I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
All Commentaries on John 10:11 Go To John 10
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Our Lord has acquainted us with two things which were obscure before; first, that Heis the Door; and now again, that He is the Shepherd: I am the good Shepherd. Above He said that the shepherd entered by the door. If He is the Door, how does He enter by Himself? Justas He knows the Father by Himself, and we by Him; so He enters into the fold by Himself, and we by Him. We enter by the door, because we preach Christ; Christ preaches Himself. Alight shows both other things, and itself too. There is but one Shepherd. For though the rulers of the Church, those who are her sons, and not hirelings, are shepherds, they are all members of that one Shepherd. His office of Shepherd He has permitted His members to bear. Peter isa shepherd, and all the other Apostles: all good Bishops are shepherds. But none of us calls himself the door. He could not have added good, if there were not bad shepherds as well. They are thieves and robbers; or at least mercenaries.
Christ was not the only one who ho did this. And yet if they who did it aremembers of Him, one and the same Christ did it always. He was able to do it without them; they were not without Him.
All these however were good shepherds, not because they shed their blood, but because they did it for the sheep. For they shed it not in pride, but in love. Should any among the heretics suffer trouble in consequence of their errors and iniquities, they forthwith boast of their martyrdom; that they may be the better able to steal under so fair a cloak: for they are in reality wolves. But not all who give their bodies to be burned, are to be thought to shed their blood for the sheep; rather against the sheep; for the Apostle said, Though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing. And how has he even the smallest charity, who does not love connection with Christians? to command which, our Lord did not mention many shepherds, but one, I am the good Shepherd.
He seeks therefore in the Church, not God, but something else. If he sought God he would be chaste; for the soul has but one lawful husband, God. Whoever seeks from God any thing beside God, seeks unchastely.
The wolf is the devil, and they that follow him; according to Matthew, Which come to you in sheep’s’ clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Lo,the wolf has seized a sheep by the throat, the devil has enticed a man into adultery. The sinner must be excommunicated But if he is excommunicated, he will be an enemy, he will plot, he will do as much harm as he can. Wherefore you are silent, you do not censure, you have seenthe wolf coming, and fled. Your body has stood, your mind has fled. For as joy is relaxation, sorrow contraction, desire a reaching forward of the mind; so fear is the flight of the mind.
But if the Apostles were shepherds, not hirelings, why did they flee in persecution? And why did our Lord say, When they persecute you in this city, flee you into another? Let us knock, then will come one, who will explain.
A servant of Christ, andminister of His Word and Sacraments, may flee from city to city, when he is specially aimed at by the persecutors, apart from his brethren; so that his flight does not leave the Church destitute. But when all, i.e. Bishops, Clerics, and Laics, are in danger in common, let not those who need assistance be deserted by those who should give it. Let all flee together if they can, to some place of security; but, if any are obliged to stay, let them not be forsaken by those who are bound to minister to their spiritual wants. Then, under pressing persecution, may Christ’s ministers flee from the place where they are, when none of Christ’s people remain to be ministered to, or when that ministry may be fulfilled by others who have not the same cause for flight. But when the people stay, and the ministers flee, and the ministry ceases, what is this but a damnable flight of hirelings, who care not for the sheep? .
On the good side are the door, the porter, the shepherd, and the sheep; on the bad, the thieves, the robbers, the hirelings, the wolf.
We must love the shepherd, beware of the wolf, tolerate the hireling. For the hireling is useful so long as he sees not the wolf, the thief, and the robber. When he sees them, he flees.
Indeed he would not be a hireling, did he not receive wages from the hirer. Sons wait patiently for the eternal inheritance of their father; the hireling looks eagerly for the temporal wages from his hirer; and yet the tongues of both speak abroad the glory of Christ. The hireling hurts, in that he does wrong, not in that he speaks right: the grape bunch hangs amid thorns; pluck the grape, avoid the thorn. Many that seek temporal advantages in the Church, preach Christ, and through them Christ’s voice is heard; and the sheep follow not the hireling, but the voice of the Shepherd heard through the hireling.
