Shepherd and Gate – John 10:1-10

A text – John 10:1-10  

10 “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. ² The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” ⁶ Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁷ So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me^[a] are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

A reflection:

In this portion of John’s gospel Jesus has just healed the man born blind – the one who regains his sight, is taken by the Pharisees to be questioned, along with his parents, about the nature of his blindness, and who is the subject of an argument over who had sinned, he or his parents, that he was born with blindness. The grateful healed man tells the Jewish leaders he had been blind, but someone healed him, someone who must be the Lord. The Pharisees cast him out of the synagogue for professing his belief in Jesus. This means that in the miracle of being healed he has gone from being in one marginalized group (beggars) to another (exiles from the synagogue). It is hard for us to imagine leaders so determined to hold onto their point of view and their orientation to the world that they themselves seem blind to an actual miracle in their midst.

Beyond being the provider of the miracle of restoring sight, Jesus is both Shepherd and Gate to the sheepfold for the man he healed. The man follows Jesus as a new believer in Jesus as Lord, and the man is also led into a new community of other followers after being expelled from his old one. It’s odd to imagine Jesus as both Shepherd and Gate, but Jesus does lead us like a shepherd and also does protect us from the evils and the short-sightedness of the world. Following Jesus’s lead and resting where he leads us gives us life abundantly.

In these chaotic days I find myself praying for protection for a lot of folks and also praying that those who are blind to the misuse of power and wealth and abundance be given sight to realize the vast consequences of their blindness and their inaction. I would gladly follow a shepherd who is also a gate. The portions of my day that feel abundant and safe and joyful are those in which I am resting in God’s path for me. May we all rest there today, doing what we are called by God to do, knowing that Jesus is leading and protecting us, perhaps taking us from one group into another that fits within God’s preferred and promised future for us.

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for leading us faithfully in your healing and bountiful grace. Help us to know that you have us, safe in your arms, and that we can count on you to protect us and help us get to where you need us to be. Amen.