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"I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep."
John 10, Luke 15

After the cure of the man born blind, Jesus gave to the people in Jerusalem the parable or story of The Good Shepherd. "Verily, verily (in truth, in truth) I say to you, if any one does not go into the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, it is a sign that he is a thief and a robber. But the one who comes in by the door is a shepherd of the sheep."

"The porter opens the door to him, and the sheep know him, and listen to his call, for he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out to pasture. And when he has led out his sheep, he goes in front of them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. The sheep will not follow a stranger, for they do not know the stranger's voice."

The people did not understand what all this meant, and as Jesus explained it to them. He said, "Verily, verily, I say to you, I am the door that leads to the sheepfold. If any one comes to the sheep in any other way than through me and in my name, he is a thief and a robber; but those who are the true sheep will not hear such. I am the door; if any man goes into the fold through me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pasture.

"The thief comes to the fold that he may steal, and rob the sheep and kill them, but I come to the fold that they may have life, and may have all that they need. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd will give up his own life to save his sheep, and I will give up my life that try sheep may be saved.

"I am the good shepherd, and just as a true shepherd knows all the sheep in his flock, so I know my own, and my own know me, even as I know the Father, and the Father knows me, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. Them also I must lead, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd."

The Lost Sheep
Luke 15

While Jesus was teaching, many of the publicans, those who took up the taxes from the people, came to hear him, and many others who were called "sinners" by the Pharisees and the Scribes. The enemies of Jesus said, "This man likes to have sinners come to see him, and he eats with them." Jesus spoke a parable called "The Lost Sheep", to show why he was willing to talk with sinners.

He said, "What man of you, who has a hundred sheep and one of them is lost, does not leave his ninety and nine sheep in the field, and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, glad to see his lost sheep again. And when he comes home he calls together his friends and neighbors, and says to them, "Be glad with me; for I have found my sheep that was lost!"