Reflection on Jn 10:27-28
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
In chapter 10 of John’s Gospel, Jesus says: “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
Who is a shepherd, a bishop or priest, after the example of Christ? Which of the bishops or priests cares in the first place to feed the sheep entrusted to him with sound doctrine? Which of these shepherds is ready to give his life for the sheep? Many of them are no true shepherds but mere hirelings. Jesus emphasizes that His sheep hear His voice. They will never follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. Jesus repeats several times that He is the Good Shepherd, and knows His sheep and His sheep know Him. He gives His sheep eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of His hand. The Father has given them to Him, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. In His dialogue with the Jews, Jesus stresses His Divinity, saying: “I and My Father are one.” (v. 30) What was the response to those words? The Jews took up stones to stone Him. Jesus points out His works which bear witness of His Divinity, and says to them: “Believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” (v. 38) Therefore they sought to seize Him again. The Jews were again divided. Many of them insulted Him, saying: “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?” Others said: “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
In this chapter, too, we can see that the greatest enemies of Christ’s teaching were the then religious leaders who were no good shepherds but fed themselves and finally condemned Christ to death. They fanaticized the crowd who shouted without any reason: “Away with Him! Crucify Him!” The same methods against the true shepherds were used by the Arians and again the Roman government served their purposes. That persecution was suffered by good shepherds like St. Basil the Great, St. Athanasius, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, or St. Maximus, Bishop of Jerusalem, who had his eye gouged out and his leg cut off by the Arians. The tragedy is that almost all Catholic bishops in the East, apart from the heroes of faith, lapsed into Arianism in the 4th century. Unfortunately, modern neo-Arianism has penetrated much deeper into Western Christianity through the so-called historical-critical method in theology. The Arians questioned the Divinity of Christ. Neo-Arians question the same and, in addition, they question the very inspiration of the Holy Scripture. Because they have destroyed the living faith and the living relationship to Christ, there has now remained a mere Church structure which holds sway over the misled sheep by obedience. It no longer leads them to the sheepfold of heaven but to the abyss of hell. The danger is that this all is disguised with positive terms and religious phrases. What is the fruit? The fruit is global apostasy from living Christianity. Moreover, this spiritual vacuum has opened the door to paganism and established a kind of unity through so-called reverence for pagan demons and their teachings. This became outwardly manifest through the gesture of John Paul II in Assisi in 1986. The meetings of this kind, which let the spirit of paganism in the Church, take place regularly every year in different places.
Jesus also says that He is the door to the sheepfold of heaven: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved.” It is really radical to say about various religious authorities who keep multitudes on their side that they are thieves and robbers. And Jesus says about them that they have come to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (v. 10). Jesus, by contrast, is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. The sheep are those who received Jesus as their Saviour and Lord.
The word of life: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”
Are you a sheep of Christ? Do you hear Jesus’ voice? Does Jesus know you? Do you follow Him? Or whom do you follow? Jesus promises to you eternal life, in other words, that you will never perish, and He also promises to you that no one will snatch you out of His hand. There are two conditions to be fulfilled on your part: 1) to hear Jesus’ voice and 2) to follow Him in the obedience of faith. Unlike the apostles, you cannot hear Jesus’ physical voice, but He speaks to you through His Holy Spirit even today.
Download: Reflection on Jn 10:27-28
