10
“I AM the Good Shepherd”
1 “Amen, amen, I solemnly+ tell ᵖyou this: If+ someone doesn’t go through the gate to get into the sheepfold, but climbs into it from some other place, he is a thief+ and a bandit.
2 The one who goes in through the gate, however, is the sheep’s shepherd.+
3 To him the gatekeeper permits entry, and the sheep hear his summons;+ it is+ his own sheep that he summons by name, and he leads them out.+
4 After he has brought all his own sheep out, he goes ahead+ of them,+ and the sheep follow+ him, because they recognize his summons.+
5 A stranger, however, they will most certainly not follow; no, they will flee from him, because they don’t recognize a stranger’s summons.+”
6 This parable Jesus told them, but they didn’t understand what he meant.+
7 Jesus, therefore, said again, “Amen, amen, I solemnly+ tell ᵖyou this: I AM+ the gate for the sheep.
8 All who came before me are thieves, I say,+ and bandits, but the sheep didn’t listen+ to them.+
9 I AM the gate. If it is+ through me that someone enters, he will be rescued from harm+ and come in and go out and find pasture.+
10 A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I am here to give them life,+ and to give it in rich+ abundance.+
11 I AM the good shepherd.+ The good shepherd is prepared+ to lay down, for the sake of the sheep,+ his very+ life.
12 A hired hand, since he isn’t a shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, flees when he sees a wolf coming and abandons+ the sheep, and as a result the wolf seizes them and causes them to scatter.
13 He abandons the sheep+ because he is only+ a hired worker and doesn’t really care about them.+
14 I AM the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and my own sheep know me,
15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I am prepared to lay down, for the sake of the sheep,+ my very+ life.
16 I have, too,+ other sheep, which do not come from this sheepfold. Those sheep, too, it is God’s will+ for me to lead,+ and my summons+ they will surely+ hear.+ And those sheep and the sheep from this sheepfold+ will become one flock, with one shepherd.+
17 This is why the Father delights in+ me: I am ready to lay down my life, only to take it back up+ again.+
18 No one is going to take it from me, but I will lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back up+ again. This command I have received from my Father.”
19 The Jewish authorities+ were again sharply+ divided because of these words.+
20 “He has a demon+ and has lost his mind!” many of them were saying. “Why in the world+ do ᵖyou pay any attention to him?”
21 “These aren’t the words of a demonized man!” others said. “A demon+ can’t open the eyes of the blind,+ can it? Of course not!+”
“I and the Father Are One”
22 The time came for the Festival of Hanukkah at Jerusalem.
23 It was winter,+ and Jesus was walking around in the temple area, in the roofed walkway adorned with pillars called Solomon’s Colonnade.+
24 So the Jewish authorities+ gathered around him and said, “Exactly+ how long are you planning to keep us in suspense?+ If you yourself+ are the Messiah, tell us plainly!”
25 “I’ve already told ᵖyou,+ but you refuse to believe,” replied Jesus. “The miraculous deeds that I have been doing+ in the name of my Father, these give testimony on my behalf.
26 Yet ᵖyou refuse to believe, because you aren’t part of my flock.
27 My sheep listen+ to my summons;+ I know them, and they follow me.
28 I, indeed, give them the life of the age to come;+ they will not+ die+ eternally, and no one can seize them from my hand.+
29 My Father, who has entrusted them to my care,+ is indeed+ more powerful than any other,+ and no one is able to seize them from the Father’s hand.+
30 I and the Father are one.+”
31 The Jewish authorities+ again picked up some stones, intending to stone him to death.
32 “I have shown ᵖyou at my Father’s command+ so+ many good deeds,” Jesus said to them in response. “For exactly+ which one of these+ deeds do ᵖyou wish+ to stone me?”
33 “It isn’t+ because of a good+ deed that we’re going to stone you,” answered the Jewish authorities,+ “but because of your blasphemy; because you, although+ you’re nothing but a mere+ man, are claiming to be God!”
34 Jesus replied to them, “Is it not written in ᵖyour Scriptures,+ ‘I said, “ᵖyou are gods+” ’+?
35 If God+ called even+ those beings+ ‘gods,’ to whom came the word of God+—and the Scripture cannot be revoked+—
36 how+ can ᵖyou bring charges of blasphemy against the very+ one whom the Father set apart for his special work and sent into the world,+ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God+’?
37 If I am not doing the powerful deeds of my Father, don’t believe me.
38 If I am doing them, however, then even if ᵖyou don’t believe me,+ at least+ believe the testimony that they themselves+ give,+ so that you may know and truly understand+ that the Father is united with me,+ and I united with the Father.”
39 They again tried to take him into custody, but he escaped from them.+
40 Jesus+ went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing previously,+ and he remained there.+
41 And many, many+ people came to him. “John performed not+ one miraculous sign,” they said. “Everything that John said about this man, however, has proven+ very+ true!”
42 And many, many+ people placed their faith in him there.