The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. John
Ver. 12 . — But he that is an hireling , &c. An hireling seeks not the good of the sheep but merely his own profit. “ Hirelings are they,” says S. Augustine, “ who seek their own things, and not the things of Christ and of the sheep.” So too S. Basil. But the apostles, though they fed not their own sheep, but the sheep of Christ, were not hirelings, because they sought not their own temporal gain, but the spiritual and eternal gain of the faithful. “ He is called a hireling, and not a shepherd,” says S. Gregory (Hom. xiv.), “who feeds the Lord’s sheep, not from deepest love, but for worldly gain. The hireling is he who holds the post of a shepherd , but seeks not to gain souls ; is eager for earthly advantages, rejoices in the honour of the prelacy, feeds on temporal gains, delights in the reverence paid to him by men.”
Seeth the wolf coming. “ For in a time of tranquillity,” says S. Gregory, “very often the hireling, as well as the true shepherd, stands on guard over the flock. But the approach of the wolf shows the temper of mind with which they did so. The wolf attacks the sheep when the violent and the spoiler oppress those who are faithful and humble. But he who seemed to be a shepherd and was not, leaves the sheep and runs away, because through fear for himself he does not venture to withstand his injustice.”
Fleeth : “ Not by change of place,” says S. Gregory, “ but by withdrawing support He flies, because he saw injustice and held his peace : he flies, because he conceals himself by silence. To whom the prophet well says, “Ye have not gone up against him, nor raised up a wall for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord” (Ezek. xiii. 5).
And the wolf catcheth them , i.e. A heretic, or any wicked man, who strives to pervert the faithful by word or example, or (as S. Gregory says) “the devil, who seizes them when he draws away this man to luxury, inflames another with avarice, puffs up another with pride, parts asunder others through anger, stimulates another with envy, supplants another by deceit. The devil therefore scatters the flock when he kills the faithful by temptations. But the hireling is not inflamed by zeal against such attacks, is not enkindled by any warmth of love. Because by looking after mere outward advantages, he carelessly takes no account of the inward injury which is done to the flock.”
And hence, Christ leaves it to be gathered by contrast that the good shepherd when he sees the wolf coming neither flies nor forsakes his sheep, but stands firm and fights for them even to death, and in this way lays down his life for them. But when it is allowable for a pastor to fly when persecuted, and when not, see notes on S. Matt. x. 23. Also S. Augustine (Epis. clxxx. ad Honoratum). I use on this matter the words of S. Gregory the more freely, because he had full experience of those things in his own person.
Ver. 13 . — The hireling fleeth because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep . As though it were said directly, he who loves not the sheep, but worldly gain, cannot stand firm when the sheep are in danger. For while he is aiming at honour, and rejoicing in worldly gain, he is afraid of exposing himself to danger, lest he should lose that which he loves. For no one takes such diligent care for that which is another’s as he does for his own. And therefore the hireling cares more for his own life than for the sheep which are not his ; and flies when the wolf comes, as caring more for his own life than for the sheep.
Ver. 14 . — I am the good shepherd, and know My sheep . Christ knows His sheep not merely with the watchful and tender eyes of His Godhead (as S. Cyril says), but also with the eyes of His manhood (for it is as man that He is the Pastor of His Church). He knows who are His faithful ones, what are their gifts, and also what are their weaknesses, that He may increase the one, and heal the other. He knows them therefore not merely speculatively, but practically, and heaps on them all His gifts, benefits, and graces.
And am known of Mine, with the eyes of faith, hope, and charity, because they believe in Me, hope in Me, and love Me above all things. “ Because I love them, they love Me in return, for love is the loadstone of love : if thou wishest to be loved, thou thyself must love. Love is the powerful allurement of love.” So Theophylact. And besides this His love of us, He inspires in us love for Him in return. And this love is our highest good, leading us to heaven and making us blessed.
Ver. 15. — As the Father knoweth Me, &c. By this comparison Christ points out both the origin and also the greatness of the love which He bestows on His sheep. The boundless knowledge and love which exists between the Father and Myself, is the source of the love which exists between Myself and My faithful ones. Both because divine and uncreated love is the source of all human and created love ; and also because it is the Father’s will that I should love My faithful ones with great and special love, as He loves Me, and I love Him with boundless affection ; for He wishes to adopt My faithful ones through Me who am His Son by nature, and He therefore loves them supremely as His children. And I do the same, because I submit in all things to the love and will of the Father ; nay more, My love is the same as the Father’s, as our will, our nature, and our Godhead is the same.
But here note the word “as” signifies similarity, not equality. For the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father with uncreated, and therefore infinite love. But the Son, as man, loves His own with a created and finite love, and is loved with a like love in return. But there will be here also a kind of equality, if with Maldonatus you explain it thus : When Christ says, I know My sheep , He speaks as God; but when He says, The Father knoweth Me , and I know My Father, He speaks of Himself as man.
For just as Christ (as God) knows His sheep, and His sheep as men know Him in return ; so the Father, as God, knows the Son as man, and the Son, as man, acknowledges His Father, and calls Him Father, as we do ourselves. ‘I ascend to My Father, and your Father.’
And I lay down My life for My sheep . This refers back to verse 14. “I know My sheep,” I love them, most ardently, and therefore I lay down, i.e., I will shortly lay down, My life for them. He put in the words, “ as the Father knoweth Me,” to represent the source and the intensity of His love for His people, by His love for the Father, for it was this love which urged Him to lay down His life for His sheep. But the words “ I lay down ” signify that the death of Christ was not compulsory, but voluntary, self-chosen, and even loved for their salvation. So Leontius. And Christ thus expresses Himself below (ver. 18). “No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.” And the words also signify, “ I lay it down for a time, in order to take it again.” The death of Christ therefore was not so much a death as the placing His soul for three days in Limbus.
Ver. 16. — And other sheep I have , &c. Other sheep , i.e., those who will be My sheep. This is spoken by anticipation. He means the Gentiles, and thus predicts their call and conversion, to show that He was to be the King and Shepherd of all nations, just as up to this time He had been of the Jews : and that, consequently , He did not care (comparatively) whether the Jews (few as they were in number) would be unbelieving and rebellious, since He was about to put countless Gentiles in their place. So Rupertus, who adds, “ and they will hear My voice,” striking quietly at the Jews.
And there will be one fold, and one shepherd. Some suppose that in the end of the world, God will convert all the Jews by Elias, and all the Gentiles by Enoch, and thus there will become one Church, made up of them both, and one Pastor, Christ, and His Vicar the Supreme Pontiff, who will be called the Angelic Pastor. (See the list of Popes, described symbolically, in the life of S. Malachi.) But they are in error. For neither will Elias convert all the Jews, nor Enoch all the Gentiles. For there will be then many unbelievers and followers of antichrist. But this is far from being the meaning of Christ. It was, that after His death and resurrection His apostles would be dispersed among all nations, and convert them, so that both Jews and Gentiles would be gathered into one Church of believers, under one Shepherd, Christ, and His Vicar, the Roman Pontiff. This is not to be looked forward to as something future, for it took place in the time of Constantine the first Christian emperor, who christianised nearly all the nations which were subject to him. The Apostle graphically sets this before us (Eph. ii.)