Message: Jesus Is the Gate
When you hear the word, “gate” or “gatekeeper” what image comes into your mind?
The first image that comes to my mind is the massive, heavily fortified doors that keep a castle or a mansion safe from the outside world, a familiar image for people like me, who like watching movies that are set in medieval times. In those movies, a gated property symbolizes nobility, stability and beauty inside, even as the outside keeps changing, plagued by rebellion and uncertainty.
I remember having a conversation with my supervisor minister when I was doing my internship in Chemainus, on Vancouver Island. He ministered to a wealthy congregation near Duncan, many of whom lived in a “gated community”. He told me that, on the previous Sunday, he’d challenged his people to think about what the Gospel teaches us about living in a large, gated property. How do we practice neighbourly love and engage with the changing world if we remain protected and closed off from the world? Instead, the kind of community that Jesus calls us into becoming is ruled by love, more radical than the accepted norm, by peace that is more profound than “I am fine”, and by justice that requires sacrifice – in both a personal and social aspect.
Gates and doors stand as barriers. They serve as protection. They can also be obstacles which keep us apart from one another. Sometimes, doors are latched shut out of fear, wisdom, a need for privacy, or needing a little time alone to recharge. Gates and doors are made for this. They stand as boundaries, offer protection and shelter, delineate an inside from the outside, divide insiders from outsiders. Staying at home, for example, works because of the sense of separate space that comes with doors and gates. (For us, mostly doors. Gates are a bit too grand for me.) Doors and gates are the means for coming in and going out, welcoming guests and questioning strangers, staying in and going on an adventure; at their threshold, the world spins with our hopes, fear, and possibilities.
What’s interesting in today’s Gospel is that Jesus does not describe himself as the gatekeeper, but says affirmatively that he is the gate. In verse 7, Jesus tells his disciples, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” What does it mean, that Jesus is the gate?
First of all, it encourages us to see what gates should be like in our pursuit of faithful living. The example is depicted quite memorably by Jesus himself. On the green pasture and in the sheep-folds there is no actual physical gate but the body of this humble and holy one. Jesus calls himself the gate, because that was part of what a shepherd was in his time. The good shepherd would lie themselves down in the opening, which allowed entry and exit. In this way, the shepherds knew who or what came and went, and who or what made the attempt, and so could serve as protector of the sheep. Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:35) “I am the light of the world.” (8:12) “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (14:6) “I am the gate for the sheep.” “I am the good shepherd.” “I am the resurrection and the life.” (11:25) “I am the true vine.” (15:1) These are the seven sayings recorded in the Gospel of John where Jesus says who he is, with “I am”.
This week, my heart was angered and burdened by reading an article in the Los Angeles Times. John Cho, a Korean-American actor, penned a candid essay about the racial discrimination Asian-Americans currently face amid the coronavirus pandemic (April 23, 2020). Hate crimes against Asians who are perceived as carriers of the virus have been on the rise since the pandemic began. Cho writes that it felt so strange for him to warn his parents about leaving their house (he said "strange" because it is the reverse. When he was young, parents warned their children about leaving their house for the same reason), worried they “Might be targets of verbal or even physical abuse… The pandemic is reminding us that our belonging is conditional. One moment we are Americans, the next we are all foreigners, who ‘brought’ the virus here.” It’s not just in the United States; it rings true to those of us who live in Canada, too. Personally, I feel fortunate because I have not felt this hostility and suspicion directly, but some of my friends have experienced it, and have been taking extra caution, especially when they go out for work or shopping. They do not feel safe from coronavirus, or from abusive treatment. The Jesus-gate opposes precisely this kind of racist, life-threatening, harmful gate-keeping.
Today’s Bible reading really hits me because Jesus tells us that he is the gate, and his reason for being the gate is that all who are inside of his protection and shelter “May have life, and have it abundantly” (v. 10). And all means all - total inclusion. The only requirement is pursuing a life of love, peace and justice. Those requirements to enter the gate may be as hard as asking a camel to thread the eye of a needle for those who already have a lot, but it can also be as easy as wearing a gentle yoke for those who have little to lose. The way of Jesus, the Jesus-gate, is here to help us relax enough to lie ourselves down and find pasture in God’s care, open to what life can truly bring, a gift, a blessing of abundance.
When Jesus says he is the gate we must remember that, he is the gate not only to keep us inside. He will lead us out. He will “go ahead of us” (v. 4). He calls his sheep, and they know his voice, and we follow the way, the light, the truth and the life. With Jesus, in other words, through the Jesus-gate, we, the sheep, emerge into the changing world. May we find this gate life-giving in our lives; as we pass through it to have life, and have it abundantly.
Ha Na Park
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