Sermon 5-15-11

"God’s Gate"
John 10:1-10

Before our reading from John this morning a little background may be useful to better appreciate it.  Matthew, Mark and Luke’s gospels begin with Jesus’ humanity, his birth, and end with his divinity, his resurrection.  John begins with Jesus divinity – “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the Word was God.”  John positions Jesus as the word of God to us.  The other gospels are more about the life of Jesus, while John is more about Jesus’ message to us.  In the reading you are about to hear, we are the sheep and Jesus is the shepherd.

The content of our reading was evidently not clear when Jesus delivered it.  Part of the problem has to do with Jesus offering a riddle, describing himself as both the gate and the shepherd.  Here is one explanation that may clear up some confusion.  At night in Jesus’ time in Palestine, sheep were herded into a communal stone fenced paddock.  On top and outside the stone walls were loose piles of thorn branches to keep predators from leaping the fence.  Only the entrance to the paddock, the gate, was unprotected by thorns.  The shepherds would take turns sleeping just outside the gate to guard the sheep.  Thus the shepherd (during the day) and the gate (during the night) were one and the same person.

Now our reading – John 10:1-10 – Listen for the word of God.

Jesus seems to be telling us that he will keep us spiritually safe from false prophets, such as Pharisees, just as the shepherd keeps the sheep safe in the paddock.  At the same time, if we listen for his voice, follow him through the gate and out of the paddock, he will lead us to spiritual abundance, just as a shepherd leads his sheep to good pastures.  “I came that they (that is to say, we) may have life and have it abundantly” is the principal lesson of this reading.

There is another way to look at this story and that is in the context of Jesus long-running conflict with the Pharisees, those pious guardians of orthodoxy.  The paddock in this context stands for the synagogue.  When those who know Jesus follow his voice and leave through the gate they are saving themselves from false prophets, the thieves and bandits, that is, the Pharisees.

But there is a trap here.  Some people hear another statement of Jesus in John chapter 14, “No one comes to the father except through me.”  They conclude that this gate is a narrow one.  And these people, like the Pharisees, are happy to act as self-appointed gatekeepers protecting the morally weak and creating a privileged community of the ethically pure.  But remember in our reading, Jesus was not the gatekeeper, he was the gate itself.

So I don’t agree with the narrow gate concept.  “Gate” for me is a metaphor for the path of life.  Every time we hear our shepherd’s voice and follow him, we are on the path, passing through the gate.  Numberless people have been led to God, each starting in their own place, each following their own path.  What they have in common is each put their trust in their shepherd.  Each gave up their own ideas about what was best for them and followed their shepherd’s voice.  Every day, every decision to follow the shepherds voice, or not, is a kind of gate.

We have a big God and we are promised a big life in our big God.  If there is any problem in getting through the gate, in following the path, it is self-generated and not some kind of an obstacle sanctioned by God.  Psychiatrist R.D.Laing, in an mind-twisting little book called Knots, demolishes the narrow gate concept with the following poem, slightly edited:
 

Before one goes through the gate,
one may not be aware there is a gate.
One may think there is a gate to go through,
and look a long time for it
without finding it.
One may find it and
it may not open.
If it opens, one may go through it.
As one goes through it,
one sees that the gate one went through
was the very self that went through it.
No one went through a gate.
There was no gate to go through
No one ever found a gate
No one ever realized there never was a gate.

While the gates we each have to go through on our spiritual journeys are really internal, as is this poem, and are specific to each of us, all of us have those gates, perhaps many of them.  What John is trying to do with this story of sheep and shepherds and gates is to inspire the faith of world-weary adults in difficult times.  People like us.  The image of sheep and shepherd and gate is meant to counter forces that would isolate us from each other and undermine our faith in Jesus Christ. 

Listen to the additional promises Jesus makes to us elsewhere in John to guide us on our gated pathways.  It is all spelled out for us.  And listen to how the “I am“ promises of our one shepherd addresses our universal needs, thus uniting us with him and with each other.  Here we go.

I am the bread of life (John 6:35) Since Jesus is our spiritual food, discipleship means gathering around the table.   We will all share the Lord’s Supper in a moment.

I am the light of the world (8:12)  Since Jesus is light, discipleship means coming out of our dark corners and gathering in the middle of the room together.  We do this in our worship by confessing our sins.
 

I am the Gate for the sheep (10:7)  Since Jesus is the path to follow, discipleship means walking together along it.  We and the confirmands are about to promise to help each other do this.

I am the Good Shepherd (10:11) Since Jesus is the Good Shepherd, then discipleship means being sheep who find their life and well-being in his care.  In the words of Psalm 23, “He leads me in right paths.” And “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.”

I am the Resurrection and the Life (11:25) Since following Jesus is a life-long journey for his flock, discipleship means a group pilgrimage of walking in the way that leads to life.  We have to walk the path ourselves, but we can’t do it alone.  Sheep need their flock as well as their shepherd.

I am the Way, the truth and the life (14:6)  Because there is one and only one Good Shepherd, there is only one flock that gathers around him, although we may worship in different ways. 

I am the True Vine (15:1) Since Jesus is the Vine, discipleship means being the branches, people whose lives derive their fruitfulness from him.  This is the big life in the big God I mentioned earlier. 

To sum up, Jesus is our food, our light, our path, our protector and our life.  But we have to step through God’s gate many times.  Our whole life is really a journey through God’s gate.

Amen