<h2>The Good Shepherd</h2><div class="chaptertitle">CHAPTER 57</div>
<div class='cap'>AT THE SIDE of the Temple buildings toward the
east stood a long balcony or archway, roofed over,
with a row of pillars on each side. It was called
"Solomon's Porch." On the eastern side it looked over
the valley of the brook Kedron, and beyond the valley
to the Mount of Olives. In the west it fronted on the
great court of the Gentiles. This porch was about a
thousand feet long.</div>
<p>At the time of the Feast of the Dedication, it was
winter, and Jesus was walking with his disciples in this
porch. The Jews gathered around him and asked:</p>
<p>"How long are you going to keep our minds in
uncertainty? If you are really the Christ, the King of
Israel foretold by the prophets of old, tell us plainly."</p>
<p>"I have already told you," answered Jesus, "and
you do not believe me. The works that I do in the name
of my Father, they speak for me; but you do not listen
because you do not belong to my flock. My sheep listen
to my voice; I know them, and they follow me; and I
give to them the life everlasting; and they shall not be
lost, and no one will ever snatch them out of my hands.
My Father who has given them to me is stronger than
all; and no one can snatch anything out of my Father's
hand."</p>
<p>Then Jesus gave the parable or story of "The Good
Shepherd." He said:</p>
<div class="figright"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-323.png" width-obs="300" height-obs="218" alt="drawing" /> <span class="caption">Eastern sheepfold</span></div>
<p>"I tell you in truth, whoever does not go into the
sheepfold through the door, but climbs up somewhere else,
that man is a thief and a robber. But the man who goes<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</SPAN></span>
through the door is a shepherd of the sheep. The watchman
opens the door for him; and the sheep listen to his
voice. He calls his own sheep by their names, for he
knows each one of them, and leads them out. When he
has brought all his sheep outside, he walks in front of
them; and his sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
When a stranger speaks to them, they will not follow
him, but will run away from him, for they do not know
a stranger's voice."</p>
<p>Jesus spoke to them this parable, but they did not
understand its meaning.
So he explained
it to them.</p>
<p>"In truth I tell
you," he said, "I am
the Door for the sheep.
All who ever came
before me and not in
my name, were thieves
and robbers, but the
sheep would not listen
to them. I am the
Door, whoever enters by me will be safe; and he shall
go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only
to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may
have life and have it to the full.</p>
<p>"I am not only the Door, but also the Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd lays down his own life for his
sheep. The hired man, who is not a shepherd and does
not own the sheep, when he sees a wolf coming, runs away
and leaves the sheep. Then the wolf tears them and
scatters the flock. The hired man does this, just because
he is only a hired man, and does not care about the
sheep.</p>
<p>"I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep, and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</SPAN></span>
my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me, and
I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.</p>
<p>"I have other sheep, too, which do not belong to this
fold; these also I must lead, and they will listen to my
voice; and so it
will be one flock
and one Shepherd.</p>
<p>"On this account
my Father
loves me because
I lay down my
life, to take it up
again. No one
took it from me,
but I lay it down
of myself. I
have power to lay
it down, and I
have power to
take it up again.
This is the command
which my
Father has given
me. I and my
Father are one."</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-324.jpg" width-obs="333" height-obs="500" alt="painting" /> <span class="caption">The Good Shepherd</span></div>
<p>Suddenly, as
he spoke these
words, the Jews
began again to
pick up stones to throw at him. Jesus said to them:</p>
<p>"I have done many good works of God. For which
of these works would you now stone me?"</p>
<p>The Jews answered, "It is not for any good work
that we would stone you, but for those dreadful words,
words that would make you, a mere man, to be God!"<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>Jesus answered, "Is it not written in your law, 'I
said, you are gods'? If the law calls those 'gods' to whom
God spoke his word—and God's book must speak the
truth—then why is it such a terrible thing for one whom
God has set apart and sent into the world as his messenger,
to say of himself 'I am God's Son'? If I am not doing
the work of my Father, do not believe me; but if I am
doing it, even though you will not believe me, believe
what my work shows. Then you will learn and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."</p>
<p>Once again they tried to seize him, but he escaped
from their hands and went away from Jerusalem.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-325.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="306" alt="photo" /> <span class="caption">Jerusalem from the north</span></div>
<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</SPAN></span></p>
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