All those who’ve come before me have been thieves and robbers, but the sheep haven’t listened to them.
“Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen through the gate, but who climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.
Some time ago a man named Theudas appeared and made great claims about himself. He got about 400 people to support him, but he was killed, his followers were scattered, and it all came to nothing.
My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me.
But they will never follow a stranger. In fact, they will run away, because they don’t recognize a stranger’s voice.”