John 10:1-10; Of Shepherds, Gates and Sheep

"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 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."

Introduction

This passage occurs directly after the story of Jesus' healing of the man born blind (John 9). That passage concluded with a tense exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees on the subject of blindness and vision. The blind man sees; those who see (i.e., the Pharisees) are really the blind ones. Our passage for the day takes up the same theme but from a different "angle" or, better said, by using a different story. Rather than a "real life" healing that leads to a message, Jesus will give a parable of sorts (it is called a "parable" in 10:6) to illustrate the question of who is his and how one enters the kingdom of God. Here we are in the world of sheep and shepherds and doorkeepers and doors and voices but the point is the same--only those who hear the true shepherd's voice will follow him. Thus, while ch. 9 stresses the importance of the sense of sight, in ch. 10 we focus on the sense of hearing. The senses provide a rich symphonic chorus leading to service to God.

Abundant Life

The verse which no doubt was in the mind of the lectionary-makers when they suggested this passage is v. 10. I like it so much that I will repeat it here:

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

This verse, which featured so prominently in my college Christian days in the "Four Spiritual Laws" (the Campus Crusade for Christ publication I used as I tried to convert the campus to Christ) has been a favorite of mine for decades, but if you look at it closely here, you see that it is sort of a minor thought in the flow of the passage. Certainly the contrast is between the thief and Christ, but the overall point of the passage is the "gate-like" and then the "shepherd-like" character of Christ. Let's not rush to the "abundant life" before we try to understand the analogies which the passage presents.

Shepherds and Gates

This last observation ought, then, to turn our mind back to the text itself. When we do so, we are placed into a world foreign to us. We live in an urbanized world; the text speaks of a rural reality. Yet the lesson transcends the context. The "parable" speaks about recognition of voice and identity of speaker. Instead of blind people and seeing people, we are in the world of thieves, bandits and shepherds. But the twofold stress in vv. 1-6 is on voice and recognition. The shepherd of the sheep enters through the gate because the doorkeeper recognizes him. The sheep hear the voice of the shepherd and follow him because they recognize him. The voice of the shepherd convinces the sheep that he is their guide; "They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers," (v. 5). In the context of Pharisee and early Christian leader vying for authority in the confusing world of Judaism of late antiquity, the issue of authority of voice is paramount.

But even in our day, we know people by "voice." We feel inclined to follow people because of a "voice" associated with it. We follow our sports teams and we become so acquainted with the sportscaster that we relax, smile and settle in when we hear the voice. Who wouldn't remember some of the sportscaster's mannerisms or words ("How about that, sports fans?"). In the cacophony of voices in the world today, voices spew all kinds of words into our airwaves. To hear, and respond to Jesus' voice, the voice of the shepherd, is the essence of Christian faith.

A Little "Trick"

But then the Gospel author plays a bit of a trick on us. Though vv. 1-6 seem clear to us, even though they are confusing to the Pharisees that hear thm (v. 6), we become confused when we read vv. 7-9. Jesus says, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate of the sheep." We were expecting, and everything in vv. 1-5 gave this impression, that Jesus was the "shepherd" of the sheep. Indeed, in v. 11, the verse after our passage ends, Jesus calls himself the shepherd. But not here. Here, Jesus calls himself the "gate" or the 'door.' This thought adumbrates the famous verse in ch. 14--where Jesus calls himself the "way, the truth, and the life." The purpose of the "gate metaphor" is to emphasize the uniqueness of Jesus and how he is the only way to salvation.

The Uniequeness of Jesus

So, what do you do with the claim of Jesus in our world of diversity today? It is increasingly becoming more difficult to proclaim that Christ is the "only" way to salvation when we recognize the staying power and long history of other religious traditions in the world. Certainly in the context of the first century, where synagogue and church were separating from each other, the early church needed to stress that Christ was the only way to salvation. Indeed, if they accepted the claim that traditional Judaism was just as good as the way of Jesus, the Christian movement probably would never have gotten off the ground. But in our day, that same kind of pugilistic or antagonistic environment between the Christian faith and other faiths is foreign to many environments, especially the United States and Europe. The "fight" continues in some sections of Africa and Asia, to be sure, but those of us in the West have tended to downplay the "one way"-ness of Christ in the last several years. Jesus as "the door" may not preach as well as Jesus the bringer of "abundant life" (hence the ending of the passage with v. 10), but it is the focus of the original passage. So, shepherds, sheep, voices, and gates. Where will your focus be?

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