Videos from Fr Claudio Doglio
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The Good Shepherd and Lazarus
Chapter 10 of the Gospel according to John follows after chapter 9. This connection is important. Usually, the setting in which Jesus calls himself the good shepherd is seen separately from chapter 9, which contains the powerful story of the man born blind at the pool of Siloam, who regains sight through a creative act by Jesus.
The last verse of chapter 9 contains direct speech, and it is Jesus who speaks. The first verse of chapter 10 continues this direct speech, and it is always Jesus speaking. We should not close the quotes and then reopen them immediately afterward. This suggests that the Evangelist kept the story of the man born blind and Jesus’ discourse about the exemplary shepherd closely linked.
Let us set the scene. We are at the center of the book of signs, the part of the Gospel according to John that presents seven key signs of Jesus’s work. The first two signs mark the cycle of miracles, while the others highlight Jesus’s acts to help people: the paralytic begins to walk; the crowd in the desert is fed; Jesus walks on the sea to reach the disciples; and in Jerusalem, he heals a man born blind.
From chapter 7 to chapter 10, all the movements, actions, and words of Jesus happen during the Feast of Tabernacles. This important festival was celebrated and still is observed in Jerusalem six months after Passover. The full autumn moon signals this festive period, which lasts a week to remember how Israel lived in tents during their time in the desert on their exodus from Egypt. It becomes a celebration of God’s provision, recalling the blessings the Lord gave by freeing the people.
During this feast, Jesus speaks to the crowd and engages in a controversial dialogue with the Jews, risking being stoned. He leaves the temple, and passing by, he sees a man born blind. He offers him the chance to see. Through a faith journey, this man comes to believe in Jesus. He prostrates himself before Him and worships Him, saying, ‘Lord, I believe.’ This exemplifies the model of a catechumen, someone preparing for baptism who ultimately encounters Jesus fully. The Pharisees who witness the event criticize it; they feel somewhat offended by Jesus’ words. “Does it mean that we, too, are blind? If you were blind, you would not have any sin. But from the moment that you have the presumption to say that you see, your sin remains.”
And here begins chapter 10. “Truly, truly, I tell you, who does not enter the sheepfold through the door but enters through another part is a thief and a brigand.” Jesus is speaking to this group of Pharisees, whom he criticized for their spiritual blindness. Now, he broadens the picture and uses a symbolic analogy. The sheepfold is where the flock is gathered, and the shepherd is the one who enters through the door to lead out the sheep. The first part of chapter 10 emphasizes this very important image, in which Jesus describes himself as the shepherd. It is a crucial quality.
In the ancient world, the title of shepherd was used for kings. Kings were called shepherds of the peoples in both the East and the West. Even in the Iliad, the leader of the Achaean expedition, Agamemnon, is often called ‘poimena laon’—shepherd of peoples. But in Israel, this royal image of the shepherd eventually came to be attributed to God.
“The Lord is my shepherd” is a symbolic Psalm of faith that acknowledges the Lord as the shepherd—and only Him—challenging the monarchical view of earthly kings ruling over others. To say that the Lord is the shepherd of Israel and that the people are the flock of His pasture is a traditional element of biblical faith.
Jesus makes a thoughtful change in this language. “I am the beautiful shepherd.”Typically, we translate it as ‘good shepherd.’ However, in the original Greek, John uses the adjective ‘kalòs,’ not ‘agazos.’ Therefore, it emphasizes beauty more than goodness, not in an aesthetic sense but in an exemplary sense. We are taught that, as children, the right hand is beautiful, and the child using the left hand to greet others is wrong. We tell him, ‘No, use the beautiful hand.’ It’s not that one hand is more beautiful than the other. We often use the word beautiful to mean excellence and to serve as an example.
Jesus is the beautiful shepherd, not because he is handsome, but because he serves as an example. The beautiful one, the model that all others must follow, the prototype. It is the starting point. The man Jesus, who qualifies as the exemplary shepherd, attributes to himself a divine title. Therefore, this is an extraordinary claim, using language that Jesus does not explicitly say ‘I am God,’ but suggests he is divine and, therefore, makes an extraordinary declaration. He is the shepherd as God is, and he is the exemplary shepherd because he is God. He demonstrates God’s attitude toward people. He is the one who passes through the door, while those who go before him are thieves and brigands. They come to steal, take away, and destroy. As a shepherd, he came to give his life so that they may have an abundant life.
We find two very important affirmations in this discourse. The common phrase ‘I am’ is a theophoric expression; it signifies bearing God. ‘I am’ is the name of God in the Old Testament. In Jewish tradition, Adonai is the sacred tetragram, meaning ‘I am.’ Jesus uses this phrase strongly. ‘I am.’ Sometimes, in the text, it is written in capital letters, both ‘I’ and ‘A.’ This goes against the rules of our language grammar. It is meant to help the reader understand that the expression ‘I am’ is not just a verbal pronoun but the very name of God. ‘I am the door’ and ‘I am the shepherd’ are complementary images.
The door symbolizes communication. Jesus is the one who connects heaven and earth, God and humanity. He is the door, and to reach God, one must go through Him. God reaches people by passing through Jesus. The leaders who refuse to go through Jesus are called thieves and brigands. He is the good shepherd because he brings God’s way into history. He came to give His life so that people might have abundant life. He also leads the sheep out of the fold.
In Greek, the term ‘aulé,’ which translates as ‘enclosure,’ also refers to the classroom, the court, and the temple or royal palace. Even in English, ‘aulic’ describes a high-ranking setting, such as the royal court. To take the sheep out of the enclosure symbolizes the exodus. Jesus is leading the sheep of Israel out of the oppression of a corrupt religious system. He is freeing the people from the bondage of the law. He is conducting an exodus and gathering a universal flock of other sheep, not of this fold. Even those, he says, he must lead so that all of humanity becomes one flock with one shepherd, who is Christ.
