“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.[NRSV]I am the gate.
Comedian, Jim Gaffagin, reflects on heaven having a pearly gate and wonders why Heaven is a gated community. He suggests that they probably had to go to hell to find a contractor to build it.
A gate implies a fence, a wall or some image of division, and the doorway is the expected and intended place of entrance.
Jesus is our gateway to grace, to eternity and most importantly, our gateway to God.
This reference connects to the sacrificial lamb that was roasted and eaten by the Israelites the night before the journey toward the promised land. The blood of the lamb as a sign over the doorway, marked who would be saved and who would die.
Jesus said, he was that gate.
There are walls and boundaries, physical and perceived, that divide us and separates.
There are times, in the name of safety, that we are thankful for fences and particians:
Between the road the playground
The privacy door in the restroom
A understanding of mutual respect and the unintentional wandering of a stranger
There is a place for gates and fences.
The metaphor of a gate.
A gate is a path of access
A gate is an openning, in what is a barrier
A gate is permission
A gate is not always open and not always closed
A gate is grace and judgement
A gate is freedom and restriction
A gate is point of passage.
Jesus said, “I am the gate.”
We come to a holy meal, communion, where Jesus offers himself, still today and eternally, as a gateway to grace
a gateway to forgiveness
a gateway to starting over
a gateway to trusting God
a gateway to life
a gateway to trust
a gateway to, or back to, God.
Jesus joins us at the table, that opens the gate, that has the sacrifice of the lamb as our entry, and himself as the tangible door to enter into a life of sacrificial living for God.
Here is the powerful part of the story: through Christ, through his body and blood, opens us into the life of being gate-keepers. Those who open the door for others or those who close the door.
Is the gate open or closed?
Do we stay huddled in the comfort of what pleases us, makes us feel in control, OR
Do we open it wide and offer all that is good and evil come in under our watch
Do we open hearts or close hearts
Do we close minds or open minds
Do we open the scriptures and trust them
Do we close them and replace them with our own choosing
Do we slip into becoming the door
Christ invites us to be those who place the hand of someone else on the latch,
and allow Christ to welcome them in.
It is not our place to be the door,
rather we are to lead others to the door.
If we remain inside the fence there is no way to go out to welcome others
If we remain outside the fence, there is no need for a way to God, we choose to serve another.
We cross the threshold, back and forth, knowing our place is at the table and in the world.
In or Out: What side of the gate?
What doors, gates, minds and hearts are you and I personally directing toward God?
Our denomination is racing toward a crossroads and we have lost sight of the gate.
Rather than finding the true Christ, we make our own door way in and are committed that our way is the better way.
Lord have mercy on me a sinner
I come to your table and confess I have brought no one to your heart and hand today.
I come as a bandit, and a thief, taking and claiming what is not mine, comfortable in what my mind tells me without concern for your word and comforted in your word without understanding what it means.
This passage calls us to stop looking for a door the left or the right, but to search for the gate that IS Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the gate, we trust the gate.
It is my calling to proclaim to the church that our Jesus, who welcomes us to the table also sends us our into a would that rejects and would persecute us for opening grace and power to them in Jesus name.
Our calling is not to make people believe, but lead people to Christ, lead people to the gateway that has given us hope, transformation, and salvation.
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