Jesus is the Good Shepherd!

Lesson 6

These statements give a description of who Jesus is for people and tell what his mission what about.  
When Jesus talks about being the vine and people bring the branches,
he is talking about how the branches receive life and nourishment from the vine rooted in the ground.   
When he says he is the resurrection and the life he is saying that people will receive the gift of
God’s own life in grace, the fullness of Tapu, and through Jesus the gift of the Holy Spirit they
will have eternal life as well.  He is the way, the truth and the life because if people live in the
way he has lived with tika, pono and aroha they will receive the fullness of life and the truth
will be revealed to them.  

The entrance to the enclosure for sheep in Jesus’ day was an opening in a wall or hedge.  
This was where the shepherd slept. So the shepherd became the gate of the sheep enclosure.  
When Jesus speaks about being the gate he is saying that it is through him that people can find
the life of God n- Te Atua.  The shepherd of Jesus’ day went before the sheep leading them to grass
and to safety, protecting them from wolves and harm.  As the good shepherd Jesus leads
people to what is good and will even lay down his life to save them.

The Good Shepherd: Jesus leading his sheep the right way.

As bread of life he feeds people on his Word and the Eucharist.  He nourishes their life in God through
grace and, increases their tapu and mana.

The “I am’ statements also show that Jesus is God.  I John 10:33 the people tell him he will be punished
by stoning because he has blasphemed, that is, he has spoken insultingly about God by calling himself
God’s Son = Te Tama a Te Atua..  That object to his claims that he and the Father - Matua are one.  
Jesus tells them to look at what he is doing, for they will see that the work he is doing is the work of the
Father who is God.  His work of tika, justice, and aroha, mercy and healing will show them how he is
one with God.

In John’s first letter he says that God is light and in him there is no darkness (1 John 1:5)

Jesus says he is the light of the world.  John shows Jesus is the light of the world by writing
about him healing a blind man just after this dialogue in which he says he is the light of the world.  
As the light of the world he enables people to see and this means more than just seeing what is about,
but seeing with eyes of faith and recognising Jesus for who he is.  The man who has been healed calls
Jesus Lord, professes his belief in hi and worships him - John 9: 38