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.
The Pharisees and other religious leaders were among those who attempted to climb over elsewhere. Whereas Jesus won over the crowds by acting and speaking to them with sincerity and truth, others tried to poach his flocks by insinuating that he was incompetent or evil. They tried trickery and subterfuge to gain his sheep for themselves. But for all of their human cleverness they were lacking the key factor in the success of Jesus. He had the gatekeeper to open the gate, the authenticate his ministry in the minds and the hearts of the crowds. His Father drew those who were willing so that they could come to believe. The gate had in fact been prepared by previous generations of prophets, who promised the eventual coming of the messiah. Those prophecies, and thus the gate itself, corresponded only and exactly to Jesus himself. Not only that, but every human heart was also made so as to desire his coming. Jesus was the key designed to unlock all of those hearts that would otherwise remain closed. That is why people resonated so deeply with his words, and noted in him an authority that others did not possess. Many Pharisees and others were deeply envious of this rapport of Jesus with the crowds. After all, no matter how clever they were or how hard they worked they could never have the connection Jesus had his followers.
When he has driven out all his own,
he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him,
because they recognize his voice.
The sheep of the flock of Jesus are drawn to him by the Father. In his presence they learn to recognize his voice. He knows more about them than any rival claimants to the title of shepherd, knows not only their names, but their deepest identities. His sheep feel seen by him, and in being seen, they feel his overwhelming love for them. They are known, known in their strengths and their weaknesses, warts and all, and yet are loved no less for their imperfections. There is no other gaze like the gaze of the good shepherd. Thus the sheep feel entirely confident to entrust themselves to his care.
I am the gate.
Jesus is both the way and the destination. Others sought the sheep out of short-sighted self-interest. They act beneficently toward them only long enough to get them to lower their guard so that they could begin to exploit them. They basically desired to possess the sheep for the sake of their own pride and self-image. There was no way that such shepherds could lead the sheep to any truly desirable pastures. Contrast this with Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve, not to exploit the sheep, but to save them. Rather than taking their lives to build himself up he laid down his own life for their sakes. To be fair, he had come to do something that only he could do. Only he possessed life in abundance. Only he was capable of sharing it with the flock.
There are so many thieves in our world that desire to steal our joy and slaughter the life of grace in our souls. Only Jesus gives us life in abundance. But this is not merely a slogan, or a good title for a potential best seller in the genre of Christian literature. The life we are given is not merely a metaphysical reality that, while true, does not impact the experience of our daily existence. Rather, it is meant to transform us entirely. We should be noticeably different because of Jesus, just as Jesus himself was different from all others because of his Father.
For you had gone astray like sheep,
but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
As sheep we are prone to stray and to forgot, neglect, or minimize the blessings of the Lord. But sheep are not valued for their indefectability. It is rather docility that is the quality that is valuable. If we have strayed, well, we are sheep, not superheroes. The important thing to do at such times is to allow ourselves to be led back to our shepherd. He never ceases to call and chase after us, no matter how lost we become. He is not doing this job for his own sake and thus he does not hold a grudge against sheep for acting as sheep tend to act. Even if we've forgotten, he still holds the keys to our hearts. His words can once again do for us what they did for the crowd in Acts:
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart,
and they asked Peter and the other apostles,
"What are we to do, my brothers?"
Most of us have already been baptized. But we may need to reconnect with that baptismal grace through repentence. If we do so there is nothing which cannot be forgiven, no sheep so lost that he cannot return to the fold. We may not have been open to the gift of the Spirit when we first received it. Even if we were, we may well have squandered his fruit. But it is not too late to open ourselves to him once more. What he was not free to do then because of our limited understanding or engagement he still has the power to do now. What may now be embers can be fanned into flames. This is good to remember as we move into the latter part of the Easter season and head toward Pentecost. It is precisely his gift of the Spirit that is the fullest expression of the abundant life he desires for all of his sheep.
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