Good Shepherd, let my words be your words and when my words are not your words, let your people be wise enough to know the same. Amen.
When I turned eleven years old, I received an amazing birthday present. My mom gave me a six-week-old, Springer-Spaniel puppy who was curious, smart, and just a little mischievous. That night, I knew what to call him—Merlin because I thought he was magic. Soon I realized just how fitting his name was.
After school, I would run and play with Merlin, so that he got some exercise and attention. We would play in the fenced-in backyard. One day I went inside to grab a snack, and not a moment later I returned to find that Merlin was gone. I ran around to the front yard, and he was trotting around proudly, sniffing bushes that he did not get to smell otherwise. It was as if he said, I did this just to show you I could do it. I chased him to the backyard and discovered that the magical dog had managed to unlatch the gate.
Merlin somehow found a way to get through the gate. For some time, I was scared that he would get out and get hurt, so anytime he pushed through the gate I got angry. A couple of times I even kicked and cussed that gate until I hurt myself or until my mom heard me. That was a bad gate. It would not keep Merlin in, it made me angry, and a few times it even let in other dogs or animals that would pester Merlin.
In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus said, “I am the gate,” but my childhood gate makes me think, is that a good thing? What makes for a good gate?
When I went on a college visit to Birmingham-Southern, a security officer looked over the entranceway. He wanted to know my name and if I was there on an official visit. Later, I discovered that the guards of this gate are there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. An admissions counselor told stories about when students broke down on the way home from Spring Break or Christmas Vacation and how the gatekeepers would make sure that these students got back to campus safely.
Jesus says, “I am the gate,” but is the BSC gate something like what he was describing? This seems like an impressive gate system. Those who are invited inside get to come in and even when in danger, they are rescued by the security guard.
On my last official college visit as a high school senior, I traveled north from Birmingham with my mom and sister. As we approached the campus of this university on either side of Highway 41A we noticed large stone columns with the name “Sewanee” on it. Our admissions tour brochure informed us that most refer to this rocky entranceway as “The Gates.” When one leaves campus, one is to tap the ceiling of the car to receive a Sewanee angel. This tradition stems from the belief that Sewanee stands out as a thin space, heaven-on-earth, as it were.
Jesus says, “I am the gate,” but is this what he meant? Does Sewanee have good gates? When you leave them you receive a holy presence that goes with you on your journey. There is no latch, nor roadblock, rather everyone is allowed inside. Yet, if inside is where the angels dwell, who and what is outside? And, what if without a real barrier those inside do not feel safe?
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday. Yet, Jesus was and is more than a shepherd. Today’s Gospel lesson informs us he is a gate too. What did he mean when he offered, “I am the gate”? Maybe, we cannot completely understand what he meant. Certainly, as our gateway then, now, and always, he is not a flimsy closure that a magic dog can easily bypass getting himself into danger, nor is Jesus a reinforced, closed, and guarded way that not everyone can enter.
Perhaps Jesus as our gateway means that we have someone who will come and get us when we are in trouble, like at BSC. Maybe Jesus as our gateway means that as we move through him, we are accompanied by a heavenly presence, like at Sewanee. Jesus as our gateway might just mean that we are invited to come into the fold when he calls, but we are also free to go out into the pasture to grow spiritually when he leads us there.
Jesus is partially like all of these previously mentioned gates, and yet he is not like any of these gates. Gates keep things in or out. Sure, they can protect us, but they also can keep us separated. We need more than just any gate.
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, and we learn from John’s Gospel account that Jesus was both shepherd and gate. In his day, these two positions were one in the same thing. Shepherds would lay over the only opening in a fence physically becoming the gate through which thieves and bandits would have to come to find the sheep. Imagine that! Our Good Shepherd keeps us safe, serving not only as our guide and companion, but also as our shield from those who yearn to harm us.
Christ walks with us always, and he calls us to go through his gateway into deeper life. As a gate, Christ is the way through which we experience the full abundance of life. To enter into the richness of life on and beyond we need only to walk with our Good Shepherd and through his gateway into the life eternal.
What does a good gate look like? It looks like a Good Shepherd.
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