as the gate of the sheepfold summarizes all that he has been saying about his relationship to life until this point in the gospel. In the Mass's Eucharistic Prayer III, we declare that Jesus is the one "through whom all good things come". Or to paraphrase Augustine, "He who is life became also for our sake the way to life".
