A daily note from the team at OCABS.ORG, drawing on the published works of Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi, with citations to his books and lectures.

Readings: John 10:1-9; Hebrews 7:26-8:2; John 10:9-16; Luke 13:31-35.

John's parable of the sheepfold draws its vocabulary from Ezekiel. Fr. Paul points out that the Hebrew sha'ar ("gate") behind Ezekiel 46 becomes in the Septuagint pyle, except in one place where it is rendered thyra, the very Greek word John uses for Jesus as "the door." He lines up the correspondence: "he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep"; "he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out"; "he goes before them." In his recorded comments Fr. Paul adds that the story's movement of going out and coming in reflects the sheep following a real shepherd's distinct call, and that without that voice the flock only scatters, so that scattered sheep "are dead sheep." Elsewhere he identifies the thieves and robbers who came before Jesus with the Jerusalem leadership, who conspire against Lazarus and so prove themselves thieves seeking to "kill and destroy."

Jesus names himself both door and shepherd, and Fr. Paul notes that Jesus is not someone to be carried but his teaching, since the whole Gospel of John concerns the logos; one must "walk him," meaning walk his teaching. The hired hand who abandons the sheep at the sight of the wolf is contrasted with the one who owns the flock and lays down his life for it; Fr. Paul observes that this word for hireling occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only with the sons of Zebedee, carrying the same sense of one who serves his own interest. The gathering of the other sheep into "one flock, one shepherd" matches, in Fr. Paul's judgment, the same gathering of Jews and Gentiles into one people of God that Paul describes in Romans 11.

Hebrews presents Christ as the high priest who needed no repeated sacrifice, since unlike the Levitical priests who offered first for their own sins and then for the people's, he offered himself once for all. Fr. Paul explains that this permanence is guaranteed by God's oath, sworn after the law and never to be revoked, in contrast to a law that "made nothing perfect." Seated now at the right hand of the Majesty, this priest serves "the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, not man," a tent Fr. Paul reads alongside Hebrews' later language of copy and shadow, where the earthly sanctuary built by Moses according to a pattern shown him on the mountain only foreshadows the heavenly reality now opened in Christ.

The root pair of the day · שׁ-כ-נ šin–kaf–nun, מִשְׁכָּן miškan · س–ك–ن sīn–kāf–nūn, مِسْكِين miskīn · dwelling-place; settle down; abide. The root behind miškan and miskīn yields Greek skene and kataskenoo, the very words for the tabernacle Hebrews says Christ now serves, "the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, not man." The earthly miškan Moses built was only a dwelling-place foreshadowing the heavenly one now opened in Christ, the true place where God makes his dwelling among his people. cf. The Consolation of Consonants

Sources: Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 3, Johannine Writings, p. 199; Orthodox Audio Bible Commentary, John (vol. 43), part 1, at 3:04:03; Tarazi, The Rise of Scripture, p. 477; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 3, Johannine Writings, p. 198; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 3, Johannine Writings, p. 208; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 3, Johannine Writings, p. 198; Tarazi, Hebrews: A Commentary, p. 108; Tarazi, Hebrews: A Commentary, p. 102; Tarazi, Hebrews: A Commentary, p. 136; Tarazi, Hebrews: A Commentary, p. 99; Tarazi, The Rise of Scripture, p. 477; Tarazi, The New Testament: An Introduction, vol. 1, Paul and Mark, p. 96.

The note on ocabs.org

Opening music: Taksim Arbi, Bichi Slama, oud (Tunis, Archives de la Parole, 1930s), public domain. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / BnF.

The digital voice Fāṭima (فَاطِمَة) is named in honor of the learned women of al-Andalus, particularly Fāṭima bint Yaḥyā al-Maghāmī, Fāṭima al-Sharrāṭ, and Fāṭima bint al-Muthannā, whose legacies embody the Andalusian traditions of scriptural scholarship, jurisprudence, education, and wisdom.