I Am the Gate
I Am... • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 22:38
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· 1,252 viewsWhat does it mean for Christians today to know our place in this world? Jesus gives clue with story about doorways.
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“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
In today’s technology world there seems to be a big push in recent years to address the privacy of our personal information. Our phones and our computers hold messages and documents with information about us. Sometimes these are simple things like our contact information: address, phone numbers, email. Sometimes it is information about who we are: date of birth, family members. Sometimes we use our phones and computers for personal finance: credit card numbers, bank statements, tax filing software. Hackers who know what they are doing can cause an awful lot of damage to people who don’t take a few simple steps to protect their information that is online.
And so, more-and-more, we find increasing security measures for accessing information while online. Accounts that we have set up require us to periodically change our passwords. And now passwords have to be more random by all requiring things like an uppercase, a number, and a punctuation symbol. Many of the online accounts that I use are set up with what is called two-factor authentication. That means whenever I (or anyone else) tries to login to one of my accounts, it instantly sends a confirmation message to my cell phone for me to approve before the login is allowed.
We set up all these various online safety features because—let’s face it—this is the place in our society where people like you and I are most vulnerable to thieves and robbers. So, I do whatever I can to make sure my online accounts have a random 18 character two-factor authenticated encrypted password at the front door so that no one except me is logging in and seeing my online information.
This is the story that Jesus is telling in this passage. Jesus reveals himself to us today using a story that all his listeners back then would have right away known about. It is a story about security and protection. Jesus says, I am the gate. Look at this picture of what a sheep pen looked like during the times of Jesus. Often it would have been a stone enclosure with only one opening. Sometimes it would be built right up against a steep cliff or in a canyon for extra protection. But there was only one way in or out. Often these sheep pens did not have actual doors built into them. You see that in these pictures. It is just an opening. So, when the sheep were gathered inside of the pen, a shepherd would sit right in the opening to block it off. That way the sheep could be safely kept inside, and any predators could be kept out.
Jesus is saying here in this story that he is login password. Jesus is the ultra-encrypted two-factor authenticated password code which allows the rightful users to logon, but keeps the hackers out.
A way to follow
A way to follow
As Jesus tells the story, then, those who enjoy the safety of the sheep pen are the ones who truly know his voice. And there were certainly other voices out there trying to make their way in. There were hackers pretending to be legitimate accounts looking to sneak past the security firewall. But Jesus says, those who truly know him will know who to follow, will know who to listen to.
Earlier this week one of my kids went over to his grandma’s house and spent some time helping her set up a new iPad tablet. Grandma has never had or used an iPad before, so she was starting from step one. Andrew helped her with things like setting up an Apple ID account and a password. He helped her set up the numeric code that is used to unlock the iPad every time you turn it on; talked her through the feature of programming in a fingerprint on the home button to authenticate passwords and logins. This is all brand new stuff for grandma. She knows very little about technology or security. She does not know what the legitimate safety features are or how to recognize them on an iPad. But for my kids this is second nature. Our kids live in a world in which they have never known a time without this kind of technology. They instantly recognize and know their way around technology because it is a constant part of their world.
Those who know how to follow Jesus recognize his voice because they have made Jesus a constant part of their world. Those who know how to follow Jesus recognize his voice because they have woven his words and his teachings so closely into their everyday activities. In recognizing the way of Jesus, those who follow him know his path; they know how to follow. And this means they also know when other voices come along which try to sneak over the wall and lead them astray. The only way to truly know and recognize the voice of Jesus is to spend time knowing his Word so that we can recognize the way to follow him in this world.
A way to belong
A way to belong
The image of Jesus as the gate is more than just a way to follow him. It is also a way to belong to him. It gives us a place of belonging. The shepherd who looks after the sheep does not scatter them all over the place. He gathers them together. He gives them a community to which to belong.
Whenever you and I may be struggling to know exactly how we are to follow our savior, we have the added benefit of all those around us here within the sheep pen of our Lord who help one another. We find a place to belong and a way of belonging. You and I do not need to be in a place where we have to figure out how to hear and know the voice of Jesus all by ourselves. We belong to a place in which we hear his voice together.
Grandma did not have to open up and figure out an iPad all on her own. She was able to call on someone who already knew and understood what to do. You and I are blessed here in this place with others who have spent time in the Word of God and who have walked this journey of following Jesus for some time. We have a place in which there are others to help point the way and go along with us, beside us.
A way to lead
A way to lead
What is the take away from this story? How did Jesus expect his listeners to react and respond? There are two striking features to this parable. The first feature is that there is a presumed assumption that the sheep will know the voice of the shepherd. There is an expectation placed on our end of this story. There is a take away for us today. We have been given the task and the responsibility of helping others to know the call of Jesus when they hear it. We have a task and a responsibility to lead. We are leaders here in this place as we grow in faith together, helping one another to know and follow Jesus. We are leaders in our community as we engage relationships other others who may not even be listening for the voice of Jesus, yet we can demonstrate through our words and our actions and our attitudes that his voice is calling. We can live in ways that strive to follow in the way of Jesus so that others may catch just a glimpse of the savior to which our lives are pointed. We lead when we point others towards our reason for hope in a world in which so many see no hope.
The other feature of this story is the way in which Jesus himself is the gate. He is the security. He is the guarantee. He is the protection. And it is only Jesus. We cannot add anything to it. We cannot create any secret back entrances. There are no tunnels or hidden passageways. There is no club level entrance reserved only for VIPs. There is no fast-pass wristband ticket that gets you up to the front of the line ahead of anybody else. Jesus is the only way. Only Jesus. Forget about all those things we try to do to prove to God and everybody else that somehow we are good enough to belong. The only gate in is Jesus. Forget about all those standards that we try to set up as hoops for other people to jump through before we say they can belong. The only gate in is Jesus.
And we have seen before in the first two ‘I Am’ stories that Jesus is a gate who is open for all who seek him. His grace is sufficient for all. His invitation goes out without any pre-conditions. His love is not withheld from anyone. We lead the way to Jesus when we remember that his grace is enough. And all who seek his voice will be found by him.