Jesus I AmSample

Jesus is the gate. Weird comparison here, I know. But it would have made a lot of sense to the people Jesus was talking to. The people Jesus was talking to knew a lot about shepherds, their job description, purpose and the role they played in their community. Jesus tells them the routine of the shepherd. 

First, the shepherd will come into the pen in the morning and gather all of his sheep. The sheep will follow the shepherd out into the open pasture, where there would be another gate. The sheep would have the freedom to roam the pasture, but if they ever sensed any trouble, or if the shepherd ever sensed trouble, he would call out to the sheep and they would all run into the pen. There was one problem. The pen didn't have a gate. So, the shepherd would stand in the gap of the pen and become the gate. 

He was the protector. Nobody or nothing could harm the sheep if the shepherd was the gate. The shepherd was the access point. Anyone or anything that wanted to get in the pen had to go through the shepherd. Jesus is the gate. Jesus is our protector. The only way to truly live is through Jesus.