English · BSB

Theophylact of Ohrid

Medieval · AD 800–1500 · 1,275 passages across 17 books

Commentary

221–240 of 1,275
John 10:14-15

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

For the deceivers did not expose their lives for the sheep, but, like hirelings, deserted their followers. Our Lord, on the other hand, protected His disciples: Let these go their way. (infr. 18:8)
John 10:16

And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

For there is one sign of baptism for all, and one Shepherd, even the Word of God. Let the Manichean mark; there is but one fold and one Shepherd set forth both in the Old and New Testaments.
John 10:17

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

The Father does not bestow His love on the Son as a reward for the death He suffered in our behalf; but He loves Him, as beholding in the Begotten His own essence, whence proceeded such love for mankind.
John 10:18

No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

After declaring Himself the Master of His own life and death, which was a lofty assumption, He makes a more humble confession; thus wonderfully uniting both characters; showing that He was neither inferior to or a slave of the Father on the one hand, nor an antagonist on the other; but of the same power and will.
John 10:22-23

And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

The Evangelist mentions the time of winter, to show that it was near His passion. He suffered in the following spring; for which reason He took up His abode at Jerusalem.

Be thou also careful, in the winter time, i. e. while yet in this stormy wicked world, to celebrate the dedication of thy spiritual temple, by ever renewing thyself, ever rising upward in heart. Then will Jesus be present with thee in Solomon's porch, and give thee safety under His covering. (τῇ σκέπῃ αὐτοῦ) But in another life no man will be able to dedicate Himself.
John 10:26-27

But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

After He had said, Ye are not of My sheep, He exhorts them to become such: My sheep hear My voice.
John 10:28

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

But how then did Judas perish? Because he did not continue to the end. Christ speaks of them who persevere. If any sheep is separated from the flock, and wanders from the Shepherd, it incurs danger immediately.
John 10:30

I and my Father are one.

John 10:32

Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

Our Lord remonstrates with them; Many good works have I showed you from My Father, showing that they had no just reason for their anger.
John 10:36

Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

Or, sanctified, i. e. set apart to be sacrificed for the world: a proof that He was God in a higher sense than the rest. To save the world is a divine work, not that of a man made divine by grace.
John 10:40-42

And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode.

We may observe that our Lord often brings out the people into solitary places, thus ridding them of the society of the unbelieving, for their furtherance in the faith: just as He led the people into the wilderness, when He gave them the old Law. Mystically, Christ departs from Jerusalem, i. e. from the Jewish people; and goes to a place where are springs of water, i. e. to the Gentile Church, that hath the waters of baptism. And many resort unto Him, passing over the Jordan, i. e. through baptism.
John 11:3

Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

And because they were women, and it did not become them to leave their home if they could help it. Great devotion and faith is expressed in these words, Behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick. Such was their idea of our Lord's power, that they were surprised, that one, whom He loved, could be seized with sickness.
John 11:9-10

Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.

Some understand the day to be the time preceding the Passion, the night to be the Passion. In this sense, while it is day, would mean, before My Passion; Ye will not stumble before My Passion, because the Jews will not persecute you; but when the night, i. e. My Passion, cometh, then shall ye be beset with darkness and difficulties.
John 11:15

And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

Some have understood this place thus. I rejoice, He says, for your sakes; for if I had been there, I should have only cured a sick man; which is but an inferior sign of power. But since in My absence he has died, ye will now see that I can raise even the dead putrefying body; and your faith will be strengthened.
John 11:20

Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.

At first she does not tell her sister, for fear, if she came, the Jews present might accompany her. And she did not wish them to know of our Lord's coming.
John 11:21

Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

She did not know that He could have restored her brother as well absent as present.
John 11:28

And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.

Perhaps she thought the presence of Christ in itself a call, as if it were inexcusable, when Christ came, that she should not go out to meet Him.
John 11:32

Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

But her faith seems as yet imperfect: Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
John 11:33-35

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,

To prove His human nature He sometimes gives it free vent, while at other times He commands, and restrains it by the power of the Holy Ghost. Our Lord allows His nature to be affected in these ways, both to prove that He is very Man, not Man in appearance only; and also to teach us by His own example the due measures of joy and grief. For the absence altogether of sympathy and sorrow is brutal, the excess of them is womanly.
John 11:39

Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

Martha said this from weakness of faith, thinking it impossible that Christ could raise her brother, so long after death.

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