Book of Common Prayer

¹⁴ But how can people call someone if they have not believed in him? And how can they believe in him if they have not heard about him? And how can they hear about him if no one tells them about him?

¹⁵ And how can people tell about him if no one sends them? The holy writings say, `How good are the feet of those who bring the good news of peace and happiness.'

¹⁶ But they have not all obeyed the good news. It is as Isaiah said it would be, `Lord, who has believed what we have told them?'

¹⁷ So people believe because they hear. They hear because people tell them about Christ.

¹⁸ But I ask, have they not heard? Yes, they have. The holy writings say, `Their voice has gone out all over the earth. And their words have gone out all over the world.'

¹⁹ But I ask, did not the Jews know? First the book of Moses says, `I will make you jealous through people who are not a nation like the Jews. I will make you angry through people who do not even know or understand these things.'

²⁰ But the book of Isaiah says even stronger words. `The people who did not look for me have found me. I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.'

²¹ But he says about the Jews, `All day I held out my hands to a people who did not obey me, who said wrong things against me.'

10 Then Jesus went on to say, `I tell you the truth. A person must get to the sheep through the door. Anyone who climbs over the wall to get in is a bad man and steals things. He has come to steal the sheep.

² But the man who comes in through the door, he is the one who takes care of the sheep.

³ The guard will open the door for him. The sheep will listen to him. He calls his own sheep by their names and leads them out.

⁴ When all his own sheep are out of the house, he goes ahead of them. The sheep come behind him because they know his voice.

⁵ They will not go after a stranger. They will run away from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.'

⁶ Jesus told this story to the Pharisees, but they did not understand what he was trying to tell them.

⁷ So Jesus told them again. He said, `I tell you the truth. I am the door of the sheep house.

⁸ All those who came before me are bad people and steal things. They came to steal the sheep. But the sheep did not listen to them.

⁹ I am the door. Anyone who comes in through me will be saved. He will go in and out as he wants to, and will have food to eat.

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal the sheep and to kill them and spoil them. I have come so that people may live and that they may enjoy life to the full.

¹¹ `I am the good shepherd. I am the one who really cares for the sheep. The good shepherd is willing to die to save his sheep.

¹² Some people work for pay. The one who does that is not the one who really cares. The sheep do not belong to him. When he sees a bad animal coming, he will leave the sheep and run away. He will let the animal take the sheep and make the sheep run away.

¹³ He does that because he is only working for pay and does not care what happens to the sheep.

¹⁴ `I am the good shepherd, the one who really cares for the sheep. I know my sheep and my sheep know me.

¹⁵ So my Father knows me and I know him. I am willing to die to save the sheep.

¹⁶ `I have some other sheep which are not with these sheep. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice. Then all the sheep will be together and there will be one person who cares for all of them.

¹⁷ My Father loves me because I am willing to die. But when I die, I will live again.

¹⁸ No one kills me. I die only because I choose to die. I have power to die and I have power to live again. This is what my Father has told me to do.'