Coptic Orthodox Answers

In name of the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.

Welcome to Coptic Orthodox Answers Deep Dive. We finished chapter 9 of the Gospel of John last time and we saw how Christ healed the man born blind and how the Pharisees weren't too happy, because he was healed on the Sabbath and because this man proclaimed that Christ was a prophet, so they kicked him out of the synagogue or out of the Jewish social life. So afterwards, Christ found him and the man believed in Christ, proclaimed Him as the Messiah.

And then, another discussion was ongoing between Christ and the Pharisees and Christ told them: If you claim that you see, then your sin remains; you are still spiritually blind. And the Pharisees, obviously, were not too happy with that discussion either. And that discussion led to chapter 10, which we're about to start with you today.

So, let's read together:

'' 1 ''Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.'' 6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.'' (John 10:1-6)

Here, we find a contrast between Christ, who is the good shepherd, and these thieves and robbers, who are meant to be the Pharisees. Christ, here, He knows the sheep and the sheep know Him. So, He goes in by the door. He has true genuine access to these sheep, but not the Pharisees. Here, they are thieves and robbers. They try to go up through the fence to grab the sheep. They use abnormal tactics. They try to scare them, to threaten them: If you believe that Jesus is the Messiah, you will be cast out of the synagogue. We will cut you from Jewish life. You will not be able to do any kind of business, and therefore, you will remain in your poverty and so on and so forth.

So, Christ, here, wants to portray that the fact that these Pharisees are casting out people, including the man that was born blind, they are not true shepherds. But He is the true

shepherd and He really cares about the sheep. And therefore, He goes out and He seeks them.

Let's read again verse 3:

'' 3 To him the doorkeeper opens [to Him, who is Christ, obviously, the good shepherd], and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.'' (John 10:3)

So, Christ knows each one of us by name. Every member of the body of Christ, Christ knows him or her by name. And we become true members of the body when we hear God's voice. So, we are the sheep, obviously, and He is the good shepherd. We are ready to be led by Him, so we want to know His commandments. We wanna spend time with Him. We wanna hear His voice. More importantly, we want to follow Him. When He walks out, when He leads us, we follow.

We don't have our own mindset in doing whatever we want to do or create our own commandments and choose whatever commandments we like to abide by and forget about the others, because they're too difficult. No, we want to be true sheep to the shepherd. So, again, we hear His voice. We spend time with Him. We contemplate on His word. We want to have a personal relationship with Him. We want to enjoy Him and to go deeper with Him, right? And then, when He calls us, He leads us out and we do follow Hm.

And in verse 4, it says:

'' 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them;...'' (John 10:4)

So, Christ does not only talk, does not only give sermons, but He acts and He does. And we have to act as He does, again, right? So, Christianity is a life that we live. It's not only theory, right? It's not a religion in that sense: it's a life that we live.

'' 4 (...) and the sheep follow him...'' (John 10:4)

He is the first fruits and we are the second and third batches and so on. So, we walk in His footsteps. So, He opens for us the way of salvation. He taught us how to live life on earth and we follow. The sheep follow Him. We follow in these footsteps.

'' 4 (...) for they know his voice.'' (John 10:4)

They can test the spirits. True sheep can test the spirits to know whomever is speaking to them. Is it God or not? So, we know His voice and we follow Him, because we are in love with Him.

Moving on to verse 7:

'' 7 Then Jesus said to them again, ''Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. [right? one of the seven I AM's in the Gospel] 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.'' (John 10:7-10)

So, Christ proclaims that He is the door and He says: who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers. This is, obviously, not a mention to everybody that came before Him, but those who came before Him and pretended to be the light or pretended to have the key of knowledge or the key to salvation, all these were thieves and robbers. And in this specific case, the Pharisees still claim that they have that key to sal... of salvation, which is the Old Testament law. But says no, this is not how it is at all.

And then He says that He is the door. And whoever goes in by the door, meaning whoever accepts Him as the Messiah, finds pasture, finds salvation. So, in other words, He's saying: I am the way, the truth and the life, right? There's no other saviour other than Me. I am the door that leads to salvation. If you wanna be saved, you have to go through Me, through that door. If you wish to be like the Pharisees who do not acknowledge Me as the Messiah, then that's fine. It's your choice. You have free will. However, you will not be able to enter into that salvation.

Let me read verses 9 and 10 again just to emphasize on this point. So He says:

'' 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved... (John 10:9)

So, entering, here, He's entering, you know, within the fences, right?, where the sheep can eat the pasture, where the sheep can rest, where the sheep can be protected from all the thieves and robbers and the wolves. So, this is what is meant by salvation here. Obviously, these... this is just symbolic to the eternal redemption, right?

