Lecture 1
Lectio 1
The sheep and the shepherd
Oves et pastor
10:1 Amen, amen I say to you: he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold but climbs in another way is a thief and a robber. [n. 1366]
10:1 Amen, amen dico vobis, qui non intrat per ostium in ovile ovium, sed ascendit aliunde, ille fur est, et latro. [n. 1366]
10:2 But he who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. [n. 1370]
10:2 Qui autem intrat per ostium, pastor est ovium. [n. 1370]
10:3 To him the porter opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. [n. 1371]
10:3 Huic ostiarius aperit, et oves vocem eius audiunt, et proprias oves vocat nominatim, et educit eas; [n. 1371]
10:4 And when he has let out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. [n. 1374]
10:4 et cum proprias oves emiserit, ante eas vadit. Et oves illum sequuntur, quia sciunt vocem eius. [n. 1374]
10:5 But a stranger they do not follow but fly from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers. [n. 1377]
10:5 Alienum autem non sequuntur, sed fugiunt ab eo, quia non noverunt vocem alienorum. [n. 1377]
1364. After our Lord showed that his teaching had power to enlighten, he here shows that he has power to give life.
1364. Postquam Dominus ostendit quod eius doctrina habet illuminativam virtutem, hic consequenter ostendit quod habet virtutem vivificativam, et
First, he shows this by word;
primo ostendit hoc, verbo;
second, by a miracle, at now there was a certain man sick, named Lazarus (John 11:1).
secundo, miraculo: c. XI, ibi erat autem quidam languens etc.
Concerning the first he does three things.
Circa primum tria facit.
First, he shows that he has life-giving power;
Primo ostendit se habere virtutem vivificativam;
second, his manner of giving life, at I am the good shepherd (John 10:11);
secundo ostendit vivificandi modum, ibi ego sum pastor bonus etc.;
third, he explains his power to give life, at a dissension arose again among the Jews on account of these words (John 10:19).
tertio ostendit vivificandi potestatem, ibi dissensio itaque facta est inter Iudaeos propter sermones hos.
The first part is divided into three parts.
Prima pars dividitur in tres:
First, our Lord relates a parable;
primo enim Dominus proponit quamdam parabolam;
second, the Evangelist mentions the necessity for explaining it, at this proverb Jesus spoke to them (John 10:6);
secundo Evangelista insinuat necessitatem expositionis ipsius: hoc proverbium dixit eis etc.;
third, our Lord explains the parable, at Jesus therefore said to them again (John 10:7).
tertio Dominus exhibet parabolae expositionem, ibi dixit eis iterum Iesus etc.
He relates the parable to them, saying, amen, amen, I say to you. It concerns two things, a thief and the shepherd of the sheep. Thus he does three things.
Parabolam autem proponit eis dicens amen dico vobis. Quae quidem ex duobus est, scilicet de fure et pastore ovium. Unde circa eam tria facit.
First, he mentions the mark of a thief and robber;
Primo proponit conditionem furis et latronis;
second, a characteristic of the shepherd, at he who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep;
secundo pastoris, ibi qui autem intrat per ostium, pastor est ovium;
third, the effect each of these has, at and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice.
tertio effectum utriusque, ibi et oves illum sequuntur etc.
1365. To understand this parable we must consider who the sheep are, namely, that they are the faithful of Christ and those in the grace of God: we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand (Ps 95:7); you, the people, are the sheep of my pasture (Ezek 34:31). And so the sheepfold is the multitude of the faithful: I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob, I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold (Mic 2:12). The door of the sheepfold is explained in different ways by Chrysostom and by Augustine.
1365. Ad intellectum autem huius, primo considerandum est quae sint oves, quae quidem sunt fideles Christi, et qui sunt in gratia Dei; Ps. XCIV, 7: nos autem populus eius et oves pascuae eius; Ez. XXXIII, v. 17: vos autem oves pascuae meae homines estis. Ovile ergo ovium est congregatio fidelis populi; Mich. II, 12: congregabo Iacob totum te; in unum conducam reliquias Israel; pariter ponam illum quasi gregem in ovili. Ostium autem ovilis aliter accipitur secundum Chrysostomum, et aliter secundum Augustinum.
