John 10:12Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore I beseech you, let us always remain under the guidance of the Shepherd. We shall remain there when we listen to His voice, when we obey Him, and when we do not follow a stranger.

And what is His voice? "Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the merciful," Mt 5:3, 7, 8. If we fulfill these things, we shall remain under the guidance of the Shepherd, and the wolf will not be able to enter in among us. Even if he enters, he will do so to his own destruction.

We have a Shepherd who loves us so greatly that He laid down His life for us. If He is both mighty and loves us, what can hinder us from being saved? Nothing, unless we ourselves depart from Him.

And how can we depart? Hear what He says: "No one can serve two masters, God and mammon," Mt 6:24. Therefore, if we serve mammon, we shall no longer remain under God's dominion.

Attachment to wealth is worse than every tyranny. It gives no pleasure at all, but produces cares, envy, treachery, hatred, slanders, and countless hindrances to virtue: negligence, debauchery, greed, and drunkenness.

It makes even free men slaves, and worse than slaves. They are slaves not of men, but of the most terrible of passions and diseases of the soul. Such a man resolves upon many things contrary to God and men, fearing that someone may tear him from this dominion.

Bitter slavery, diabolical dominion! What is especially ruinous is that, while we are in so wretched a state, we are cheerful in spirit. We kiss our chains. Dwelling in a prison full of darkness, we do not wish to come out into the light. We cling to evil and delight in the sickness.

For this reason we cannot be freed and are in a worse condition than those who work in the mines. We are subjected to labors and calamities, yet we do not enjoy the fruits.

Worst of all, if anyone should wish to deliver us from this heavy captivity, we not only do not allow it, but even become angry and indignant. Thus we show ourselves no better than the insane, and even far more wretched than all of them, because we do not want to part with our madness.

Was it for this that you appeared in the world, O man? Were you born a man for this, only to mine the earth and gather gold? The Lord did not create you in His image for this, but that you might please Him, attain the good things to come, and rejoice with the angels.

Why, then, do you deprive yourself of such fellowship and descend to the last degree of dishonor and humiliation? Your brother by birth, I mean spiritual birth, is perishing from hunger, while you are faint from excess. Your brother goes with naked body, while you make coverings even for garments, to protect them from moths by such coverings.

Would it not be far better to cover the bodies of the poor with them? Then the garments would remain whole, you would be free from every care, and this would gain you the life to come.

If you do not want your garments to be eaten by moths, give them to the poor. They know well how to shake out these garments. Moreover, the Body of Christ is more honorable and safer than a chest. It not only stores garments and keeps them unharmed, but also makes them more splendid.

A chest is often stolen together with the clothing, causing you extreme loss. But not even death can harm this treasury. Here we need no doors, no locks, no watchful servants, and no other such precautions. It is inaccessible to every malicious design.

What is stored there is as safe as if it were in heaven. No evil can penetrate there.

We never cease speaking of this, but you do not listen to our words. This is because our soul is poor, attached to the earth, and creeping below. Yet do not think that I condemn all of you for this evil, as though all of you were incurably sick.

If those intoxicated with wealth shut their hearing to my words, those who live in poverty will pay attention to them. But how, you will say, does this apply to the poor? They have neither gold nor many garments.

But they have bread and cold water. They have two mites and feet with which to visit the sick. They have a tongue and speech with which to receive the stranger.

We do not demand from the poor so many talents of gold. We demand this only from the rich. If someone is poor and comes to the doors of other poor people, our Lord will not be ashamed to receive even a mite from him. He will even say that He received more from him than from those who gave much.

How many of those standing here would have desired to live in the time when Christ dwelt on earth in the flesh, to be under one roof with Him and share His table? Now this is possible. We can invite Him to supper and dine with Him, even with greater benefit.

Many of those who then dined with Him perished, such as Judas and others like him. But everyone who now calls Him into his house and offers Him table and shelter will be counted worthy of a great blessing.

"Come," He says, "blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me food. I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink. I was a stranger, and you received Me. I was sick, and you visited Me. I was in prison, and you came to Me," Mt 25:34-36.

Therefore, so that we may hear these words, let us clothe the naked, receive the stranger, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit the sick, and go to those in prison. Through this we shall receive boldness and forgiveness of sins. We shall be counted worthy of blessings surpassing word and mind. May we all attain them by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.

He may rightly be called a thief, who robs through evil thoughts, kills through consent to them, and destroys through the deed.

Sometimes an evil thought assaults someone. This is theft.

If the person consents to the evil suggestion, then one may say that the devil kills him.

But when the person actually commits the evil, then he perishes.

Perhaps this is also what the words mean: "The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy."

He defines how the good shepherd must be recognized. Fighting for the salvation of the flock, he must give even his own life without hesitation. This was fulfilled by Christ.

The father of sin, according to what is said in the Psalms, set us to be shepherded "like sheep in Hades," Ps 48:15, by handing us over to death. But the truly good Shepherd died for us, so that, drawing us out of the dark abysses of death, He might make it possible for us to be numbered among the heavenly choirs. Instead of folds in the abysses of the deep and depths of the sea, He granted us the dwellings above with the Father.

Therefore He says to us in one place: "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom," Lk 12:32.

But this concerns Christ. Now let us consider them. To everyone who judges them with a faithful eye, they will in fact appear to be nothing other than hirelings, false shepherds, cowards, traitors, and idlers. They pay no attention at all to the benefit of the sheep, but strive only to obtain from every side what is pleasant and agreeable to each.

Yes, they were "hirelings," according to the Savior's word, and the sheep were "not their own." They belonged to Christ, who purchased them from the beginning and ordained hierarchs over the Jewish people for heavenly honors.

But they neglected such great honors and did not value the fold of the flock at all. They handed the sheep over to the wolf. We shall say briefly how this happened.

In ancient times the numerous Jewish people acknowledged only God as king. To Him they gave didrachmas and sacrifices. As though offering a kind of tribute, they brought a life in accordance with the law.

But a foreign man, or people, came upon this people like a wild "wolf." He imposed both the name and the reality of slavery, placed upon them the yoke of human kingship, compelled them to pass into a lawless and immoral life, demanded tribute, and tore them away from the Kingdom of God. Those who fell into such calamities were compelled to submit to the laws of their masters.

The foreigner came, thrusting aside the authority of God, that is, the tribe which had received the sacred ministry, to which judgment and law had been entrusted by God. He distorted everything, imposed constraint, compelled his own image to be struck on the coins, and carried out every kind of violence.

Yet against such unbearable oppression the shepherds did not keep watch. They saw "the wolf coming" and, leaving the flock, fled, because the sheep were not "their own." They did not call upon Him who could help, who had saved them from the Babylonians, turned away the Assyrian, and slain by the hand of an Angel "one hundred eighty-five thousand" foreigners, Is 37:36.

That subjection to the authority of foreigners brought no small harm to Israel and weakened piety, you can learn from the facts themselves. When Pilate once rebuked the incredible insolence of the Jews, who demanded that he crucify the Lord, and said plainly, "Shall I crucify your King?" Jn 19:15, they then cast off slavery to God and broke the bonds of the original dominion. They subjected themselves to a new yoke and shamelessly cried out: "We have no king but Caesar," Jn 19:15.

The rulers of the Jews thought it just to do and proclaim this. Therefore the blame for all the calamities must be placed upon them. With every justice they are condemned as traitors of the flock, as cowards deprived of courage, and as foolish men who utterly refused to defend and fight for the flock subject to them.

Therefore God accuses them in these words: "The shepherds have become senseless and have not sought the Lord. Therefore the whole flock did not understand and was scattered," Jer 10:21.

Thus the facts themselves prove that Christ is the truly good Shepherd of the sheep. They, however, are destructive rather than good, and altogether alien to true praise.

Man fell away from the love of God, turned aside into sin, and for this was removed from the holy and divine court, that is, from the enclosure of Paradise. Having suffered such calamity, he became the prey of the devil, who enticed him to sin and to death born from sin, those fierce and untamed wolves.

But when Christ, the good Shepherd over all, appeared, He laid down His life for us, fighting against this pack of fierce beasts. He endured the Cross for us, so that by death He might put death to death. He underwent condemnation for our sake, to free all from condemnation for transgression. By faith He abolished the sin that held dominion, "nailing to His Cross the handwriting that was against us," as it is written, Col 2:14.

"I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be cheered in spirit when I know your circumstances. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for you. For all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ" (Phil 2:19-21).

But what shall we say about the hireling? He was not mentioned among the good. "The good shepherd," He says, "lays down his life for the sheep. But the hireling, who is not the shepherd, and to whom the sheep do not belong, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. And the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them" (Jn 10:11-12).

Here the hireling does not express a good figure, yet in a certain sense he is useful. He would not be called a hireling, mercenarius, unless he received wages, merces, from the one who hired him. Who, then, is this hireling, if he is both blameworthy and necessary as a worker?

Here, brethren, let the Lord Himself enlighten us, so that we may understand who the hirelings are, and not become hirelings ourselves. Who, then, is this hireling? In the Church there are certain presiding men, praepositi, of whom the apostle says: they "seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ" (Phil 2:21).

What does it mean that they seek their own? They do not love God freely. They do not seek God for God's sake, but pursue passing advantages, seek profit, and thirst for honors from men.

When a presiding man is moved by love for such things and serves God for their sake, whoever he may be, he is a hireling. He cannot be numbered among the sons of God. Of such men the Lord says: "Truly I say to you, they have received their reward" (Mt 6:5).

Hear what the apostle Paul says about holy Timothy: "I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be cheered in spirit when I know your circumstances. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for you. For all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ" (Phil 2:19-21).

The shepherd grieved among hirelings. He sought someone who would sincerely love the flock of Christ, and among those who were then near him he found none. This does not mean that in Christ's Church there was no one besides the apostle Paul and Timothy who sincerely cared for the flock.

Rather, when he sent Timothy, it happened that none of the sons of God were near him. Only hirelings were near him, seeking their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. Yet the apostle himself, sincerely caring for the flock, preferred to send the son of God, that is, Timothy, and to remain among hirelings.

We too encounter hirelings, and no one recognizes them except the Lord. He sees the heart and discerns. Yet at times we also recognize them. Not without reason did the Lord also say about wolves: "By their fruits you will know them" (Mt 7:16).

Temptations scandalize many, and then their thoughts reveal them. But many remain hidden. Let there be in the sheepfold presiding men who are both sons and hirelings. The stewards who are sons are shepherds.

If they are shepherds, why is there only one Shepherd? Because all of them are members of the one Shepherd to whom the sheep belong. For they are also members of the one Sheep, since "as a sheep He was led to the slaughter" (Is 53:7).

Listen, then, to how hirelings are also necessary. In the Church many indeed seek earthly advantage, yet they preach Christ. Through them the voice of Christ is heard, and the sheep follow it. They follow not the voice of the hireling, but the voice of the Shepherd sounding through the hireling.

Hear about the hirelings whom the Lord Himself indicates: "The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. Therefore do whatever they say, but do not do what they do" (cf. Mt 23:2-3).

What else did He say except this: "Listen to the Shepherd's voice through the hirelings"? Sitting on Moses' seat, they teach the law of God. Therefore God teaches through them. But if they wish to teach what is their own, do not listen to them.

Do not do what they teach from themselves. Certainly such hirelings seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ (Phil 2:21). Nevertheless, no hireling will dare to say to Christ's people: "Seek your own, not the things of Jesus Christ" (Phil 2:21).

He does not preach from Christ's seat the evil he himself does. He causes harm by doing evil, not by saying what is good. Pluck the grapes, and beware of the thornbush.

It is good if you have already understood this. But for the sake of those whose minds are slower, I will say it more plainly. Why did I say, "Pluck the grapes, and beware of the thornbush"? The Lord says: "Do they gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?" (Mt 7:16).

This is absolutely true. Yet what I said is also true: "Pluck the grapes, and beware of the thornbush." Sometimes grapes, born from the root of the vine, hang on a hedge. Their branch grows and is woven into the thornbush.

The fruit hangs from the thornbush, though it does not belong to it. The vine does not produce thorns, but its branches have lain upon the thornbush. Seek nothing except the roots. Seek the root of the thornbush, and you will find it outside the vine.

Seek the origin of the grapes, and you will find that it rises from the root of the vine. Thus the seat of Moses was the vine. The morals of the Pharisees were the thornbush. The teaching that comes through evil men is the branches lying on the hedge.

It is grapes among thorns. Gather carefully, so that while you seek the fruit you do not injure your hand. While you listen to one who speaks what is good, do not imitate one who does evil.

"Do what they say": gather the grapes. "Do not do what they do": beware of the thornbush. Therefore listen to the Shepherd's voice sounding through hirelings, but do not be hirelings if you are members of the Shepherd.

The holy apostle Paul himself said: "I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for you. For all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ" (Phil 2:20-21). Elsewhere he distinguishes between hirelings and sons.

See what he said: "Some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ from rivalry, not sincerely, thinking to add affliction to my bonds" (cf. Phil 1:15-17).

These were hirelings, who envied the apostle Paul. Why did they envy, if not because they sought passing things? But notice what he adds: "What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice" (Phil 1:18).

Christ is the truth. Let the truth be preached in pretense by hirelings. Let the truth be preached sincerely by sons. Sons patiently hope for the eternal inheritance of the Father. Hirelings long for the hasty and passing wage from the one who hired them.

Let human glory depart from me, for I see that hirelings are so jealous for it. Yet let the divine glory of Christ be spread by the tongues of hirelings and sons, whether Christ is preached in pretense or in truth.

We have seen who the hireling is. Who is the wolf, if not the devil?

Then the high priests and Pharisees were meant, and that whole Jewish division.

He called them hireling shepherds because they had assumed the authority of shepherding not for the sake of truth, but for their own gain.

Out of vain hypocrisy they pray so as to devour the bread of widows and orphans (Mt 23:14).

They are hirelings who serve necessity slavishly, chase after the present, and do not keep the future in view. They are hirelings, not shepherds.

But in the future life he is a stranger to the inheritance of the flock.

Whether someone is a shepherd or a hireling cannot be known with certainty unless there is an occasion of necessity.

In time of calm, for the most part, both the true shepherd and the hireling stand guard over the flock.

But the coming wolf reveals the disposition with which each stood guard over the flock.

For the wolf comes upon the sheep when some unrighteous and rapacious man oppresses certain faithful and simple people.

There are some who, preferring earthly well-being to the sheep, justly lose the name of shepherd.

He is called not a shepherd but a hireling who shepherds the Lord's sheep not from true love, but for temporal reward.

Thus the hireling is the one who occupies the place of shepherd but does not seek benefit for souls.

He longs for earthly comforts, rejoices in honor, enjoys temporal profit, and is glad because of the honors given him by men.

But there is another wolf who constantly, every day, tears not bodies but souls. This is the evil spirit.

Plotting, he prowls around the fold of the faithful and seeks death for souls.

This wolf is meant by the words: "The wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them" (Jn 10:12).

The wolf comes and the hireling flees, since the evil spirit tears the souls of the faithful in temptation, and the one who occupies the place of shepherd does not care.

Souls perish, while he rejoices in earthly comforts.

"The wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them" (Jn 10:12). He drags one away by luxury, inflames another with greed, and leads another into pride.

He divides another by anger, incites this one by envy, and bends that one toward deceit.

The devil, who destroys the souls of the faithful through temptations, is like a wolf scattering the flock.

But the hireling is not kindled by any zeal at this. He is not stirred by any fervor of love.

For since he seeks only outward comforts, he does not care about the inward losses of the flock.

Perhaps so. But would it not be more accurate to suppose that, presenting Himself under the new image of the shepherd, in this allegory the Lord changes the images also when He designates His enemies more decisively?

The image of the hireling for the Pharisees, after the image of thief and robber, is less strong and expressive, while the Lord's discourse grows stronger. In this allegory the image of the wolf suits them better. He is the complete enemy of the sheep, still more dangerous to them than the thief and robber.

Should we not understand by the hireling another kind of untrue shepherd of the flock in the time of Christ? This would be the Jewish hierarchy of that time, degenerate, deprived of the spirit of Christ, and together with the Pharisees also an unwearied enemy of Christ. Its representatives, together with the Pharisees, condemned the Lord, the true Shepherd, to death; cf. Basil the Great, 4, 372.

The hierarchy of that time fulfilled the law through service in the temple, the offering of sacrifices, rites, feasts, and in general all the ordinances of the God-given law. It did God's work, but because of its degenerate spirit, degenerate to the point that it rose up against Christ, it did it as a hireling does, not as a true Shepherd. It cared more for itself than for the sheep and looked more to its own interests than to the spiritual benefit of those it shepherded.

Self-interest, faintheartedness, and spiritual estrangement from those shepherded are the features by which the hireling is designated in this allegory. How well these features fit the Jewish hierarchy of that time, at least in its representatives. From the representatives this spirit undoubtedly passed to the whole body, at least in its mass, even if there were exceptions; cf. Lk 10:1-32.

Thus it seems more in keeping with the meaning of the allegory to understand the good Shepherd as the Lord Jesus, the hireling as the hierarchy of that time, and the wolf as the Pharisees.

"Not a shepherd": shepherd is taken here as an owner, who shepherds his own sheep belonging to him. Opposed to him is the hired shepherd, for whom the sheep are not his own. These sheep are the Lord Jesus' own partly because He is Lord of all, and partly because He has redeemed all, Acts 20:28; Titus 2:14.

"He sees the wolf coming": as soon as he sees the wolf running from afar, he runs away from the sheep, caring only for his own safety. This feature indicates self-interest, self-love, and faintheartedness in the hireling.

"The wolf scatters the sheep": the expression refers to the wolf's action toward individual sheep. He snatches those upon whom he falls, kills them, and then carries them away. The following expression, "scatters them," that is, frightens the sheep away, refers to the whole flock. From fear the whole flock runs in every direction.

Such too are the hostile actions of the Pharisees toward the flock of God, or the members of the Church. By their false teachings and deeds they destroyed their souls and scattered the whole flock. The fear of the hostile power was such that men were afraid openly to confess faith in the Lord Jesus, Jn 12:42-43; Jn 9:22, and elsewhere.

The true shepherd, the model of shepherds, is not like the hireling. When the hireling sees danger threatening the sheep, he calculates his own advantage and his own life. If personal danger comes, he leaves the flock as prey for the ravening beast.

Would that shepherds, who are bound to imitate the model of shepherds, considered their own advantage as little as possible in fulfilling their office. Would that they firmly and fearlessly drove wolves and other ravening beasts from the flock. Would that they spoke aloud against seducers, who destroy hundreds of souls by their example and their thoughts.

A sorrowful sight: hirelings in the place of shepherds. But earthly life is altogether sorrowful. Blessed Jerome wrote: "Hirelings too are needed. Many, though they seek their own advantage in the Church, preach Christ alone. From them the voice of Christ is heard, and the sheep follow not the hireling, but the voice sounding through the hireling.

"Hear how the Lord sends us to hirelings. The scribes and Pharisees, He says, sit on Moses' seat. Do what they say, but do not do what they do. This means: obey the voice of the Lord sounding through hirelings.

"They seek their own advantage, not the profit of Christ. Yet no hireling will dare say to the Christian people: seek your own advantage, and not the glory of Christ. He acts wickedly, but from the chair of Christ he does not preach wickedness."

But there is also a third meaning of the wolf: the heretics who, from the second century, troubled the Church of God and tore sheep away from her, destroying them by their teachings. Concerning this passage, Chrysostom says in Homily 59 that one may also understand the spiritual wolf, that is, the devil.

In this sense the wolf is also the devil, who "walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour"; 1 Pet 5:8. His instruments were the heresiarchs, the preachers of false doctrines, and those who produced destructive schisms in the Church.

From all these assaults upon Christ's sheep, only the one Shepherd can preserve them. Yet He entrusts this preservation also to men appointed by Him. But among these servants appointed by the Shepherd, the Lord distinguishes faithful servants from hirelings.

He says nothing about the faithful servants. Remaining one with the Shepherd in faith and love, they fulfill His will. When necessary, they lay down their life for the sheep, following the example of their Chief Shepherd and receiving the martyr's crown in the Shepherd's name.

Such were the martyrs and confessors, and the whole holy assembly of those who loved the Lord and laid down their life for the truth. A significant number of them were primates of Christ's Churches in various lands. They were the first summoned to answer and suffer for their flock.

There is hardly need to mention the great names of the protomartyr Stephen, the holy Apostles, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin, Irenaeus, and other bishops of the first and second centuries, who laid down their lives in the name of Christ.

These holy martyrs receive their reward from the Lord. But the Lord, preparing the future of His Church, foretells those whom He calls hirelings. They give their life neither to the Church, nor to the flock of Christ, nor to the Lord and His work.

Rather, they give it to their own vanity, or love of power, or even greed. Thus they are not members of the Lord's household, loving His house. They are hirelings, who have their own aims in view.

According to the Lord's words, they are not shown as doing evil directly to the flock. Yet they flee at the first danger, because they have no higher demand of the soul binding them to eternal goods. They have only a striving after earthly goods.

Therefore they are hirelings and care nothing for the sheep. The wolf, in all its meanings, snatches and destroys the sheep whom the Lord entrusted to these negligent and self-loving shepherds.