Word to the Wise
Monday, April 22, 2013 - 4th Week of Easter - Mon
[Acts 11:1-18 and John 10:1-10 or, in Year A, John 10:11-18,905]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........Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep......I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
The image shifts today in the long discourse about the shepherd and sheep. Jesus is offering a different way of looking at the scene. This time the focus is on the gate! We look at the gate twice! The first time, the gate is seen as the only way that the true shepherd comes in. If someone comes another way, they are dangerous. The second time, Jesus himself becomes the gate. One could get the impression that the evangelist had more than one tradition about this saying in front of him when this scene was written! We can find ourselves both inside and outside that corral in different perspectives. It has a dream-like quality to it.
The "Amen, amen" and "I am" sentences alert us to the importance of what Jesus is trying to say. The focus is on the relationship with Jesus - with hearing his voice and his voice only. It is following this shepherd that will give us abundant life. Anyone else is destructive and unworthy of trust. This is "sure" acceptance and not "blind faith." AMEN