1366. According to Chrysostom, Christ calls Sacred Scripture the door, according to pray for us also that God may open to us a door for the word (Col 4:3). Sacred Scripture is called a door, as Chrysostom says, first of all, because through it we have access to the knowledge of God: which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was made to him the seed of David according to the flesh (Rom 1:2–3). Second, for just as the door guards the sheep, so Sacred Scripture preserves the life of the faithful: search the Scriptures, for you think them to have eternal life (John 5:39). Third, because the door keeps the wolf from entering; so Sacred Scripture keeps heretics from harming the faithful: every Scripture inspired by God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction in justice (2 Tim 3:16). So, the one who does not enter by the door is the one who does not enter by Sacred Scripture to teach the people. Our Lord says of such: in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men (Matt 15:9); you have made void the word of God (Matt 15:6). This, then, is the mark of the thief: he does not enter by the door, but in some other way.
1366. Nam secundum Chrysostomum, ostium vocat Christus Scripturas Sacras, secundum illud Col. IV, 3: orantes simul pro nobis, ut Deus aperiat ostium sermonis. Dicitur autem Sacra Scriptura ostium, ut Chrysostomus dicit, primo quia per ipsam accessum habemus ad Dei cognitionem; Rom. c. I, 2: quod autem promiserat per prophetas suos in Scripturis Sanctis de Filio suo, qui factus est ei ex semine David secundum carnem. Secundo, quia sicut ostium oves custodit, ita Sacra Scriptura conservat vitam fidelium; supra V, 39: scrutamini Scripturas: quia vos putatis vitam habere in ipsis. Tertio quia ostium lupos supervenire non permittit: sic Sacra Scriptura arcet haereticos a nocumento fidelium; II Tim. III, 16: omnis Scriptura divinitus inspirata utilis est ad docendum, ad arguendum, ad corripiendum, ad erudiendum in iustitia. Ille ergo non intrat per ostium qui ad docendum populum non ingreditur per Sacram Scripturam. Unde Dominus de talibus dicit Matth. XV, 9: sine causa colunt me, docentes doctrinas et mandata hominum; ibid. v. 6: irritum fecistis mandatum Dei. Haec est ergo furis conditio ut non intret per ostium, sed aliunde.
He adds that the thief climbs, and this is appropriate to this parable because thieves climb the walls, instead of entering by the door, and drop into the sheepfold. It also corresponds to the truth, because the reason why some teach what conflicts with Sacred Scripture is due to pride: if any one teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing (1 Tim 6:3). Referring to this he says that such a person climbs, that is, through pride. The one who climbs in another way is a thief, because he snatches what is not his, and a robber, because he kills what he snatches: if thieves came to you, if plunderers by night, how would you have been destroyed? (Obad 1:5)
Addit autem ascendit: quod et parabolae congruit, dum fures non intrantes per ostium, conscendunt parietes, et praecipitant se in ovili. Congruit etiam veritati: quia causa quare aliqui doceant aliter quam sapiat Sacra Scriptura, praecipue ex superbia provenit; I Tim. VI, 3: si quis aliter docet, et non acquiescit sacris sermonibus, superbus est, nihil sciens. Et quantum ad hoc dicit ascendit, scilicet per superbiam. Qui, inquam, sic aliunde ascendit, ille fur est, rapiendo quod non est suum, et latro, occidendo quod rapit; Abdiae V: si fures intrassent ad te, si latrones per noctem, quomodo conticuisses?
According to this explanation, the relation with what preceded is made in this way: since our Lord had said, if you were blind, you would not have sin (John 9:41), the Jews might have answered: we do not believe you, but this is not due to our blindness. It is because of your own error that we have turned away from you. And so our Lord rejects this, and wishes to show that he is not in error because he enters by the door, by Sacred Scripture, that is, he teaches what is contained in Sacred Scripture.
Et secundum hanc expositionem, continuatur ad praecedentia hoc modo. Quia enim Dominus dixerat: si caeci essetis, non haberetis peccatum, possent respondere Iudaei, et dicere: non est ex nostra caecitate quod tibi non credimus, sed ex tuo errore, propter quem a te avertimur. Et ideo Dominus hoc excludens, vult ostendere quod non est erroneus, quia intrat per ostium, idest per Sacram Scripturam; idest, docet ea quae Sacra Scriptura continet.
