"“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them."
John 10:1-6
This is one of the famous chapters in John's gospel, containing two 'I am' statements, 'the Door' and 'the good Shepherd'. One tends to read it in isolation, for its beauty and profundity, as a jewel in its own right, but it is worth noting that it flows without a break from what was said at the end of the previous chapter, and in fact arises directly from the excommunication of the healed man by the Pharisees and the welcome given him by Jesus. Indeed, the healed man is a very good example of what Jesus says in 27, 'My sheep hear my voice'. The man recognised the voice of the Shepherd (see 9:35-38), believed on Him, and entered in. In the same way the Pharisees demonstrated by their action how false they were as shepherds. This is the connection of the chapter with what has gone before in chapter 9; we see also the connection with what follows: in 18, Jesus speaks of laying down His life and taking it again. He is thus represented as having authority over death, and this is demonstrated both in the story of the raising of Lazarus in the next chapter, and also in the account of His passion and victory in the remainder of the gospel. To see the context of our Lord's words in this way must surely give added meaning to them and enrich interpretation for us, and this is certainly John's intention.