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Juan 10

VBL · Chapter 10/21

1“Les digo la verdad, cualquiera que no entra por la puerta del redil, sino que trepa de alguna otra manera, es un ladrón.

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

3El portero le abre la puerta y las ovejas responden a su voz. Él llama a sus ovejas por nombre, y las saca del redil.

4Después, camina delante de ellas y las ovejas lo siguen porque reconocen su voz.

5Ellas no siguen a ningún extraño. De hecho, ellas huyen de cualquier extraño porque no reconocen su voz”.

6Cuando Jesús hizo esta ilustración, los que le escuchaban no entendieron lo que él quiso decir.

7Entonces Jesús les explicó nuevamente. “Les digo la verdad: Yo soy la puerta del redil.

8Todos los que vinieron antes de mi eran ladrones, pero las ovejas no los escucharon.

9Yo soy la puerta. Todo el que entra a través de mi, será sanado. Podrá ir y venir, y encontrará la comida que necesite.

10El ladrón solo viene a robar, matar y destruir. Yo he venido para traerles vida, una vida abundante.

11Yo soy el buen pastor. El buen pastor entrega su vida por sus ovejas.

12El hombre a quien se le paga para cuidar de las ovejas no es el pastor, y huye apenas ve que se acerca el lobo. Él abandona a las ovejas porque no son suyas, y entonces el lobo ataca y dispersa a las ovejas

13pues este hombre solo trabaja para recibir su pago y no le importan las ovejas.

14Yo soy el buen pastor. Yo sé cuáles son mías, y ellas me conocen

15así como el Padre me conoce y yo lo conozco a él. Yo entrego mi vida por las ovejas.

16Tengo otras ovejas que no están en este redil. Debo traerlas también. Ellas escucharán mi voz, y entonces habrá un solo rebaño con un solo pastor.

17“Es por esto que el Padre me ama, porque yo doy mi vida para tomarla de nuevo.

18Ninguno puede quitarme la vida; Yo elijo entregarla. Tengo el derecho de entregar mi vida y tengo el derecho de volverla a tomar. Este es el mandato que me dio mi Padre”.

19Otra vez los judíos estaban dando opiniones sobre estas palabras que dijo Jesús.

20Muchos de ellos decían: “¡Está poseído por un demonio! ¡Está loco! ¿Por qué lo escuchan?”

21Otros decían: “Estas no son las palabras de alguien que está endemoniado. Además, un demonio no puede devolver la vista a un ciego”.

22Era invierno y era la fecha de la Fiesta de la Dedicación en Jerusalén.

23Jesús estaba caminando en el Templo por el pórtico de Salomón. Los judíos lo rodearon y le preguntaron:

24“¿Por cuánto tiempo nos tendrás en suspenso? ¡Si eres el Mesías, entonces dínoslo claramente!”

25Jesús respondió: “Ya les dije, pero ustedes se negaron a creerlo. Los milagros que yo hago en nombre de mi Padre son prueba de quien yo soy.

26Ustedes no creen en mí porque no son mis ovejas.

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

28Yo les doy vida eterna; ellas nunca estarán perdidas, y nadie me las puede arrebatar.

29Mi Padre, quien me las entregó, es más grande que cualquier otra persona; y a Él nadie se las puede arrebatar.

30Yo y el Padre somos uno”.

31Una vez más los judíos tomaron piedras para lanzárselas.

32Jesús les dijo: “Ustedes han visto muchas cosas buenas que he hecho, gracias al Padre. ¿Por cuál de todas ellas me van a apedrear?”

33Los judíos respondieron: “No vamos a apedrearte por hacer cosas buenas, sino por blasfemia, porque tú eres solamente un hombre y estás afirmando que eres Dios”.

34Jesús les respondió: “¿Acaso no está escrito en la ley de ustedes: ‘Yo dije, ustedes son dioses’?

35Él llamó ‘dioses’ a estas personas, a aquellos a quienes entregó la palabra de Dios—y la Escritura no se puede modificar.

36Entonces, ¿por qué están diciendo ustedes que aquél a quien Dios apartó y envió al mundo está blasfemando, porque dije ‘yo soy el Hijo de Dios’?

37Si no estoy haciendo lo que hace mi Padre, entonces no me crean.

38Pero si lo hago, deberían creerme por la evidencia de lo que he hecho. Así podrán ustedes entender que el Padre está en mí, y que yo estoy en el Padre”.

