John 10:14 — Community Reflections

JOHN 10:14 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.”

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — the fourth I-Am statement emphasizes the reciprocal, intimate relationship between Christ and His people: mutual knowledge (ginōskō, experiential, relational knowledge, not mere information). This mutuality is rooted in love and covenant; the sheep know the shepherd's voice, and the shepherd knows each sheep by name. The knowledge is not abstract but personal and transformative, parallel to Jesus' claim of knowing the Father intimately.

Church Fathers on John 10:14

Two evil persons have been mentioned, one that kills, and robs the sheep, another that does not hinder: the one standing for those movers of seditions; the other for the rulers of the Jews, who did not take care of the sheep committed to them. Christ distinguishes Himself from both; from the one who came to do hurt by saying, I am come that they might have life; from those who overlook the rapine of the wolves, by saying that He gives His life for the sheep. Wherefore He said…
Chrysostom · 4th century

As if He said, I love My sheep, and they love and follow Me. For he who loves not the truth, is as yet very far from knowing it.
Gregory the Great · 6th century

Hence the difference of the hireling and the Shepherd. The hireling does not know his sheep, because he sees them so little. The Shepherd knows His sheep, because He is so attractive to them.
Theophylact · 11th century

Read all 26 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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