1367. Against this interpretation is the fact that when our Lord explains this further on, he says, I am the door (John 10:9). So it seems that we should understand the door to be Christ.
1367. Sed contra hoc est, quod Dominus, infra eodem, exponens, dicit: ego sum ostium etc., ex quo videtur quod per ostium debet intelligi Christus.
In answer to this, Chrysostom says that in this parable our Lord refers to himself both as the door and the shepherd; but this is from different points of view, door is said in different ways, because according as he calls himself a shepherd, it is necessary that another be the door rather than he, because a door and a shepherd are different. Now aside from Christ nothing is more fittingly called a door than Sacred Scripture, for the reasons given above. Therefore, Sacred Scripture is fittingly called a door.
Ad quod Chrysostomus dicit, quod in hac parabola Dominus dicit se esse et ostium et pastorem; unde secundum quod ipse diversimode se vocat, diversimode dicitur ostium, quia, secundum quod dicit se pastorem, oportet quod aliud sit ostium quam ipse, quia non est idem pastor et ostium. Nihil autem aliud a Christo convenientius potest dici ostium quam Sacra Scriptura, propter rationes praedictas. Convenienter ergo Sacra Scriptura ostium dicitur.
1368. According to Augustine, the door is Christ, because one enters through him: after this I looked, and lo, in heaven an open door (Rev 4:1). Therefore, any one who enters the sheepfold should enter by the door, that is, by Christ, and not by another way. Note that both the sheep and their shepherd enter into the sheepfold: the sheep in order to be secure there, and the shepherd in order to guard the sheep. And so, if you wish to enter as a sheep to be kept safe there, or as a shepherd to keep the people safe, you must enter the sheepfold through Christ. You must not enter by any other way, as did the philosophers who treated the principle virtues, and the Pharisees who established the ceremonial traditions. These are neither sheep nor shepherds because, as our Lord says, he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, i.e., does not enter by Christ, but climbs in another way is a thief and a robber, because he destroys both himself and others. For Christ and no one else is the door into the sheepfold, that is, the multitude of the faithful: we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have access through faith into this grace wherein we stand, and glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God (Rom 5:1–2); there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
1368. Secundum Augustinum, hic per ostium intelligitur Christus: et hoc, quia per ipsum intratur; Apoc. IV, 1: post hoc vidi ostium magnum etc. Quicumque ergo intrat in ovile, oportet quod per ostium, scilicet Christum, intret, et non aliunde. Sed attendendum est, quod intrare in ovile competit pastori et ovi: ovi quidem, ut ibi conservetur; pastori autem, ut oves conservet. Si ergo velis intrare sicut ovis, ut ibi conserveris, vel sicut pastor, ut oves conserves, oportet te per Christum intrare in ovile, non aliunde quam per Christum; sicut philosophi, qui tractaverunt de principalibus virtutibus, et Pharisaei, qui caeremoniales traditiones statuerunt. Sed isti non sunt pastores neque oves, quia, ut Dominus dicit qui non intrat per ostium in ovile ovium, scilicet per Christum, sed aliunde, fur est et latro; quia se et alios occidit. Nam Christus est ostium ovilis, idest congregationis fidelium, et non alius; Rom. V, 1: pacem habemus per Christum ad Deum, per quem et habemus accessum per fidem in gratiam istam in qua stamus, et gloriamur in spe gloriae filiorum Dei; Act. IV, 12: non est aliud nomen sub caelo datum hominibus, in quo oporteat nos salvos fieri.
According to this exposition, the connection with what went before is made in this way: because they said that they could see without Christ, now that you say, we see. Your sin remains (John 9:41), our Lord shows that this is not true, because they do not enter by the door. Thus he says, amen, amen, I say to you.
Et secundum hanc expositionem continuatur ad praecedentia hoc modo. Quia enim dicebant se videre sine Christo, secundum quod dixit: nunc quia dicitis, videmus, peccatum vestrum manet, ideo Dominus ostendit hoc esse falsum, quia non intrant per ostium, dicens amen, amen dico vobis.
