By Sister Cheryl Jacobs
Jesus said: “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.” (John 10:9-10)
In Israel in Jesus’ time, sheepfolds, or pens, would have been a common site. They were normally formed by piles of large rocks up to three feet high, with only a single opening. Some sheep pens were large and housed multiple groups of sheep. A watchman, or gatekeeper, was hired to guard the entrance and only let in the correct shepherds with their sheep.
Prior to verse 9, Jesus explains that “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” (vs 1-3).
“I am the gate” is perhaps a bit more obscure to us than Jesus saying he is the good shepherd. We wonder how he can be both shepherd and gate for the sheep pen. Though it seems to have also been the case that with smaller sheepfolds for a single flock, a shepherd would lie down across the entrance to protect the sheep.
Jesus is the gate – the doorway to home, to peace and security, to the place of rest.
And Jesus is THE gate, the only way to our heavenly Father.
Jesus talks about another gate in his Sermon on the Mount: “For the gate is narrow … that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14).
Some hear these as exclusionary statements, as if the gate is so hidden or hard to open that it is not available to everyone. Jesus, however, wants all to come into his sheep pen. But many are just not looking. Only a faith based on Jesus, the Christ, offers true life now and into eternity. Every other way of believing, that I myself or some system of credits or apparent moral behaviour is enough to save me, robs us of that full life available to us.
Of course, there are times I pass by the gate on my merry way through the easy fields of grass, and even through the difficult places, rather than listening to his voice.
The Christian Ashram I attend is held at a rural church conference center where all the properties around are homes or summer homes of people belonging to that church denomination. There are a couple of large signposts that remind me of gateways. As we enter the grounds, there is a sense of passing into a place where God seems closer, a “thin place”.
Christian Ashrams are like sheepfolds, with the gateway of “Jesus is Lord,” and places of rest and restoration, where there is protection from the thief who would steal our abundant life. And where there is always room for more sheep.
Through this Lent and ongoing, may we all regularly pass through the gate that is Jesus – to both go in to rest in his love and grace and to go out into the world firm in our hope and filled with the Spirit.
Prayer: Holy God, your Son’s triumph over sin and death has opened to us the gate of eternal life. Purify our hearts so that we may follow where he has gone and share in his Kingdom. Amen.
