On my first day exploring Barcelona with Brad, we exit our quaint apartment and make our way
through the bustling streets, deciding to walk instead of taking public transit. As we approach
the harbor, we happened upon the Porta de Santa Madrona, a gate from the last remnant of the
city's ancient walls, constructed in the 14th century. It was a stark contrast from the theater
district we just passed to this medieval portal of the walled city. I took a picture of the door not
yet knowing the history of these gates and walls. Barcelona has Roman walls dating back before
Christ. You can see excavations as you walk through the Gothic Quarter. When Barcelona
intentionally moved beyond their walls and planned their city expansion, La Sagrada Familia, the
tallest cathedral in the world, was designed by Antonio Gaudi. 144 years in the making, it was
completed this year when the cross was placed atop the Jesus Christ tower. An amazing
testament to the sacred family for which it is named. With the Nativity and Passion towers,
vibrant stained glass and the tree like pillars named for the four evangelists supporting the weight
of the six spires reaching towards heaven, it truly is a holy inspiration and architectural wonder.
In your travels I am sure you have seen many walled cities, with gates and doors through which
to enter. The walled city of Old Jerusalem is a magnificent example with its 8 gates and diverse
cultures cohabiting within. The current walls were built by the Ottomans atop ancient Roman
walls. The existing walls were built around the time of the Reformation in the mid-1500s. The
gate on the east side of the city is called the Lion’s gate because of the lions flanking the
entrance. But earlier gates in this location have been called St. Stephen’s gate because this was
where he was martyred for Christ, and the Sheep Gate because this is where sheep were brought
in to sacrifice at the Temple. Jesus has recently left the Mount of Olives which is on the east
side of the city and healed a man born blind. You recalled this is ordeal, the disciples wondering
who sinned, the man or his parents, when he was born blind. The Pharisees get involved because
they didn’t believe he was healed and cast him out; they could not see or hear beyond what they
already thought. Our passage is an explanation of this interaction, of Jesus saving the man born
blind. READ John 10:1-10.
Let’s start with the basics. Jesus is the Gate and the Shepherd. We are the sheep who need
protection and care. The Pharisees who interrogated the blind man should be the shepherds of
Israel, but they expel him to protect their power. They are the ones who want to get in the
sheepfold without using the gate. Yet did you notice Jesus doubles down on being the gate. He
says it twice and then adds, “Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out
and find pasture” (9). That is what a sheep gate is for to go in and go out and to find pasture.
But what about, whoever enters by me will be saved? The blind man was cast out by the very
ones who were supposed to protect him and care for him as spiritual leaders. But Jesus finds the
blind man and reveals himself to him, saving him from the question of “Who sinned?” and
instead welcomed him into the fold, the family of faith. Jesus saved him. “For the blind man,
salvation is not only receiving his physical sight but also spiritual sight, recognizing who Jesus
is, believing in him, and becoming part of his community. He followed the voice of Jesus before
he could see him, and it led to new life. His days of isolation are over; he now knows himself to
be a valued member of Jesus’ flock, cared for and protected” (Working Preacher, Elisabeth
Johnson).
Jesus said, I am the door, I am the gate. Of course, Jesus saying, “I am the gate” is one of seven
“I Am” statements in John’s gospel. With each statement, Jesus illustrates a purpose like being
life giving bread, or liberating light, or in this case the portal through which the sheep of God’s
flock will enter into relationship.
Jesus is the gate. Yet gates imply some are inside the gate and others are outside. Gates can be
openings or diving points. But the “metaphor of the gate is not one of exclusion, not a license to
think of ourselves as Jesus’ true sheep and others as outsiders” (Working Preacher, Elisabeth
Johnson). The image of the door draws on the notion of inside and outside which we saw with
the blind man being thrown out of community before finding his home and new life in Jesus.
Prior to healing the man born blind, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (8:12, 9:5). Jesus is
the light who then heals the man trapped in darkness. Now Jesus is the gate, the entry point into
our relationship with God. Jesus is the gate to God. Our relationship with Jesus is the opening to
God; our way of entering into God’s kingdom. That’s why this is so relational. Jesus is talking
about relationships. Those who hear his voice, those who know him and follow him, compared
to those who are blind to the new life he is bringing.
The sheep shepherd theme sets the stage for Jesus as the Good Shepherd which is the next
passage. Even our Old Testament lesson tells of God searching for his sheep, rescuing them,
gathering them and feeding them with good pastures. Elisabeth Johnson wrote, “The function of
the gate is to keep the sheep together in the sheepfold during the night, safe from thieves and
predators. During the day the gate is opened so that the sheep can go out, following their
shepherd, to find pasture. The gate and the shepherd work together for the well-being of the
sheep, so that the flock thrives. Jesus is both the gate and the shepherd at the same time; he
guards and protects his sheep from danger, and he provides for their nourishment, for their life in
abundance” (Working Preacher).
Abundant life is here and now through our relationship with Jesus. We get glimpses of abundant
life “in images of abundant wine at a wedding celebration (2:6–7) and so much bread and fish on
a Galilean hillside (6:13), and will be seen in a love that reaches beyond death (13:2; 20:11–20)
and a life that does not stay dead. Jesus not only is life (11:24; 14:6), but he also brings that life
to others: a life that is abundant in its amount, like the bread and fish, and in its quality, like the
wine. This life is available through this gate and this shepherd, who will lay down his own life
for the sheep” (10:15) (Working Preacher, Laura Holmes).
“Jesus describes to his disciples, and to us today, that Jesus is God’s voice who calls us, a portal
that invites us into relationship with God and into a new kind of life in abundance, the Pashal
Lamb who sacrifices himself for us, and the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the
sheep.
When we follow Jesus, answer God’s call, and enter into relationship with him, we enter a new
kind of spiritual space, in which we are protected, saved, celebrated, restored, and offered life in
such abundance that we can feel it down to our bones” (Sermons.com, Lori Wagner).
I want to share a closing image from George Adam Smith, the 19th century biblical scholar. He
“tells of traveling in the holy land and coming across a shepherd and his sheep. He fell into
conversation with him and the man showed him the fold into which the sheep were led at night.
It consisted of four walls, with a way in. Smith asked him, “This is where they go at night?”
“Yes,” said the shepherd, “and when they are in there, they are perfectly safe.” “But there is no
door,” said Smith. “I am the door,” said the shepherd. He was not a Christian man and wasn’t
speaking in the language of the New Testament. He was speaking from an Arab shepherd’s
viewpoint. Smith looked and him and asked, “What do you mean you are the door?” “When the
light has gone,” said the shepherd, “and all the sheep are inside, I lie in that open space, and no sheep ever goes out but across my body, and no wolf comes in unless he crosses my body; I am
the door” (Sermons.com, George Adam Smith). Amen.
