A Tree and Its Fruit

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Seeing the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast, like sheep without a shepherd.

but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

A Hard Road Ahead of Them

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be as wary as serpents, and as innocent as doves.

But He said to them, “What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?

How much more valuable then is a person than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Ninety-nine Plus One

“What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains, and go and search for the one that is lost?

And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.

Then Jesus *said to them, “You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.

And Jesus *said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’

The Lost Sheep

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near Jesus to listen to Him.

“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the other ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost!’

“Now which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him after he comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and recline at the table to eat’?

And within the temple grounds He found those who were selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.

And He made a whip of cords, and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables;

Now in Jerusalem, by the Sheep Gate, there is a pool which in Hebrew is called Bethesda, having five porticoes.

Parable of the Good Shepherd

“Truly, truly I say to you, the one who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.

But the one who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep listen to his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he puts all his own sheep outside, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.