Gates and Shepherds

            Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He 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. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.  I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.  The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”                                 (John 10:7-18) 

          Remember the story of the Cyclops in the Odyssey? After Odysseus blinded him, he laid down across the entrance of the sheep pen and when the sheep wanted out, he ran his hand across the back of each. That behavior we might think either clever or odd was apparently rather normal for shepherd in antiquity. If they were at their sheepfold, they would block the entrance with their bodies, both to keep the sheep in and to make sure that any predators attacked the sheep over their dead bodies. This was something that would have been understood by most of the people listening to Jesus.

            Another thing I don't think many of us understand as well is the connection between shepherd and sheep. If you haven't read Phillip Keller's A Shepherd Looks At the Twenty-Third Psalm you should. These animals weren't just their jobs. Hirelings could not be trusted to protect the sheep the way Jesus described. If danger arose, a hireling could be counted on to save the hireling. A good shepherd, the sort who acted as the gate to his sheep, would give his life to protect the sheep.

           The part of this that needs to be stressed is that Jesus didn't say that He is a  gate. He said He is the gate. Those who came before Him were thieves. Those who come after Him are also thieves. It is only those who come through Him who will be saved.  Think about the great religious leaders of the great religions in our world. How many of them were willing to lay down their lives for their followers? How many did lay down their lives for their followers? How many of them can you visit where they are buried?

          Jesus was willing. He did lay down His life for His sheep. It's easy to know this without really dealing with the reality of it. We need to be reminded now and again. He chose to die for His sheep. He did die for His sheep. He rose again for His sheep. Take some time to make this personal. Look in a mirror and tell yourself, "He chose to die for me. He did die for me. He rose again for me." Repeat it with the emphasis on different words - on He, on die/rose again, on me.

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