The Parable of the Good Shepherd
The shepherd who knows his sheep by name and lays down his life for them.
Jesus describes himself as the door of the sheep and the good shepherd, who knows his own and is known of them, whose sheep hear his voice and follow. Unlike the hireling who flees the wolf, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
The parable
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My sheep hear my voice... and they shall never perish.
What it means
This extended picture is really an allegory in which Jesus names himself both the door and the shepherd. As the door, he is the only true way into the safety of the fold. As the good shepherd, he is everything the hirelings and false leaders of Israel were not — he knows his sheep individually, leads rather than drives them, and lays down his life to protect them.
The heart of the passage is the shepherd's death: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. A hired hand runs when the wolf comes; the true shepherd stands between the flock and the danger and dies in their place. Jesus adds that he lays it down of himself, no man takes it from him — his death is a voluntary act of love.
For the sheep, the promise is security in his hand: they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. The good shepherd also speaks of other sheep not of this fold, whom he must bring — the gathering of all his people, Jew and Gentile, into one flock under one shepherd.