“My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” says Jesus. They follow him because they know they will receive the three things that sheep need to thrive: to be well-fed, to be safe and not stressed and to have someone looking out for them.
Jesus sums all that up in one sentence: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.” This is the “abundant” life that Jesus spoke of previously. It’s an abundant life made possible because the Good Shepherd puts the sheep ahead of himself.
As English shepherd James Rebanks says in his first rule of shepherding: “It’s not about you. It’s about the sheep and the land.” Jesus demonstrates this like no other. When the sheep see Jesus, they see a shepherd who has their best interests at heart, and they know it because he is willing to die for them. “No one will snatch them out of my hand.” Jesus can do this because he is God’s promised Good Shepherd; in fact, he is God in person. “What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”