39Nuevamente ellos trataron de arrestarlo, pero él escapó de ellos.

40Se fue al otro lado del río Jordán, al lugar donde Juan había comenzado a bautizar, y se quedó allí.

41Muchas personas llegaron donde él estaba, y decían: “Juan no hizo milagros, pero todo lo que él dijo acerca de este hombre se ha hecho realidad”.

42Muchos de los que estaban allí pusieron su confianza en Jesús.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jesus declares himself the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, in contrast to false shepherds and hired hands. He affirms his oneness with the Father, which provokes another attempt by the Jews to stone him for blasphemy.

Explanation

The metaphor of the shepherd and the sheep was familiar to the agricultural culture of the time: a good shepherd knows each sheep by name and risks his life for them, unlike the hired hand who flees in the face of danger. Jesus applies this to himself, promising to lay down his life voluntarily for the sheep—a clear allusion to the approaching cross. The statement 'I and the Father are one' (v.30) provokes an immediate attempt to stone him, showing that the listeners fully understood the implication of full divinity. The mention of 'other sheep that are not of this fold' (v.16) anticipates the inclusion of Gentiles in the church. The application today is the security that comes from belonging to the flock of a shepherd who truly cares, to the point of laying down his life.

Fun facts

  • The Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah), mentioned in v.22, commemorates the purification of the temple in 164 BC after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes, and is the only Jewish feast not instituted in the Law of Moses, but arising during the period between the Testaments.
  • The reference to 'I said, you are gods' (v.34) quotes Psalm 82:6, a common rabbinic argument (called 'qal wa-chomer,' from the lesser to the greater) used to show that if Scripture could call human leaders 'gods' in a figurative sense, it was not blasphemy for Jesus to declare himself the Son of God.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Juan 10:1Jesus begins an image about shepherds and sheep: whoever enters the sheepfold some other way than through the door, climbing in some irregular way, reveals bad intentions, like a thief.
  2. Juan 10:2In contrast, whoever enters through the door, the right and expected way, is recognized as the legitimate shepherd of those sheep.
  3. Juan 10:3Shepherds of the time knew each sheep in the flock and called them by name, and the sheep learned to recognize their own shepherd’s voice even mixed in with other flocks in the same fold. It’s this day-to-day relationship of trust that Jesus uses as an image to describe how He and His followers recognize each other.
  4. Juan 10:4Unlike someone who drives the flock from behind, the shepherd goes ahead, and the sheep follow him because they already recognize his voice — an actual practice among shepherds of the time.
  5. Juan 10:5The sheep flee from strange voices, because they only recognize and trust their own shepherd’s voice, reinforcing the idea of a relationship built over time.
  6. Juan 10:6The narrator clarifies that this was a figure of speech, a parable, and that the listeners didn’t understand what Jesus meant by it.
  7. Juan 10:7Jesus shifts the image and identifies Himself directly with another element of the scene: now He isn’t just the shepherd, He is the very door of the sheepfold.
  8. Juan 10:8Probably a criticism of false religious leaders or earlier messianic figures who exploited the people: Jesus calls them thieves, and says the true sheep didn’t follow them.
  9. Juan 10:9As the door, Jesus offers both security and freedom: whoever enters through Him is protected, but can also go in and out, finding pasture.
  10. Juan 10:10He contrasts two opposite intentions: the thief only wants to steal, kill, and destroy, while Jesus came to give life, and life in abundance — the central verse of this part of the discourse.
  11. Juan 10:11Jesus presents Himself with another title: the good shepherd, defined precisely by being willing to lay down His own life for the sheep, not just care for them.
  12. Juan 10:12Unlike the good shepherd, the hired hand flees when danger appears, because the sheep aren’t really his — he doesn’t have the same commitment as the flock’s owner.
  13. Juan 10:13He explains why the hired hand flees: he works only for wages, without truly caring about the sheep he tends.
  14. Juan 10:14Jesus repeats the title of good shepherd, now emphasizing a relationship of mutual knowledge: He knows His own sheep, and they know Him too.
  15. Juan 10:15He compares this relationship of knowledge between shepherd and sheep with the relationship between Himself and the Father, and reaffirms that He will lay down His own life for this flock.
  16. Juan 10:16Jesus mentions other sheep outside this particular fold, an allusion to people outside the Jewish nation who will also become part of the same flock, united under one shepherd.
