1 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." 6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
My comments:
To completely understand this passage, we need to know a little bit about sheep herding in the near East during that time period. Particularly what is meant by a "fold". The "fold" was a common place for the different shepherds in a village to keep their flocks overnight. In the fold the sheep were protected by a doorkeeper who was hired by the shepherds. This doorkeeper would only allow the shepherds to enter into the protected fold; therefore anyone who could not enter by the door, but climbed up some other way, was a thief and a robber. The shepherds, on the other hand, could enter by the door and call out their particular sheep out of the whole bunch. Apparently, the sheep knew the shepherds voice and would follow him without provoking. The sheep that did not belong to that shepherd would stay behind. Jesus uses these common things (common for the Jews during that time) as an illustration. In the metaphor the sheepfold has been said to represent a few different things: the church, heaven, or Israel (Jews in general). However, I think most agree that it likely represents Israel because it is unlikely that thieves could climb into heaven or the church to steal anything, nor would there be anyone but Christ's "sheep" in heaven and the true church. The fold being Israel makes much more sense. Within Israel there is a group of God's chosen that will be called out, and using Israel allows for a nice contrast between the true and the false shepherds being Jesus and the Pharisees. (Remember at the end of chapter 9 Jesus was talking with the Pharisees about the right path to salvation.)
So, what we have here is Jesus saying that He is the true shepherd and He will call out His sheep from the whole group, which is all of Israel (we will see later the inclusion of the Gentiles). This group of His sheep, after He calls them out, will follow Him. Get that, they will follow Him, not that they can follow Him if they want to, they will follow Him. They will not follow strangers, that is they, the chosen, called out group, would not follow false teachers such as the Pharisees, in fact they will "flee from [them]". So what does that mean for us? It gives us a test for our own salvation. If we are true Christians, if we have been called out of the group, then we will follow Him and we will flee false teachers. We will be attracted to the light and repulsed by the darkness. If this does not describe you then begin tonight working it out with God.
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