just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.
To what degree are we to know our Shepherd? Even as He knows His Father and His Father knows Him. This is mainly speaking of a degree of intimacy beyond our wildest dreams! And yet it is the goal that Jesus has for us. To restate, it is the goal of Jesus that we know Him to the same degree that he knows the Father and that the Father knows Him. This a goal which we are to earnestly pursue our entire lives, every day coming closer to (but never fully arriving at) its achievement. But this is a goal which we will find completed when we come into His presence to live forever. Ultimate intimacy!