The Shepherd and the Law

From the Jewish upbringing to perfection in faith and in following Christ. For the sheep, being well-led by the shepherd, knowing his voice and following him as he leads, are the people of Israel—those who leave behind bodily pursuits and follow the Lord as he exits the world. These are those who understand that truly the things of Christ lead from small things to greater things and not from good to evil, which is the work of not a shepherd, but a thief and a robber, that is, an evil teacher who shifts from law to lawlessness, teaching not to follow him by saying that the sheep should not fall to lawless teachers, those who are obedient to both God and the law.

The shepherd calling his own sheep by name also shows the election of those with spiritual pursuits, according to what was said in the prophets: “but you shall gather the sons of Israel one by one”; “for not all have faith.” Nor are all able, since they do not even want to depart from the accustomed habits and be freed from the worldly effort, but to live according to divine discipline and the supra-cosmic, toward which also the Lord guides his own disciples, going before them.

The time for such a parable is most opportune, the present one, teaching about those exiting from the Jewish synagogue; for they indeed brought out those who, having “looked up blind from birth” through the testimony concerning Christ, had been healed. But for him it was not so bad, but the greatest good, because they did not perceive his voice as the cause of the healing. And the one opening the door to the shepherd and opening the entrance decorously is the overseer of Israel, an angel who receives the presence of the king unseemly and hands over to the greater oversight those entrusted to him according to the measure of the domestic commission; for, he says, we were “under stewards” and “deputies” (John 10:6). Proverbs also makes it clear that now he has called the parable (John 10:8).

The Lord entered through the law of fulfillment, being himself in a certain way, and the law; for in the living and true Word, the legal is also contained.

And he led the followers onto pasture and life-giving nourishment, because by the power of the Spirit he feeds them so that they no longer need legal commands, but are led by rational doctrines; for he says, 'having abolished the law of commandments in doctrines' (Galatians 2:19). Indeed, law was given unable to give life, but the Word gives the life of Christ regarding eternal things from the good temporary things, and not life only, but also granting the kingdom within life, which is the abundance.

Who then would be the thieves and robbers who came before the Lord and were not heard by the sheep? And who else but those who taught the law departed through the transfer to the Gentile life, those leading to the alienation of God and bringing destruction through that alienation. Therefore the Lord most necessarily shows a difference from himself from those who transferred from the law, which the apostle also observes by saying: 'For I died by the law according to the law so that I might live to God' (Galatians 2:19); that is, the law was not set aside through lawlessness so that I might be driven into death, but through the truly lawful and divine polity, which leads toward eternal life.

For since false and not good shepherds have stood, shepherds of hire who were for a portion of pleasure, to whom the sheep did not matter, but they were feeding their own pleasure, fleeing from this—the coming of the wolf to the sheep, that is, the destruction that accompanies wickedness—the Lord, so that we might not perish before sin, having taken up such oversight and died to sin for us. But those shepherds gave the sheep over to sin, feeding 'themselves' as Ezekiel says (Ezekiel 34:2) and 'not the sheep.' Therefore also God said: 'I will shepherd the sheep' (Ezekiel 34:11) and fulfilled this through the Lord shepherding.

Having said that even the sheep know him (John 10:14), and to this he gave the likeness, saying to the sheep that the knowledge toward him is such as his toward the Father. This indeed is among men the knowledge of the Lord according to virtue, but in the Lord the knowledge of the Father according to nature; for the likeness according to virtue imitates that which is good by nature. Knowing his own...