John 10:1-10

Salvation’s Door

            There’s always a cultural challenge to reading the bible. We’re so far removed from biblical times that some of the cultural references go straight over our heads. But it’s even more than this. Our own culture has changed so drastically in the last 5 years, 10 years, 20 years that the very meaning of some words have been changed. Our brains are wired to make connections between words and reality, that is, it links together the item with the word. For I want you to think of something for me. I want you to think about what comes to mind when I say the word… abundance. (Pause). I’d like to wager that you just imagined some sort of material wealth. An abundant bank account. An abundant house. An abundance of cars, gizmos, or gadgets. Or maybe it’s the other common one, an abundance of people in your life, be they family or friends. I think in many ways, our American culture has made us associate abundance with idyllic life. Abundance to us as Americans means nothing else than having the picture-perfect life. A big house, a loving family, a good job, lots of friends, ability to travel, etc. For this is the issue I have with modern day preachers. They’ll take a reading like ours and then say, “God wants you to have that nice car. He wants you to have a luxurious house. He wants you to be wealthy.” Of course, they say this as though God will make it all magically appear out of thin air for you. But their problem is that they’re not really reading the text. Rather, they substitute their meaning or our American meaning of abundance for what Jesus meant.

            For this Sunday is Good Shepherd Sunday where we hear about those tender images of our Lord as the one who cares for us. But if we’re to understand this image rightly, we must put out of our minds many of our American notions and be open to learning what Jesus truly means. For so we’ll learn: 

JESUS IS THE DOOR TO ABUNDANT, ETERNAL LIFE!

I.

            We should know by now that Jesus isn’t promising us a perfect life. He doesn’t even promise us an easy life. It’s actually the exact opposite. Life in this world as a Christian will be full of challenges and struggles, not just outside the church, but within as well. For this is what Jesus is warning us about, as he says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber,” John 10:1. There will be those who seek to enter the church, disguised in shows of purity and sincerity, that want nothing else than power or money. For this was the Pharisees in Jesus’ day. They had led many astray for their own benefit. They wanted power, so they taught that salvation was attainable only by following all of their laws. And there are many in our day, today, that are thieves and robbers. They seek to steal the gospel from us. They seek to rob us of our salvation. They want to pervert God’s word for their own gain, for their own wealth and power. Again, Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” John 10:10. They don’t care for the sheep, only for their own pockets.

            For think now of the sheep and the shepherd. It’s not for the sheep to listen to or follow anyone but the shepherd. They must look only for the one who enters by the door. He’s the shepherd of the sheep, the one who is known by his voice. “A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers,” John 10:5. The thief and robber can only “shepherd” the sheep by force. Their voice isn’t known by the sheep, though they try to deceive. Who else is this thief but Satan? He’s nothing else than a thief and robber. He doesn’t seek to enter God’s kingdom through the door but to come in any other way to steal faith from the heart, to rob salvation from the soul, and to put to death both body and soul in hell. And so are all who follow him. Those who purposely seek to lead others astray are nothing but thieves. They don’t care for the sheep but seek to use them for their own gain.

II.

            For so there’s only one who enters the sheepfold by the door, and he’s the shepherd of the sheep. It’s the shepherd that cares for his sheep so much that he watches over them day and night. It’s his voice that they know, his voice that they always listen to. For consider Jesus’ words, “But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out,” John 10:2-3. The shepherd calls you by name. Jesus knows your name… personally, intimately. As your shepherd, he knows your faults and sins. He knows how we’ve at times strayed and wandered away. But he calls you, he names you, he makes you his own sheep… that you may hear his voice and follow. For Jesus tells us something different today. He’s not just the shepherd… he’s the door. As he says, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture,” John 10:9. Shepherds would lead their sheep into these enclosures made out of rocks in a circle. They would build walls tall enough to keep the sheep in, then leave only one opening… a door. Then the shepherd would lay down in the opening so that he himself would literally become the door! Jesus is the one who stands between death and life, sin and forgiveness, destruction and salvation!

            Jesus is the door for us to the sheepfold, to the one true Christian Church, to the kingdom of God. He’s the shepherd who has brought us into his protection, into his church through the waters of baptism. He leads us out to the pasture where he feeds us his own body and blood. He’s the shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep, for our sins, for our wanderings, and death. Jesus goes to the cross that he may open the door to us of everlasting life. For so consider again Jesus words, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly,” John 10:10b.

Isn’t abundance this? That through Jesus we have not an abundance of wealth or power or fame, but an abundance of forgiveness, of mercy and grace, of even life everlasting! Jesus came that you may have life in abundance… for Jesus has opened to you the gates of eternity and has given you the abundance of life unending! 

            For such is the love of our Good Shepherd. Jesus has become our door, the one who through his own death on the cross has opened to us the abundance of life! In Jesus’ name! Amen!

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed. Alleluia!