CHRIST: OUR SHEPHERD & GATE

Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10

4th Sunday of Easter, April 30, 2023

Pastor Ritva H Williams

The 4th Sunday of Easter is celebrated as Good Shepherd Sunday. Our first scripture reading, Psalm 23 celebrates the LORD God, the divine shepherd who leads their people to nourishment and safety, keeps them alive, protects them, hosts and welcomes them into the divine presence forever. Our second scripture reading from 1st Peter urges us to follow the example of Christ, the shepherd and guardian of our souls. We are called to walk in the footsteps of the Christ who did not return abuse for abuse or make threats against those who made them suffer, but entrusted themself to God the just and righteous judge of all. 

Finally, in our Gospel lesson, Jesus offers “figures of speech” — veiled sayings — which no one understands. This passage does indeed offer a bewildering array of metaphors and images. There is a sheepfold with a gate, thieves and bandits who don’t enter by the gate, a shepherd who does enter by the gate, a gatekeeper who opens the gate for the shepherd who calls his own sheep by name, leads them out of the sheepfold, and goes ahead of them. Then, Jesus tells us he is the gate. What? We expect Jesus to say he is the shepherd (which he does in verse 11, but that’s for another day). Instead this morning Christ says he is the gate that empowers sheep to go in and out and find pasture, to enjoy abundant life now and forever. 

In this passage Jesus is offering a commentary on the events described in chapter 9. Remember that story about a man born blind, isolated and marginalized, relegated to begging which in turn exposed him to abuse and danger. When the blind man’s sight was restored by Jesus, the leaders harassed him, discounted his story, and finally threw him out of the community.

What Jesus is saying is that the man born blind, and indeed all of us are like sheep — social animals, easily frightened, almost entirely defenseless against predators. That the Bible regularly compares humans to sheep highlights our need for companionship and community, and our vulnerability. Sheepfolds provide sheep with safety and security. Shepherds protect, nurture and guide. Throughout the ancient world, emperors, kings, and other leaders were expected to be like shepherds tending their sheep, devoting all their talents and strengths to ensuring the well-being and prosperity of their people (Aristotle, Nicomachian Ethics).  

In the Bible, God declares “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep,” and promises “I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them” (Ezekiel 34:15, 23). God is THE SHEPHERD (all caps) who calls and lifts up shepherds (no caps) — human leaders to act as God’s agents and representatives. Jesus was one such human shepherd, but Jesus was also so much more. The everliving Christ is both THE SHEPHERD and the gatekeeper. And that is good news. It means that there are no gatekeepers to God or Christ or Jesus or Holy Spirit, however much some churches, religious authorities try to do that. As we saw in the case of the man born blind, it is Jesus himself who comes in-person and opens the gate. 

The thieves and bandits were community members and leaders who set themselves up as shepherds and gatekeepers. We know they were not sent by God or Christ because they isolated and marginalized the man born blind, relegated him to begging, exposed him to abuse and danger, harassed him, didn’t believe his story, and threw him out. Elsewhere in the Bible, such folk are called “false shepherds.” God calls these false shepherds to account with these words:

Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them …  my sheep have become prey — food for all the wild animals (Ezekiel 34: 3-4, 8). 

Here we have a biblical job description for leadership: basically, true shepherds do all the things that these false shepherds don’t do. True shepherds feed the sheep, strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, bring back the lost gently and peacefully. Jesus expands that job description to include relationship and guidance: the shepherd of the sheep, he says, calls the sheep by name, leads them out, goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know the shepherd’s voice.  

But what about the gate? How does that fit with the image of Jesus as the good and noble shepherd?

In her book Freeing Jesus. — Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way and Presence, Diana Butler Bass explores how these six different concepts of Jesus played out in her own life. In chapter five, she reflects how she tried so hard to be a good faithful woman, dedicated to renewing the spiritual and intellectual life of evangelicalism, only to realize in her  early thirties that following Jesus felt like a trap. When Diana’s counselor suggested that she “just walk out. the door is open,” she connected with John 10:9 (NKJV): “I am the door,” says Jesus, “If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” Diana writes:

“The door is open? I had always imagined that the door was a one-way proposition. You went in, and there, inside the sheep pen … you were safe, saved, one of the flock. I never noticed the clause, “will go in and out,” indicating that the door might swing toward the world as well. Perhaps the spiritual life was not about finding the right box or a bigger cage, but wandering into pastures, following the light, crossing the bridge. Not hemmed in by walls, but walking in the open? How had I confused a cage with a journey?

Christ, the Good Shepherd and Gatekeeper to the sheepfold, is also the gate itself. Christ is the gate that neither locks sheep in nor keeps them out. Christ is the gate that guards sheep from whatever threatens their well-being. Safe and secure behind the gate, sheep can rest and recharge. Christ is simultaneously the gate that swings open and outward, inviting sheep to go forth, to explore, to follow the good shepherd who is already going ahead, leading them to still waters and rich, green pastures wherever they may be found. Each of us is called to follow in the footsteps of Christ — to do what Jesus would do. That means each of us sheep can be shepherds building safe and secure inclusive communities where all are welcome. That means that each of us can be a gate open and welcoming to every child of God,  and inviting every child of God to explore the world beyond the boundaries of their own small sheepfolds. 

Blessing of the Gate by Jan Richardson

Press your hand to this blessing, here along the side where you can feel its seam.

Follow the seam and you will find the hinges on which this blessing turns.

Feel how your fingers catch on them — top, bottom, 

the slightest pressure sending the gliding open in a glad welcome.

Wait, did I say press your hand to this blessing?

What I meant was press your hand to your heart.

Rest it over that place in your chest that has grown closed and tight,

where the rust, with this talent for making decay appear artful,

has bitten into what you once held dear.

Breathe deep. 

Press on the knot and feel how it begins to give way,

turning upon the hinge of your heart.

Notice how it opens wide and wider still as you exhale, 

spilling you out into a realm where you never dreamed to go

but cannot now imagine living this life without. 

Amen.