It should be noted that just as one who does not enter by the door as a sheep cannot be kept safe, so one who enters as a shepherd cannot guard the sheep unless he enters by the door, namely, by Christ. This is the door through which the true shepherds have entered: and one does not take the honor upon himself, but he is called by God, just as Aaron was (Heb 5:4). Evil shepherds do not enter by the door, but by ambition and secular power and simony; and these are thieves and robbers: they set up princes, but without my knowledge, that is, without my approval (Hos 8:5). Further, he says such a person climbs in another way, because the door, namely, Christ, since it is small through humility, learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart (Matt 11:29), can be entered only by those who imitate the humility of Christ. Therefore, those who do not enter by the door but climb in by another way are the proud. They do not imitate him who, although he was God, became man; and they do not recognize his lowering of himself.
Sciendum autem, quod ut qui sicut ovis per ostium non intrat, non potest conservari; ita nec qui ut pastor intrat, conservare potest, nisi per ostium intret, scilicet per Christum; per quod quidem ostium intraverunt veri pastores, de quibus Hebr. V, 4: nemo sibi assumit honorem, sed qui vocatur a Deo tamquam Aaron. Mali vero pastores non intrant per ostium, sed per ambitionem, et potentiam saecularem, et simoniam; et isti sunt fures et latrones; Oseae VIII, 4: ipsi regnaverunt, et non cognovi; idest, non approbavi. Et dicit sed ascendit aliunde, quia ostium istud, scilicet Christus, cum sit parvum per humilitatem, Matth. XI, 29: discite a me, quia mitis sum, non possunt intrare nisi qui Christi humilitatem imitantur. Qui ergo non intrant per ostium, aliunde ascendunt, idest superbi sunt, et non imitantur illum qui, cum Deus esset, factus est homo; et humilitatem suam non recognoscunt.
1369. Now he considers the shepherd.
1369. Hic agit de pastore, et
First, he mentions the mark of the shepherd;
primo ponit pastoris conditionem;
second, he shows through signs that he is the shepherd, at to him the porter opens.
secundo ostendit per signa quod iste sit pastor, ibi huic ostiarius aperit.
1370. The mark of the true shepherd is to enter by the door, that is, by the testimony of Sacred Scripture. Thus Christ said: everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled (Luke 24:44). He is called a shepherd: I am not troubled when I follow you as my shepherd (Jer 17:16); he rebukes and trains and teaches them, and turns them back, as a shepherd his flock (Sir 18:13).
1370. Conditio autem veri pastoris est intrare per ostium, idest testimonia Sacrae Scripturae; unde dicebat, Lc. ult., 44: oportet impleri omnia quae scripta sunt in lege Moysi, et prophetis, et Psalmis de me. Pastor dicitur, Ier. XVII, 16: ego non sum turbatus te pastorem sequens; Eccli. XVIII, v. 13: qui misericordiam habet, docet et erudit sicut pastor gregem suum.
But if the door is Christ, as Augustine explains it, then in entering by the door, he enters by himself. And this is special to Christ: for no one can enter the door, i.e., to beatitude, except by the truth, because beatitude is nothing else than joy in the truth. But Christ, as God, is the truth; therefore, as man, he enters by himself, that is, by the truth, which he is as God. We, however, are not the truth, but children of the light, by participating in the true and uncreated light. Consequently, we have to enter by the truth which is Christ: sanctify them in truth (John 17:17); if any man enter by me, he will be saved (John 10:9).
Sed si Christus intelligatur per ostium, ut Augustinus exponit, sic intrans per ostium, intrat per seipsum. Et hoc est proprium Christi: nam nullus potest intrare ostium, scilicet ad beatitudinem, nisi per veritatem, quia nihil aliud est beatitudo quam gaudium de veritate. Christus autem inquantum Deus, veritas est: et ideo inquantum homo, intrat per seipsum, scilicet per veritatem, quae est ipse inquantum Deus. Nos autem non sumus ipsa veritas, sed sumus filii lucis, per participationem lucis verae et increatae; et ideo oportet nos per veritatem, quae est Christus, intrare; infra XVII, 17: sanctifica eos in veritate; infra: per me si quis introierit, salvabitur.