May 22, Jesus knows his sheep.

My sheep hear my voice and I know them.

John 1027.

Jesus knows those who are his.

What is this knowledge?

John 103 is a close parallel to John 1027.

It says,

The sheep hear his voice,

and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

So when Jesus says, I know them,

this means at least that he knows them by name.

That is, he knows them individually and intimately.

They're not anonymous, lost in the flock.

John 10, 14, and 15 provides another insight.

I am the good shepherd.

I know my own and my own know me,

just as the father knows me and I know the father.

There is a real similarity

between the way Jesus knows his father in heaven

and the way he knows his sheep. Jesus sees himself in the father

and he sees himself in his disciples. To some degree, Jesus recognizes his own character

in his disciples. He sees his own brand mark on his sheep. This endears them to him.

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