JESUS 1: Truly, truly I assure you: Whoever does not enter the sheepfold through the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a marauder. The one who enters through the gate is shepherd of the sheep; the keeper opens the gate for him. The sheep hear his voice as he calls his own by name and leads them out.
JESUS 2: When the shepherd has brought out those that are his, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. They will not follow strangers but run from them because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.
NARRATOR: Jesus used this figure with his disciples, but they did not grasp what he was trying to tell them.
JESUS 1: I tell you truly, I am the sheepgate. All who came before me are thieves and marauders whom the sheep did not heed. I am the gate. Those who enter through me will be safe. They will go in and out, and find pasture.
JESUS 2: The thief comes only to steal, slaughter, and destroy. I came that my sheep might have life and have it more abundantly.
John 10.1-10
Sunday Readings: Acts 2.14,36-41; 1 Peter 2.20-25; John 10.1-10