“Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who does not enter into the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, that person is a thief and a robber.
But the one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
And they will never follow a stranger, but will flee from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
Jesus spoke this veiled language to them, and they did not understand what those things were that he had been saying to them.
Therefore Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and go out, and will find pasture.
The thief does not come except to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have life, and have it abundantly.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.
I am the good shepherd. And I know my own and my own know me
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. And there will be one flock with one shepherd.
This is the reason the Father loves me: because I lay down my life in order that I can receive it again.
No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the authority to lay it down and I have the authority to receive it again. This commandment I received from my Father.”
Because of these words, a division arose again among the Jews.
And many of them said, “He has a demon and is raving mad. Why do you listen to him?”
Others said, “These are not the sayings of one who has a demon. Is a demon able to open the eyes of the blind?”
I and the Father Are One
Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem
(it was winter), and Jesus was walking in the Temple; in Solomon’s porch.
So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep our souls in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me.
But you do not believe because you are not of my sheep.
My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me,
and I give them life in the age to come, and they will absolutely not perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
The Jews took up stones again to stone him.
Jesus answered them, “Many good works have I showed you from the Father. For which of those works are you going to stone me?”
The Jews answered him, “We are not going to stone you for a good work, but for defaming words, and because you, being a man, make yourself a god.”
Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, I said, you are gods?
If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture is not able to be broken—
do you say of him whom the Father made holy and sent into the world, ‘You speak defaming words,’ because I said I am the Son of God?
If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me.
But if I am doing them, though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you will come to know and continue to know that the Father is in union with me, and I am in union with the Father.”
Therefore they were again looking for a way to arrest him, and yet he went away out of their hand.
And he went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he stayed there.
And many came to him and were saying, “John never did a sign, but everything John said about this man was true.”