'' 9 (...) [So,] if anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy [the Pharisees, they want to steal, kill and destroy; they want their own glory, but not Me: I actually care for the sheep, not for Myself]. I have come that they [the sheep] may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.'' [I have come to save the sheep. Therefore, hear My voice, be My sheep, do not listen to the Pharisees.] (John 10:9-10)

Verse 11:

'' 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.'' (John 10:11-15)

So, the hireling or someone that is hired to do a certain work, right?, this person does not truly care about the sheep. So, when his life is in danger, he just flees. He doesn't care, right? And then the wolf comes and scatters the sheep and the sheep are in danger. But Christ says: I'm not a hireling. I am the true shepherd. I am the one that truly, deeply, intimately care for the sheep. And therefore, I am there to protect them.

By the way, this entire illustration of the good shepherd is taken from Ezekiel 34, verses 10 to 16, and I highly recommend you read that passage. But I want to emphasize again on verses 13, 14 and 15. Says:

'' 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. [So, again, we sense the deep relationship here.] 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father [and I will see what St. Cyril has to say about this in a few seconds]; and I lay down My life for the sheep.'' (John 10:13-15)

So, the true shepherd is willing to lay down His life and obviously, this is a reference to the cross. Let's see what St. Cyril has to say:

''When Jesus says - I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father, it is equivalent to saying, I shall enter into a close relationship with my sheep, and my sheep shall be brought into a close relationship with me, according to the manner in which the Father is intimate with me, and again I also am intimate with the Father. For God the Father knows his own Son and the fruit of his substance because he is truly his parent. And again, the Son knows the Father, beholding him as God in truth, since he is begotten of him. In the same way, we also, being brought into a close relationship with God the Father, are called his family and are spoken of as children, according to what he himself said: - Behold, I and the children whom God has given me. Truly, we are called the family of the Son, and in fact we are part of his family. Through our relationship to the Son, we are related to God the Father, because the Only Begotten, who is God of God, was made man, and though separate from all sin, he assumed our human nature.'' (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John)

So here, St. Cyril is demonstrating how Christ is comparing His own relationship with God the Father to another relationship. And that other relationship is between Christ Himself and us as the sheep. So, he's saying: as the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father, that intimacy needs to be between us as sheep and Him Himself as the Son of God. In other words, we are family.

Verse 16:

'' 16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring [obviously talking about the Gentiles here], and they will hear My voice [so, even the Gentiles will obey]; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.'' (John 10:16)

And here, St. John makes it a point to make the formerly Jews now Christians equal to the formerly Gentiles now Christians, meaning in the beginning, in the first second century, the Church was composed of the ones that were originally Gentiles and became Christians and the ones that were originally Jews and became Christians. And here, there was always a tension or a contention between them.

And the ones that were formerly Jews often used to look down upon those who were formerly Gentiles. Here, St. John makes it a point to demonstrate that they are all one, again, because he's writing at the end of the 1 st century. So, he's keeping all of these things in mind. There'll be one flock (he makes no differentiation between them) and one shepherd.

It's very important here to note how, in God's eyes, all humans are equal. Regardless of race, regardless of gender, right?, regardless of social status: none of these things matter to God. We are meant to be one fold, right? We're meant to be one group, one church, one body.

Going back to verse 17:

'' 17 Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.'' (John 10:17)

Obviously, the love of God the Father is unconditional. The meaning, here, is more salvific. The fact that the Son is sinless makes Him perfect. And therefore, His relationship, as a human, with God the Father is intact, right? The reconciliation is... there's no need for it, because there's always that unity between them, because He is sinless. And therefore, because He is sinless and perfect, He's able to lay down His life and take it again.

'' 18 No one takes it from Me...'' (John 10:18)

Meaning here that because He's perfect, He's able to give His own life as a sacrifice. And because He is sinless, He will resurrect again. But not only because He is sinless. Then it says:

'' 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself [so, I do it per my own will]. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again...'' (John 10:18)

So, the Son is the source of life Himself, right? So, many verses in the Bible talk about how God the Father raised the Son, but here, it is also clear that the Son is the source of life in Himself and He's able to take His life back again. He's making... he's able to make Himself resurrect again.

'' 18 (...) This command I have received from My Father.''

Now, verse 19:

'' 19 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. 20 And many of them said, ''He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?'' 21 Others said, ''These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?'' '' (John 10:19-21)

Again, God the Son is truth and truth always divides people. Some people are seeking truth, some people are seeking their own agenda. And this is how St. John leaves the conversation, because, well, potentially because at the end of the 1 st century, that division was still ongoing. People have believed, became Christians. Others disbelieved and remained Jews.

Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith. And glory be to God forever and ever. Amen.

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Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith.