John 10:21Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Since He had already presented proof from works, He now keeps silence. Those who called Him possessed for what they ought to have admired were worthy of no answer.

They should have recognized Him as God because of those very things. What further rebukes were needed from Him, when they themselves rose up against one another and rebuked one another?

For this reason He was silent and bore everything with meekness.

Yet this was not the only reason. He also wished to teach us meekness and all longsuffering.

Therefore let us imitate Him. He did not stop at silence alone, but came forward again. When He was questioned, He answered and showed His care.

Men who had received countless benefits from Him called Him possessed and deranged, not once or twice, but many times. Yet He not only did not take vengeance, but did not cease benefiting them.

And why do I say benefiting them? He laid down His soul for them, and on the Cross He interceded for them before the Father.

Let us also imitate this. To be Christ's disciple means to be meek and without remembrance of wrongs.

For, I think, pointing expressively and with astonishment to the hardness of those who did not believe, he says that "a division occurred because of these words." By these words, he says, the Jews ought to have been firmly convinced that He is the Christ.

So wondrous were the Savior's words. Yet when these words had been spoken, by which even a very obstinate man would naturally have been caught into good obedience, "a division" arose among them.

Thus he marvels at them, impiously twisted toward shameless unbelief. For the more the words of our Savior deserve fitting wonder, the more, I think, they are subject to just accusation.

Therefore He spoke what belongs to the Godhead and what surpasses man.

But the brilliance of words above man, and divine boldness, rouses many to unrestrained folly.

Those truly possessed had a particular inclination toward blasphemy. They easily fell into frenzy, were deprived of all reason, and considered the Lord a mere man, not understanding that He was God by nature.

Therefore the Jews called Him possessed, as one uttering unbridled blasphemy. They heard from Him what it befits God alone to say.

Since they saw Him as one of those like us, and did not yet know Who He is by nature, they thought He blasphemed when He said something befitting God.

Therefore, economically, because of the weakness of His hearers, He often uses language brought down to our level.

For this reason the Jewish people is divided. Some, understanding absolutely nothing of the mysteries concerning Him, impiously reproach Him.

Others, more modest in character, do not yield to hasty condemnations. They ponder His words, examine them closely, and perceive the sweetness contained in them.

Thus they make a most careful judgment. They do not find it possible to attribute such sober words, filled with heavenly wisdom, to the senselessness of demons, since those in seizures usually speak every absurdity.

Therefore the Pharisees themselves were rather the possessed ones, since they called Him so Who was free from every passion.

Without noticing it, they reveal their own disease and, in ignorance, openly disclose the evil that possesses them.

I think they say with great malice that the Lord is possessed.

For He had accused them as cowardly and hired shepherds, abandoning the sheep to the wolf and caring nothing for the flock.

They greatly feared that the people might understand these words, renounce their shepherding, and pass over to the teaching of Christ.

Therefore, misleading the mind of those they pastured, they say, "He has a demon; why listen to Him?"

Yet these malicious words of theirs produced the opposite of what they intended.

"Others," judging by the quality of His words, acknowledge that the Lord's words are right, since such words are not the words "of one possessed."

Moreover, he says, the miracles have unconquerable testimony. Although you accuse His words as unrighteous, it is impossible for someone both to have a demon and to do what only God can do.

Thus the true judges knew Him by His fruits, while also marveling at His words.

Others said, "These are not the words of one possessed," and so forth. Judging by the quality of His words, they delivered a right judgment.

For it was madness to say, of Him who spoke such things, that He has a demon and is mad. He had said that the good shepherd would die without delay and willingly face danger for His own sheep (Jn 10:11-14).

He had also said that the hireling, being no shepherd, would flee, stunned at the mere sight of the wolf. Yet they said, "Why listen to Him?"

This can also be interpreted in another way. Jesus Christ was silent because He saw that those who disagreed with His revilers were defending Him.

He was also silent because those who dared revile Him in this way after so great a miracle were unworthy even of His word.

Nevertheless, it is evident that these were timid and intimidated voices. They were not like the courageous voice of the healed blind man, who sternly but justly mocked the supposed wisdom of the supposed spiritual guides of the people's religious life.

An evil spirit is a benefactor to no one. Why believe more in demonic power than in the power of God? The teaching of Jesus is the teaching of a lofty mind. To think otherwise is to offend one's own mind and conscience."

The gnashing of teeth begins in them already in this life. It is expressed in blasphemy unspeakable and unforgivable (Mt 9:34; 12:24, 31-32; Mk 3:22; Lk 11:15; Jn 7:20; 8:49, 52).

In it is expressed the complete corruption of a soul that understands nothing heavenly and has finally surrendered itself to "the prince of this world" (Jn 14:30).

But there was a division. Therefore, among those who listened there were souls ready to receive the word of God. They were still wavering and doubting.

They did not yet summon the inward feeling of nascent faith and love to help them, but reason and logic. They asked themselves and others, "Are these the words of one possessed? Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

These were not simple men, but learned men, unaccustomed to surrendering themselves to feeling. Yet because they were more honest than the others, a feeling of indignation arose in them against the blasphemous and insolent words of their companions.

Perhaps many of them later joined the community of Christ.

The absurd accusation of verse 20, repeated so often against the Lord, plainly came from the camp of the Pharisees with a special purpose. They wished to diminish, as much as possible, the effect of the Lord's words upon the people.

In this blasphemy we read not only malice. We also read the fear of the Pharisees and scribes, who feel the divine power of the Lord's words and "tremble like demons" (Jas 2:19).

They "closed their eyes" (Mt 13:15). The Vulgate has oculos suos clauserunt, and Biblia Sacra has conniverunt.

They deliberately shut or closed their eyes, so as not to see what they did not wish to see and acknowledge. They used every effort to close the spiritual eyes of others also, turning them away from the Lord by blasphemy.

Therefore the great protomartyr Stephen said to them: "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you" (Acts 7:51).

In Israel, as one writer, Bedford, well expressed it, there had been "four centuries of silence" (p. 238). Yet there were people "standing watch on the height of faith in expectation of the Messiah."

Such were Anna the daughter of Phanuel, Simeon the God-receiver, Zacharias, Elizabeth, Joseph, the Holy Virgin, the shepherds to whom the angels appeared, and others "waiting for redemption."

The aged Anna spoke to them about the infant Lord (Lk 2:38; see especially the first chapter of Luke).

On the other hand, the rulers of the people, who had "sat on Moses' seat," had long "resisted the Holy Spirit." They brought God's wrath upon the whole people.

The people as a single body perished. Yet from the flame that consumed it, those were saved who asked the Lord Jesus for help. They were saved in the ship of the universal Christian community.