John 10:22-30 (NRSV Updated Edition)
At that time the Festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me, but you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, in regard to what he has given me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of the Father's hand. The Father and I are one.”
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"The testimony to Jesus is that the works he does are works that only the Father can do. He does not in any sense claim these as his own works, meaning that he gives testimony to himself. His own uninterrupted participation in the bringing into being of the fulfillment of creation, something only the Father can do of himself, is testimony that the Father is at work...
"If this were not proof enough, then its inverse is shown: Jesus' interlocutors are unable to believe because they receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from God. That is to say, because they are locked into the rivalistic [imitative] bringing into being of their identities, they are unable to have their identities formed by peaceful [imitation] of and from God. This is the equivalent of not having life and being stuck in the realm of death: they cannot “believe,” that is, be drawn into the peaceful imitation of Jesus by which they would come to find themselves drawn into having their identities creatively given by God and thus accede to life.
"In John 10 we have the same understanding at work: because of Jesus' perfect imitation of the Father, he is able to make present on earth as a real human practice the way in which the Father is the shepherd of Israel. He does this precisely by the creative going to his death which brings about one flock and one shepherd. What he is doing is bringing about the Father's shepherdliness by inaugurating a real human practice of shepherding a real human gathering into one."
- James Alison, The Joy of Being Wrong" pp. 198-9
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"[T]he process of following, hearing the words and discovering yourself known, and therefore trusting the one who is leading you on, is a process of growing in safety. That's the sense of safety and security, that's what the language of shepherding is about, it's about being safe. Salvation is, after all, about being safe.
"So, “my sheep hear my voice I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish.” In other words, following him, [they] don't need to be frightened of death. He has shown that he's not manipulating people into dying for him, he is dying for them. But he shows that he lays down his life and he takes it up. [...] The one who gives his life away, that one is someone who you can follow without fear. There's no manipulation, they're not using you for some project of their own and then running away and hiding when the going get's tough.
"“I give them eternal life and they will never perish.” In other words, you follow through this, and this whole process of you're following me, you're hearing me is the process of my giving you abundant life. As you follow me, as you allow my life to take hold of you, so you will find yourselves being held in safety.
[...]
"[W]hat his Father has given [Jesus] is the capacity to take people into life. His father has given him the ability to be becoming inside us and turning us into him as part of a mutual interpenetration. It can't be snatched away. It's greater than anything else. Why? Because it's the creator who's at work. Snatchers-away can only snatch away at things that are, if you like, loose elements. But someone who is actually part of the dynamic of creation and is being brought into being by the creator can't be snatched away. It can be hated, can be mistreated, all of those things, but [they know] that they are, in fact, safe on the inside of the project of being brought into being.
[...]
"What [Jesus is] saying quite clearly here is that he is the fulfillment of the promised Davidic shepherd from the prophet Ezekiel where it says: “I myself will come and pasture my sheep,” that will be part of the Davidic line. Jesus here is answering what a few verses before... the Jews, the regime and its addicts have been saying to him: how long will you keep us in suspense? If you're the Messiah, tell us plainly. And Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name testify to you.” And he's not only talking about the miraculous signs. He's talking about this process of leading people into life. It's actually this long process of leading people into life without obstacles, without stumbling blocks. That is the sign that he is the Davidic shepherd who has come to shepherd the sheep.
"But that's not something you say. If you say it, if you like, the didactic definition, it leads to transactional relations. But the hearing of the voice and following is the inductive relation into the interpenetration. The inductive relationship in interpenetration is how God does these things. If the Messiah is of God, that is how the Messiah is doing these things. That Jesus is doing these things is because he and the Father are one.
"And he said earlier: you won't get it because you're not of my sheep. In other words, you haven't been prepared to enter into this following and discovering yourself on the inside of me, such that your voice, my voice are in complete harmony. You can pick up who I am, who is speaking to you, you could discover that you are known through my eyes, and that you grow as you are known. But you don't engage in this interpenetrative following, so you're never going to get it. So when then he says, “The Father and I are one,” all they hear is a blasphemy. And so they took up stones again to stone him. And after a brief discussion, he leaves the Temple for the last time, since this is the last time in John's Gospel that he appears in the Temple.
"What I wanted to bring out here is how what we're being asked to enter into is the dynamic of how the risen Lord comes into our life through producing in us a following that teaches us to recognize his voice. And as that happens, we discover ourselves known."
- James Alison, from video "Homily for Fourth Sunday in Easter 2022 C" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXKx9zrrHhE)
[For further discussion and reflection on this week's lectionary texts: https://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-c/easter4c/]
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