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Jesus as the Good Shepherd

¹ "I tell you the solemn truth, the one who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. ² The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The doorkeeper opens the door for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. ⁵ They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they do not recognize the stranger's voice." ⁶ Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁷ So Jesus said again, "I tell you the solemn truth, I am the door for the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

¹¹ "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. ¹³ Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away.

¹⁴ "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me— ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold. I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷ This is why the Father loves me—because I lay down my life, so that I may take it back again. ¹⁸ No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of my own free will. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back again. This commandment I received from my Father."

¹⁹ Another sharp division took place among the Jewish people because of these words. ²⁰ Many of them were saying, "He is possessed by a demon and has lost his mind! Why do you listen to him?" ²¹ Others said, "These are not the words of someone possessed by a demon. A demon cannot cause the blind to see, can it?"

Jesus at the Feast of Dedication

²² Then came the feast of the Dedication in Jerusalem. ²³ It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area in Solomon's Portico. ²⁴ The Jewish leaders surrounded him and asked, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." ²⁵ Jesus replied, "I told you and you do not believe. The deeds I do in my Father's name testify about me. ²⁶ But you refuse to believe because you are not my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father's hand. ³⁰ The Father and I are one."

³¹ The Jewish leaders picked up rocks again to stone him to death. ³² Jesus said to them, "I have shown you many good deeds from the Father. For which one of them are you going to stone me?" ³³ The Jewish leaders replied, "We are not going to stone you for a good deed but for blasphemy, because you, a man, are claiming to be God."

³⁴ Jesus answered, "Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods'? ³⁵ If those people to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods' (and the scripture cannot be broken), ³⁶ do you say about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,' because I said, ‘I am the Son of God'? ³⁷ If I do not perform the deeds of my Father, do not believe me. ³⁸ But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, so that you may come to know and understand that I am in the Father and the Father is in me." ³⁹ Then they attempted again to seize him, but he escaped their clutches.

⁴⁰ Jesus went back across the Jordan River again to the place where John had been baptizing at an earlier time, and he stayed there. ⁴¹ Many came to him and began to say, "John performed no miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man was true!" ⁴² And many believed in Jesus there.