The Good Shepherd, John 10
Jesus, Our One True Shepherd
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Introduction
Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus offers to those around Him, most specifically His Disciples, metaphors to help them understand who He is and what His purposes are. Jesus uses common phrases to illustrate His point. He does this twenty-three times in the Gospel of John Repeating important. He begins seven of those important statements with two exceptional words, “I AM”. These words illustrate his world-saving purpose. For example in John 6, Jesus makes the profound statement “I am the bread of life” right after feeding a huge crowd and speaking of Moses and the manna God gave from Heaven. Without the manna, the nation of Israel would not have survived their time in the desert. Later, in John 8 Jesus speaks of walking in light versus darkness, and makes the statement, “I am the Light of the world…” We know that a belief in Jesus allows us to walk in the light, to be out of the darkness of sin and death. By the time we reach chapter 10 in the Gospel of John, Jesus is going say again, twice, an “I AM” statement. The rest of this paper will focus on John 10:1-18. It is important however, to understand that what Jesus is doing in these verses is in the midst of a long line of hugely important moments between Him and those He came to save. In the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus makes two huge “I AM” statements. The first one Jesus speaks to is addressed in verses 1-10, and is spoken in vs.7, “I AM the door of the sheep.” The second comes later in vs. 11, “I AM the good shepherd.” In John 10, the structure of the passage comes in two parts, yet concludes with one main theme, Jesus is our true Shepherd. The paper will take a look at the first part of the passage where Jesus talks about being the “gatekeeper”, and then will shift focus into what Jesus being the “Good Shepherd” means. While again, each could be looked at independently, the focus of this paper will be to demonstrate
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Introduction
Throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus offers to those around Him, most specifically His Disciples, metaphors to help them understand who He is and what His purposes are. Jesus uses common phrases to illustrate His point. He does this twenty-three times in the Gospel of John Repeating important. He begins seven of those important statements with two exceptional words, “I AM”. These words illustrate his world-saving purpose. For example in John 6, Jesus makes the profound statement “I am the bread of life” right after feeding a huge crowd and speaking of Moses and the manna God gave from Heaven. Without the manna, the nation of Israel would not have survived their time in the desert. Later, in John 8 Jesus speaks of walking in light versus darkness, and makes the statement, “I am the Light of the world…” We know that a belief in Jesus allows us to walk in the light, to be out of the darkness of sin and death. By the time we reach chapter 10 in the Gospel of John, Jesus is going say again, twice, an “I AM” statement. The rest of this paper will focus on John 10:1-18. It is important however, to understand that what Jesus is doing in these verses is in the midst of a long line of hugely important moments between Him and those He came to save. In the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus makes two huge “I AM” statements. The first one Jesus speaks to is addressed in verses 1-10, and is spoken in vs.7, “I AM the door of the sheep.” The second comes later in vs. 11, “I AM the good shepherd.” In John 10, the structure of the passage comes in two parts, yet concludes with one main theme, Jesus is our true Shepherd. The paper will take a look at the first part of the passage where Jesus talks about being the “gatekeeper”, and then will shift focus into what Jesus being the “Good Shepherd” means. While again, each could be looked at independently, the focus of this paper will be to demonstrate