Juan 10

Jesús, el buen pastor

1 »Ciertamente les aseguro que el que no entra por la puerta al redil de las ovejas, sino que trepa y se mete por otro lado, es un ladrón y un bandido.

2 El que entra por la puerta es el pastor de las ovejas.

3 El portero le abre la puerta, y las ovejas oyen su voz. Llama por nombre a las ovejas y las saca del redil.

4 Cuando ya ha sacado a todas las que son suyas, va delante de ellas, y las ovejas lo siguen porque reconocen su voz.

5 Pero a un desconocido jamás lo siguen; más bien, huyen de él porque no reconocen voces extrañas.

6 Jesús les puso este ejemplo, pero ellos no captaron el sentido de sus palabras.

7 Por eso volvió a decirles: «Ciertamente les aseguro que yo soy la puerta de las ovejas.

8 Todos los que vinieron antes de mí eran unos ladrones y unos bandidos, pero las ovejas no les hicieron caso.

9 Yo soy la puerta; el que entre por esta puerta, que soy yo, será salvo.^[a] Se moverá con entera libertad,^[b] y hallará pastos.

10 El ladrón no viene más que a robar, matar y destruir; yo he venido para que tengan vida, y la tengan en abundancia.

11 »Yo soy el buen pastor. El buen pastor da su vida por las ovejas.

12 El asalariado no es el pastor, y a él no le pertenecen las ovejas. Cuando ve que el lobo se acerca, abandona las ovejas y huye; entonces el lobo ataca al rebaño y lo dispersa.

13 Y ese hombre huye porque, siendo asalariado, no le importan las ovejas.

14 »Yo soy el buen pastor; conozco a mis ovejas, y ellas me conocen a mí,

15 así como el Padre me conoce a mí y yo lo conozco a él, y doy mi vida por las ovejas.

16 Tengo otras ovejas que no son de este redil, y también a ellas debo traerlas. Así ellas escucharán mi voz, y habrá un solo rebaño y un solo pastor.

17 Por eso me ama el Padre: porque entrego mi vida para volver a recibirla.

18 Nadie me la arrebata, sino que yo la entrego por mi propia voluntad. Tengo autoridad para entregarla, y tengo también autoridad para volver a recibirla. Este es el mandamiento que recibí de mi Padre».

19 De nuevo las palabras de Jesús fueron motivo de disensión entre los judíos.

20 Muchos de ellos decían: «Está endemoniado y loco de remate. ¿Para qué hacerle caso?»

21 Pero otros opinaban: «Estas palabras no son de un endemoniado. ¿Puede acaso un demonio abrirles los ojos a los ciegos?»

Jesús y la fiesta de la Dedicación

22 Por esos días se celebraba en Jerusalén la fiesta de la Dedicación.^[c] Era invierno,

23 y Jesús andaba en el templo, por el pórtico de Salomón.

24 Entonces lo rodearon los judíos y le preguntaron:—¿Hasta cuándo vas a tenernos en suspenso? Si tú eres el Cristo, dínoslo con franqueza.

25 —Ya se lo he dicho a ustedes, y no lo creen. Las obras que hago en nombre de mi Padre son las que me acreditan,

26 pero ustedes no creen porque no son de mi rebaño.

27 Mis ovejas oyen mi voz; yo las conozco y ellas me siguen.

28 Yo les doy vida eterna, y nunca perecerán, ni nadie podrá arrebatármelas de la mano.

29 Mi Padre, que me las ha dado, es más grande que todos;^[d] y de la mano del Padre nadie las puede arrebatar.

30 El Padre y yo somos uno.

31 Una vez más los judíos tomaron piedras para arrojárselas,

32 pero Jesús les dijo:—Yo les he mostrado muchas obras irreprochables que proceden del Padre. ¿Por cuál de ellas me quieren apedrear?

33 —No te apedreamos por ninguna de ellas sino por blasfemia; porque tú, siendo hombre, te haces pasar por Dios.

34 —¿Y acaso —respondió Jesús— no está escrito en su ley: “Yo he dicho que ustedes son dioses”?^[e]

35 Si Dios llamó “dioses” a aquellos para quienes vino la palabra (y la Escritura no puede ser quebrantada),

36 ¿por qué acusan de blasfemia a quien el Padre apartó para sí y envió al mundo? ¿Tan solo porque dijo: “Yo soy el Hijo de Dios”?

37 Si no hago las obras de mi Padre, no me crean.

38 Pero si las hago, aunque no me crean a mí, crean a mis obras, para que sepan y entiendan que el Padre está en mí, y que yo estoy en el Padre.

