New Testament Stories

The Good Shepherd

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who doesn't enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief  and a robber. John 10:1

                              In Israel, where Jesus lived, there were many sheep. In those days people did not put up fences to keep their sheep safe. Instead, they sent a shepherd to take care of them.

     On cool nights the shepherds put the sheep into a pen, or sheepfold. On warm nights shepherds slept outside with their sheep and watched for robbers or wolves.  A good shepherd would take care of the sheep even if he had to do something dangerous.

     "Jesus told his friends, " The shepherd enters the sheepfold by the door. He calls his sheep by name and they know his voice and follow him. They don't follow strangers."

     "I am the good shepherd," said Jesus. "My sheep know My voice and come only to Me. I am like the door to the sheepfold. You may come into God's kingdom by Me."

     "I would have die to save My sheep," Jesus told them. "I have sheep in other flocks, but I will bring all the flocks together. There shall be one flock and one shepherd.