When Jesus says 'I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold,' who is he referring to, and what did that mean for the early Church?

Jesus declares himself the Good Shepherd who lays down his life freely for the sheep, contrasting his sacrificial love with the hired man who flees when danger comes. In Acts, Peter discovers that the shepherd's fold is wider than anyone imagined, as the Holy Spirit falls on Gentile believers and breaks down every boundary between clean and unclean.

Let yourself be known today by the shepherd who will never run, and look for the other sheep he is gathering into one flock.

When Jesus says, "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold," he is referring to the Gentiles, those who were not part of the Jewish people, the original "fold" of God's covenant. For the early Church, this statement was profoundly significant. It signaled that salvation was not exclusively for the Jews but was to be extended to all nations. This understanding was crucial, especially as seen in today's First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, where Peter's vision and subsequent interaction with Cornelius in Caesarea demonstrate God's will to include Gentiles in the Church. It meant the Church was to be catholic, or universal, from its very beginning, welcoming all into the one flock under the one Good Shepherd.