Sheepgate or Shepherd? - Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter Year A

Sheepgate or Shepherd?

Easter 4A

April 30, 2023

Christ, Preston, MN

John 10.1-10; Psalm 23

There’s an old joke, “When is a door not a door?” The answer, of course, is “When it’s a-jar.” However, in some cases a door isn’t a door if no one can find it or use it.

My last settled call at Grace in Mankato had an early 1900s building that originally faced Main St. (South) to which was added a separate educational wing in the 1950s (North). In the 1960s the old church was replaced by a new one that now faced 4th St (East) and cobbled with the educational wing. Navigating the building was like being in an Escher drawing: you think you were going up but were really going down. 

Unfortunately, the address of the church was still on Main St. at a place in the building that had a rarely used door. Furthermore, the church offices were located downstairs in the back on the alley side of the building (West). So, except for a couple of hours on Wednesday and Sunday, people had to use the alley entrance to come into the building.  To make matters even worse, that door was located in a long, dark tunnel-like opening. A building consultant called this the Super-Secret Members-Only door, hardly inviting.

“I am the gate for the sheep,” Jesus tells the religious leaders of the day in John 10. We are back in the Gospel of John where we were for four Sundays in Lent as we looked at those texts pre-crucifixion. Now we will sojourn and view the texts from John through the lens of the resurrection. Either way, we remember that Jesus’“I am” statements make a claim. When Moses encounters God in the wilderness and asks God who it is that sends him to deliver his people, God responds “I am.” Today is “Good Shepherd Sunday” when we normally focus on Jesus as the Good Shepherd. But these 10 verses remind us Jesus also claimed to be the gate, or doorway, for the sheep. He recognizes the confusion of those first hearers, confusion that we share: which is he, Gate or Shepherd?

When I was in candidacy to become an ordained pastor, the Washington Metro DC synod had a committee that oversaw me as well as other candidates. The question I often asked about them (and other similar candidacy committees) was this: are they gatekeepers or shepherds. In other words, quite often candidacy committees function as gatekeepers, making candidates prove they are worthy to be ordained. I was grateful that my committee members were more like shepherds, helping me through the process. This is a metaphor that I often use in my work as chair of Committee on Reference & Counsel as we consider various resolutions to come before synod assemblies. Are we gatekeepers or shepherds?

So, which is Jesus, Sheepgate or Shepherd? The answer, of course, is “Yes!” But this is not in the sense we normally think. We’ll leave the metaphor of Jesus as Shepherd until next year. Today I want us to reconsider what it means for Jesus to be the gate of the sheep, not as being a barrier but rather the way into new life. And it’s not that we have to prove our worthiness to be a part of Jesus’ flock. Instead, where others put up walls and barriers to access God’s freely given grace, Jesus doesn’t. Jesus is a doorway to enter God’s love.

Grace Mankato is one of the most welcoming congregations I’ve met, but you wouldn’t have known it by the Super-Secret Members-Only door. The Good news is that now their building matches their identity. Through a building renovation project, the offices are at the front of the building and they’ve changed their address to reflect that new, visible location. As we think about Jesus as the Gate, I want us to ask ourselves what barriers, physical or otherwise, we might have erected that prevent people from encountering and experiencing the love and grace of God? What policies or procedures hinder God’s freely given grace and mercy? Jesus is the gate to God’s love. Thanks be to God. Amen.

My sermons often preach a little differently than written and you can find the video here.