Readers can easily be a little confused by Jn 10, as the Evangelist seems to present Jesus speaking in a contradictory way. How can Jesus be both the shepherd and the gate of the sheepfold at the same time? In verses 1 to 5, Jesus actually introduces two different images of himself. Though they are related in that they are taken from the life of shepherds, there is no reason either to confuse them or combine them in a way that makes little sense. So John goes on to have Jesus explain them separately.

Verses 7 to10 elaborate and explain the image of the gate while verses 11 to 18 take up the image of the good shepherd. In the Gospel according to John, Jesus altogether gives us seven different images to present himself to us, each one of them offering a different aspect of his saving work for our meditation.

All four Gospels are profound in their own way and assimilating their richness into our life of faith and our spiritual life require constant prayer.