Monday, May 9, 2022

9 May 2022 - the gate for the sheep


Jesus is both the shepherd who leads his sheep and the gate through which the sheep are led. He is both the truth and the way leading to life.

Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate
but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.

Those who teach some other way or truth than that which Jesus taught were revealed to be among those who were not for him, but against him, not gathering with him, but scattering. This was not a condemnation of those who looked forward in faith to Jesus without knowing him, or those in distant lands who had not yet heard his name but still desired him on some vague semi-conscious level. This was a condemnation of those who pridefully assumed privileges over the sheep which were not there own, who drew others around themselves for the sake of their own pride and material gain, rather than for the sake of the sheep.

But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him

Jesus taught that the gate to eternal life was narrow and that the road was difficult (see Matthew 7:14). And it was narrow in the sense that its dimensions were precisely those of Jesus himself and no other, the only name given under heaven by which we could be saved. Salvation was a locked door and Jesus himself was the only key so conformed with the the Father's will as to open it for us. Jesus warned his listeners that there were those who did not have the best interest of the sheep at heart, who did not follow the self-giving way of the Good Shepherd, but who would nevertheless be pleased to insinuate themselves with sheep they could persuade to listen.


and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

Safety for the sheep was to be found in the voice of the shepherd himself. Provided they learned to recognize that voice by repeated exposure, provided they listened to it and not to others, they would remain safe from thieves and robbers. They would flee from strangers. Only the shepherd truly knew his sheep. He called them by name in a way that the false claimants to the role could not imitate. This was the voice that called Moses and Samuel, Mary Magdalene and Lazarus. When the ones who were called heard that voice speaking their names they recognized one who knew them even better than they knew themselves, one who deserved all of their trust.

I am the gate for the sheep.

Jesus knew his sheep as the unique individuals they were, with the knowledge of them that only the one who himself created them could have. And so his sheep could recognize his voice as that of the shepherd they were meant to follow. The unique individuality of Jesus himself and of the life he led were a guarantee of safety for the sheep. No one else could offer the path opened by the life of Jesus himself, by way of the cross, through death to eternal life. And so his sheep were able to recognize him as the only gate that led to the green pastures of heaven.

I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.

The true shepherd did not come to get something from the sheep. Indeed he stood to gain nothing from us. He came not to condemn us but so that by belief in him we could escape condemnation and have life in his name. And this was not only for some small group, as though there were limits in what God was able to provide. Rather, Jesus was also to be a shepherd for sheep that were not yet of the fold (see John 10:16). He was to be the long awaited light so undimmed by by sin and selfishness that he could shine, not just occasionally, for some, but forever, and for all nations.

‘What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.’

It was necessary for Peter to hear this voice three times, and there are many similar examples in Scriptures were God's word is not immediately identified. This means that we ourselves definitely stand to benefit from practice at listening to the voice of Jesus. We hear him speaking in prayer, Scripture, and Sacrament. His voice comprehends us, our limitations, and our selfishness. But he is not content to leave us there. His voices directs us toward himself, the gate open to all who desire him. It asks us to orient ourselves more and more entirely toward the gate, toward the goal of the green pasture to which it leads. 

Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling-place.

Where have we most clearly heard the voice of Jesus speaking to us in our own lives? How might we invest in circumstances that make such experiences more likely in the future? We need not fear. He himself desires that we be able to hear him and he will not abandon us to struggle on our own. It is the Holy Spirit himself whose mission it is to remind us of everything Jesus taught, to lead us into the truth that is Jesus himself. May we truly desire and open ourselves to more of his power.

As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them
as it had upon us at the beginning

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