Skip to main content

202. "I Am the Gate"

John 10:1-10
Key Verse: "I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture."
John 10:9

Jesus is the gate, the door, the protection for what is His, from what is not His. He is the path to safety and salvation. There is no other door. Any other means used to come in is false and will be considered trespassing, as only a thief or robber would do.

During the day, shepherds, in the Middle East, wander about the countryside, leading their charges to what grass can be found and still pools of water where the sheep can drink and be refreshed. At night, however, a shepherd will seek a more enclosed area of rock, or a pen type structure with only one opening. When all of the sheep are inside, the shepherd will place his own body across the opening, like a gate so that the sheep can sleep in safety. Here is another point at which the modern retelling of the Christmas story may be misleading. We think that shepherds leave their sheep to sleep all over the hillside. Actually, this arrangement would make guarding the sheep very difficult. You can see that an enclosure would be much more secure for the sheep and much easier for the shepherd to protect.

It is also common for shepherds to share an enclosure. After all, there is safety in numbers. The shepherds may take turns keeping watch while all the sheep snuggle together for warmth and comfort.

Jesus says, "The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman 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." (John 10:2-4) This is true. Each sheep knows its own shepherd's voice and won't willingly follow another shepherd. Even when the flocks are all in a scramble in the fold at night, one by one, the shepherds call their own, at the opening and his sheep separate themselves from the mob and follow him out for another day of grazing. The sheep depend upon their shepherd to meet all of their needs.

Jesus says that, "His sheep know His voice as well." Jesus is confident that His sheep will recognize the stranger, the thief, and the false teachings and run away, back to Him for safety.

Jesus states that He is our gate, our protector. "Whoever enters through Him will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture." (John 10:9) What freedom there is in Christ as our shepherd. In John 8:32, Jesus had said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Now He speaks again of the freedom we have in Him because we know His truth and His voice. We have confidence to go in and come out and find pasture because He is our shepherd. We know His voice. We know that He is leading us to food, safety and shelter. We have nothing to fear when we keep our eyes fixed on Him, focus on hearing His voice and trust that He is leading us in the way everlasting.

Hymn: "He Leadeth Me" 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more

These Boots are Made for Walking

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-15 These Boots are Made for Walking. Of course, I picked that title because it has a reference to popular culture, and it connects with our text today about “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” I was tempted to play the video of that song, but it’s really not amenable to worship. If you remember that old song, it was quite confrontational. The singer had a righteous complaint against a boyfriend or spouse who was cheating on her. She’s not going to put up with that, and the song goes on to say, “One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you!” And that “take a stand” bravado made her a hero! It was a #1 hit in 1966. I mention it because it has one interesting parallel and one major contrast with the message of grace and forgiveness. That parallel is this. God has a righteous complaint against the entire human race for cheating Him out of the loving relationship He desires with us. As the God who created us, he h...
Post a Comment
Read more

186. Ten Healed, Or One?

Luke 17:11-19 Key Verse: Then He said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well." Luke 17:19 At last, Jesus has left the crowd behind and again is continuing His journey toward Jerusalem. His path takes Him and His disciples along the border of Judea and Samaria, between the pure Jews, and the hated half breeds of the day. On His way, Jesus encounters an interesting group of people. We only learn the nationality of one of them and, though we don't know the nationality of the others, because Jesus sends them to the priests in Jerusalem we can probably assume that at least some of them are Jews. Isn't it interesting that through leprosy, a disease that causes much suffering, the dividing wall of hatred has come down for the sake of companionship? We encountered one leper earlier on our Journey. Lepers were the dreaded untouchables of the day. Their disease cut them off from all they loved. It was a very lonely life. No wonder these people had ...
Post a Comment
Read more