Immediately after this discourse, John the Evangelist describes another feast—the dedication of the Temple, which took place in winter, a few months after the Feast of Tents, always in Jerusalem. It is a winter feast, so it is cold, and Jesus delivers a speech about the coldness of the feelings of the Jews who refuse to be his sheep. He revisits the previous discussion and ultimately reaches a decisive break. They pick up stones to stone him, but Jesus leaves. He disappears; he escapes from their grasp. He returns to Transjordan, where John initially baptized, and stays there. Jesus flees and hides in the Jordanian wilderness. This is an important detail that the Synoptics do not include. John clarifies Jesus’ movements several times—he went to Jerusalem multiple times and left the holy city multiple times.
During the feast of the dedication, which usually occurs toward the end of December, Jesus retreats from Jerusalem and finds refuge in an uninhabited area with a dense thicket, a common hiding place for fugitives—outlaws seeking to avoid capture. Near the Jordan River, this environment was also where John began baptizing people as a sign of repentance. Jesus and his disciples stayed outside the known territory for a while until something significant happened.
This is what is narrated in chapter 11. A certain Lazarus of Bethany was ill, the brother of Mary and Martha. All three were friends of Jesus, and his resting place was in Jerusalem. The sisters, upon hearing of their brother’s sudden and serious illness, sent a message to Jesus. Friends know where he is hiding. It is simple communication. “The one whom you love is sick.” And Jesus, as the Evangelist John clearly describes, is aware of the severity of this disease. Yet he does not move. He lets a few days pass.
After this, he tells the disciples that he plans to return to Judea. They warn him it is very dangerous—’A little while ago, they wanted to stone you, and you are going there again. You are risking your life if you return to Jerusalem!’ Bethany is just a few kilometers from Jerusalem and is easily accessible from the city. It is a serious risk. Jesus shows his desire to go and call Lazarus back from the dead. The disciples do not understand; they think he is talking about sleep. Jesus has to tell them that Lazarus is dead. At this point, it seems pointless for the disciples to go. ‘You could have gone earlier when he was still sick, but now that he is dead, there is nothing more to do.’ Instead, Jesus decides to go precisely because Lazarus is dead and plans to bring him back to life. He waited several days, allowing Lazarus to die, because he did not want to intervene before death. He chose to arrive last, to perform the most glorious sign.
The resuscitation of Lazarus is the seventh sign and the climax of the Book of Signs. It is the most symbolic, realistic action Jesus performs. I mentioned resuscitation. I prefer this term over “resurrection” because it is better to use the word “resurrection” only for Jesus. Jesus has risen from the dead and no longer dies; his resurrection is the ultimate victory over death. He did not go back; he moved forward. He did not stop in the world of the dead but reached the world of God. This is what we call resurrection. And what happened to Jesus will also happen to those who belong to Jesus in the final eschatological phase. What happened to Lazarus, the 12-year-old girl, the son of the widow of Nain, and others in the Old Testament is a different matter. If we call it resurrection, we risk causing confusion.
Lazarus is brought back to life. We can use the term ‘reanimation,’ thinking not just of a coma but of true, actual death. Lazarus has been dead for four days and has already been placed in the tomb. When Jesus attempts to remove the tombstone, the sister protests, saying it already has a foul smell. It seems finished. It’s impossible to do anything for him. Jesus’ work is to bring life back to Lazarus, but Lazarus returns to life. He does not rise in the glory of eternity but comes back to earthly life. He resumes his daily routines—eating, sleeping again, aging, and after some time, dying once more. Therefore, this is only a sign; it is not the final solution. It does not represent victory over death. It is a demonstration of Jesus’ power to overcome death. It’s simply a delay of the inevitable.
In this lengthy and magnificent account, the Evangelist describes the journey of faith of the two sisters. In the Gospel of John, Martha makes the highest declaration of faith we can find: “I believe that you are the Son of God who came into this world.” Jesus also used a theophanic formula in this instance: ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ He does not say, ‘I give the resurrection’ or ‘I raise to life,’ but ‘I am the resurrection’ because I am life. Only God is life. He exists in Himself. ‘I am the possibility of living in fullness. Whoever lives and believes in me will not die forever.’
It is a noble gift of divine life to humanity. Martha and Mary accept it. Yet they remain weak in their faith and confused when they open the tomb. Even Jesus experiences a moment of disturbance, and the Evangelist notes that he begins to weep. Why did Jesus cry in front of Lazarus’ tomb? Don’t tell me it’s simply because he was emotional about his friend Lazarus being dead. He knew it beforehand. He stayed beyond the Jordan, waiting for Lazarus to die. He allowed him to die for a reason. He came intending to raise him back to life. So now, just moments before restoring Lazarus to life, there’s no need for Jesus to get emotional over his death. That weeping must be explained in another way.
Jesus understands this gesture is the last straw that will cause the pot to overflow. Giving life to his friend Lazarus costs Jesus his own life. That powerful, creative word ‘Lazarus, come out’ became a forfeiture of his life. The dead listen to him, emerge from the tomb wearing their funeral clothes, like mummies still prisoners of the world of death, and are later freed. But that gesture enrages the Jewish authorities, his opponents. It becomes the moment to decide on Jesus’s physical elimination.
In that cry, Jesus shows his deep human solidarity with us; he is an authentic friend who gives his life for his friends and is willing to sacrifice it. From this moment, the final phase begins—the last moments of his life. We are approaching Passover, the Passover of Jesus’s death and resurrection, the true fulfillment that the signs had pointed to.