39 Nuevamente intentaron arrestarlo, pero él se les escapó de las manos.

40 Volvió Jesús al otro lado del Jordán, al lugar donde Juan había estado bautizando antes; y allí se quedó.

41 Mucha gente acudía a él, y decía: «Aunque Juan nunca hizo ninguna señal milagrosa, todo lo que dijo acerca de este hombre era verdad».

42 Y muchos en aquel lugar creyeron en Jesús.

Juan 10 Commentary

Chapter 10

The parable of the good shepherd. (1-5) Christ the Door. (6-9) Christ the good Shepherd. (10-18) The Jews' opinion concerning Jesus. (19-21) His discourse at the feast of dedication. (22-30) The Jews attempt to stone Jesus. (31-38) He departs from Jerusalem. (39-42)

Verses 1-5 Here is a parable or similitude, taken from the customs of the East, in the management of sheep. Men, as creatures depending on their Creator, are called the sheep of his pasture. The church of God in the world is as a sheep-fold, exposed to deceivers and persecutors. The great Shepherd of the sheep knows all that are his, guards them by his providence, guides them by his Spirit and word, and goes before them, as the Eastern shepherds went before their sheep, to set them in the way of his steps. Ministers must serve the sheep in their spiritual concerns. The Spirit of Christ will set before them an open door. The sheep of Christ will observe their Shepherd, and be cautious and shy of strangers, who would draw them from faith in him to fancies about him.

Verses 6-9 Many who hear the word of Christ, do not understand it, because they will not. But we shall find one scripture expounding another, and the blessed Spirit making known the blessed Jesus. Christ is the Door. And what greater security has the church of God than that the Lord Jesus is between it and all its enemies? He is a door open for passage and communication. Here are plain directions how to come into the fold; we must come in by Jesus Christ as the Door. By faith in him as the great Mediator between God and man. Also, we have precious promises to those that observe this direction. Christ has all that care of his church, and every believer, which a good shepherd has of his flock; and he expects the church, and every believer, to wait on him, and to keep in his pasture.

Verses 10-18 Christ is a good Shepherd; many who were not thieves, yet were careless in their duty, and by their neglect the flock was much hurt. Bad principles are the root of bad practices. The Lord Jesus knows whom he has chosen, and is sure of them; they also know whom they have trusted, and are sure of Him. See here the grace of Christ; since none could demand his life of him, he laid it down of himself for our redemption. He offered himself to be the Saviour; Lo, I come. And the necessity of our case calling for it, he offered himself for the Sacrifice. He was both the offerer and the offering, so that his laying down his life was his offering up himself. From hence it is plain, that he died in the place and stead of men; to obtain their being set free from the punishment of sin, to obtain the pardon of their sin; and that his death should obtain that pardon. Our Lord laid not his life down for his doctrine, but for his sheep.

Verses 19-21 Satan ruins many, by putting them out of conceit with the word and ordinances. Men would not be laughed out of their necessary food, yet suffer themselves thus to be laughed out of what is far more necessary. If our zeal and earnestness in the cause of Christ, especially in the blessed work of bringing his sheep into his fold, bring upon us evil names, let us not heed it, but remember our Master was thus reproached before us.

Verses 22-30 All who have any thing to say to Christ, may find him in the temple. Christ would make us to believe; we make ourselves doubt. The Jews understood his meaning, but could not form his words into a full charge against him. He described the gracious disposition and happy state of his sheep; they heard and believed his word, followed him as his faithful disciples, and none of them should perish; for the Son and the Father were one. Thus he was able to defend his sheep against all their enemies, which proves that he claimed Divine power and perfection equally with the Father.

Verses 31-38 Christ's works of power and mercy proclaim him to be over all, God blessed for evermore, that all may know and believe He is in the Father, and the Father in Him. Whom the Father sends, he sanctifies. The holy God will reward, and therefore will employ, none but such as he makes holy. The Father was in the Son, so that by Divine power he wrought his miracles; the Son was so in the Father, that he knew the whole of His mind. This we cannot by searching find out to perfection, but we may know and believe these declarations of Christ.

Verses 39-42 No weapon formed against our Lord Jesus shall prosper. He escaped, not because he was afraid to suffer, but because his hour was not come. And He who knew how to deliver himself, knows how to deliver the godly our of their temptations, and to make a way for them to escape. Persecutors may drive Christ and his gospel our of their own city or country, but they cannot drive him or it out of the world. When we know Christ by faith in our hearts, we find all that the Scripture saith of him is true.

Footnotes

• [a]. "será salvo" . Alt. "se mantendrá seguro" .
• [b]. "Se moverá " "… " "libertad" . Lit. "Entrará y saldrá" .
• [c]. Es decir, Hanukkah.
• [d]. "Mi Padre " "… " "todos" . Var. "Lo que mi Padre me ha dado es más grande que todo" .
• [e]. Sal 82:6