Picket or wrought iron? How about human flesh and bone…?Yesterday was commonly called “Good Shepherd Sunday” for the reference to the Gospel lesson of the day. In this Gospel lesson (John 10:1-10), Jesus says in verse 7, “I am the gate.”
We’ve often seen pictures of Jesus carrying lambs or walking with a shepherd’s staff, but, as Pastor Fred noted on Sunday, “it would be interesting and I doubt we’ll ever see Jesus pictured as a gate.”
In his sermon, Pastor Fred explained that this phrase would have created a different image for the people of Jesus’ day than for us. Instead of a gate swinging open and shut, envision the shepherd lying across the doorway between large stone walls that would encompass the sheep pen. In this way, Jesus tells us that He will be that shepherd guarding the opening in the wall, sleeping across the threshold, the gatekeeper through whom everyone and everything would have to pass by in order to get to the sheep.
We can take comfort in this image of Jesus as “the gate.” No one will be able to get past Him into the fold to harm us. Not one of us will be able to stray away from the fold without His knowledge.
Stubborn, nudging and stinky sheep that we are, we may push through the gate and go astray; but Good Shepherd that Jesus is, He will know where we have gone and will find us and guide us back to His protection. We will follow Jesus because we know His voice. The familiarity and love of the Good Shepherd will comfort us and call us back to the safety of His care. “The stranger, they will not follow,” John 10:5
Thank you God for giving us such a devoted shepherd that He would lie across the threshold to keep away the bad guys and keep us safely within the fold…always on watch.
He stretched out upon a cross to be a gatekeeper to death. What better shepherd could we want?
What do you think of this image of Jesus as “the gate?”
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