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.
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:
"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."
"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."
Then Jesus gave the parable or story of "The Good Shepherd." He said:
"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 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."
Jesus spoke to them this parable, but they did not understand its
meaning. So he explained it to them.
"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.
[Illustration: Eastern sheepfold]
"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.
"I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep, and my sheep know me--just as
the Father knows me, and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for
the sheep.
"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.
"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."
[Illustration: The Good Shepherd]
Suddenly, as he spoke these words, the Jews began again to pick up
stones to throw at him. Jesus said to them:
"I have done many good works of God. For which of these works would you
now stone me?"
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!"
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."
Once again they tried to seize him, but he escaped from their hands and
went away from Jerusalem.
[Illustration: Jerusalem from the north]
Sending Out the Seventy