If the Jews have rejected Christ, that does not hinder Him having His sheep; only God does not wish to have His sheep in their fold. He calls them out, as He has done the man born blind; and when they are outside, He goes before them to guide them.
In order to enter by the door, the Lord has submitted to everything the Holy Scriptures said of Him; they had spoken about Him as to everything that He should have been on earth. He must be the Son of David, born in Bethlehem, and such like. But He was cast outside the fold by the Jews themselves, who were within. Jesus has not only entered by the door, but He has become the door Himself, in order that the sheep might enter by Him, not into the sheep-fold on earth, because there is no longer a sheep-fold on earth, but into the blessings of God.
I have said there is no longer a sheep-fold there, but a flock under a shepherd. Our security no longer consists in being a sheep-fold, but in the hand of the Shepherd. The Church external wants to be a sheep-fold, but it is a false one. The sheep-fold is a sort of prison; it was surrounded by walls. Such was the Jewish fold. The law was a wall that separated it from all the nations, but it was a prison. This fold had been made by God (after the nations had been scattered and fallen into idolatry) in order to separate one family, and place it in security in contrast with the nations.
The new flock of Christ is composed of Jews and of Gentiles. The porter is God who works by the Holy Spirit and by Providence. The rulers of the nation had done everything to hinder the sheep from going to Jesus to hear the voice of the good Shepherd; but all was in vain. It was a terrible thing for the Jews to say that the Lord’s sheep must go outside their fold, because that was setting them aside altogether. The sheep hear the voice of the Shepherd. Of this the blind man was an example; the same thing we see in Mary Magdalene, who recognizes the Shepherd by His voice. How precious to know that Jesus knows us by our own name, if we are His sheep!
Bat the sheep do not listen to the voice of the stranger, because they do not know it. They do not know every voice—that is, they do not know all the evil that makes pretension to be listened to; it is enough for the sheep to know that it is not the voice of their Shepherd; as a child who only knows its mother’s voice, and does not need to know any other. This is of great importance, because the sheep cannot know all the bad doctrines and all the evil, in order thereby to cleave to the good. If a heretic comes to preach a bad doctrine the sheep will not listen to him, for the simple reason that their ears do not know his voice. Should one come to me to speak of good works as a means of salvation, and of sacraments, I perceive that this is not the voice of my Shepherd, I do not know what voices these are. I may be most ignorant of all these things, but Christ is enough for me, my confidence is in Him alone, and I do not want to know anyone else than Christ.
The Shepherd goes before the sheep, because in the way there may be many difficulties, or the way may be doubtful for us, so that I would certainly miss my way. But Jesus goes before to dispel the difficulties and to point out the way, so that I have naught to do but follow Him.
At v. 6 it is said that the disciples did not know the things of which Jesus spake; but if they did not know this doctrine, at least they followed the Good Shepherd. Now this ignorance and weakness of the disciples in not knowing how to use the power of the Lord, was more painful to the Lord than even the very evil that was in men. For it was the evil that brought Him to the earth, while the unbelief of the disciples made Him say, “How long shall I be with you?” (Matt. 17:1717Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. (Matthew 17:17)).
At v. 7 Jesus says He is the door of the sheep, and not the door of the sheep-fold, because, as I have already said, Christians have no fold but in heaven. Many thieves and robbers have tried to make themselves leaders, and to draw the sheep after them, but these knew they could not be the Good Shepherd. For example, in Acts 5 it is said of Theudas, and of Judas the Galilean, who tried to draw away people after them, but the sheep of the Lord well knew that their leaders had not the qualities for being the Good Shepherd. How could Simeon, who had held the babe in his arms, have followed these ambitious men?
At v. 9 we have three things—the salvation of the sheep, their liberty, and then their nourishment.
At v. 10 we have the character of the robber; he destroys everything. The word sheep is in italics; he not only destroys the sheep, but everything. The sheep then not only have life, but life snore abundantly-that is resurrection life. Jesus, at v. 11, speaks of His death, not as to its worth, but as His goodness and faithfulness for the sheep. The hireling is the man who is paid to keep the sheep; the sheep are not his, he keeps them only for the salary, and has no other interests nor affection for the sheep; and, therefore, if the wolf come he saves his own life, and leaves the sheep in his power.