  17. Juan 10:17He explains why the Father loves Him in a special way: because of His willingness to lay down His own life, knowing He will take it up again afterward.
  18. Juan 10:18Jesus makes it clear that no one takes His life by force; He lays it down of His own accord, with authority both to lay it down and to take it up again, following a command received from the Father.
  19. Juan 10:19These strong claims about Himself again cause a division of opinion among the Jews, repeating a pattern that has already appeared earlier in the gospel.
  20. Juan 10:20Some dismiss Jesus completely, saying He has a demon and is out of His mind, with no reason to be heard.
  21. Juan 10:21Others disagree, pointing out that a demon-possessed man couldn’t open a blind man’s eyes — a direct reference to the miracle in the previous chapter as evidence against that accusation.
  22. Juan 10:22The Feast of Dedication is what’s known today as Hanukkah, created to commemorate when the temple was purified after being desecrated by a foreign king, centuries before Jesus’ time. Unlike Passover, it didn’t come from the law of Moses — it was a more recent feast in Jewish history — and it fell in winter, which explains why Jesus is walking in a covered area of the temple.
  23. Juan 10:23Solomon’s Porch was a covered area of the temple, a colonnaded walkway that offered shelter from the cold — which explains why Jesus was walking there during the winter mentioned in the previous verse.
  24. Juan 10:24The Jews surround Jesus and demand a direct answer, no more parables or half-words: is He the Christ or not?
  25. Juan 10:25Jesus answers that He has already told them this before, in various ways, and that the works He does in the Father’s name already serve as proof — but even so they don’t believe.
  26. Juan 10:26He explains their refusal using the same shepherd image: they don’t believe because, in His words, they aren’t even part of His flock.
  27. Juan 10:27He describes what His true sheep are like: they recognize His voice, are known by Him, and truly follow Him.
  28. Juan 10:28He promises these sheep eternal life and total security: they will never perish, and no one can snatch them out of His hand.
  29. Juan 10:29He reinforces this security with a second layer of protection: the Father Himself, greater than all, also guarantees that no one can snatch these sheep out of His hand.
  30. Juan 10:30This statement is the direct cause of the Jews’ furious reaction right afterward, since they understand Jesus to be placing Himself on the same level as God. It isn’t a claim about number — one single being, one single person — but about a unity of will and purpose between the two, even though scholars still debate today exactly how far the statement goes.
  31. Juan 10:31After Jesus affirms His unity with the Father in the previous verse, the Jews react by picking up stones again, taking it as blasphemy deserving of stoning.
  32. Juan 10:32Jesus challenges them to be specific: since He has done many good works from the Father, for which one exactly do they intend to stone Him?
  33. Juan 10:33They clarify the real reason: it isn’t because of any good work, it’s because, being a man, He makes Himself God — that’s the charge of blasphemy.
  34. Juan 10:34Jesus is quoting an ancient psalm, in which God calls the human judges who were supposed to judge justly in His name ‘gods,’ a way of saying that these people exercised authority that came from God. He uses this quotation to argue: if even Scripture calls people like that, who only received a word from God, by that name, why would it be blasphemy for Him to say He is the Son of God?
  35. Juan 10:35Jesus continues the argument begun in the previous verse, citing Psalm 82: if Scripture itself, which cannot be broken, already called people who received the word of God ‘gods’...
  36. Juan 10:36...then why would it be blasphemy for Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, to declare Himself the Son of God? It’s an argument from the lesser to the greater.
  37. Juan 10:37Jesus proposes a concrete standard for judging Him: if He isn’t really doing the Father’s works, then they have no reason to believe Him.
  38. Juan 10:38But if He really does them, He asks that they at least believe the works, even without fully trusting His words, so they may recognize the union between Him and the Father.
  39. Juan 10:39Again they try to arrest Him, and again He escapes — the same repeated pattern of protection until the right moment, set earlier in the gospel, arrives.
  40. Juan 10:40Jesus goes back across the Jordan River, to the exact place where John the Baptist had first begun baptizing, closing a geographical loop with the beginning of the gospel.
  41. Juan 10:41The people who come to Him there remark that, although John never performed a single miraculous sign, everything he said about Jesus proved true.
  42. Juan 10:42Far from the hostility of Jerusalem, many people in this quieter place end up believing in Jesus.

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