“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever doesn’t go in by the gate into the sheepfold but enters by another way, he’s a thief and robber. But whoever comes in by the gate, he’s the shepherd of the sheep. The gate keeper opens to him, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he drives out all his own sheep he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they don’t follow a stranger, instead, they flee from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers.”
Jesus told them this parable, but they didn’t understand what the things he was telling them meant.
So once again Jesus said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep! All those who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the gate! Whoever comes in through me will be saved and will enter and leave and
find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and slaughter and slay; I’ve come that you might have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. But since the hired man is not a shepherd—the sheep are not his own—when he sees the wolf coming he leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf carries them off and scatters them, because he’s a hired man and doesn’t care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for my sheep. I have other sheep who are not of this fold, and I must lead them, and they’ll listen to my voice, and become one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me; on the contrary, I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it up again. This is the command I’ve received from my Father.”
p. 85