But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will flee from him because they do not recognize his voice.”They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him; for they don’t know the voice of strangers.”And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
3 sermons cite this verse
… about what it meant in spiritual words. Quickly, let's look at the passage, shall we? He who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way is a thief and a robber. And that's true. The only one that was allowed entrance in a bonafide sense of the word was the shepherd. Whoever else tried to plunder was a thief and a robber. Verse 2, but he who enters by the door is the shepherd. Verse 3, to him, to the shepherd, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice. That is the voice of their shepherd. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. The fourth verse says, when he puts forth all his own, notice all of them, none of them are left, then he goes before them and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They simply will not follow a stranger. That voice they do not know. Now, this figure of speech in the word means allegory. …
So you probably know this. We know that this is for UMD, for CSS. This is the last week of classes. One more week of classes. And then I just think about this. Like think about the road that brought you here. Like the road that brought you to this moment, the road that brought you to this season, or even like, you know, we're in the fourth Sunday of Easter. Three weeks ago, some of many of you, 55 people in this community became Catholic. and the road that brought you to the Catholic Church, or if that was the past, like just to think about the fact that wherever you're right now, there was some road that led you to this moment. Whether you're in school, out of school, it doesn't matter. Whether you've always been Catholic or just it's kind of a new thing for you. There was this road that brought you here. And this is one of those things that always happens. Whenever we're like, okay, this is the road that brought me here, there's a new question that comes up. …
… they know his voice. The stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from Him, because they do not know the voice of strangers. This figure of speech, Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them. So Jesus said to them again, "'Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who come before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I come that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." This is a very vivid picture that our Lord paints. He tells us in verse 6 that it's a figure of speech. In other words, He's giving us a physical, temporal, earthly illustration of a spiritual reality. …