Sermon: Fourth Sunday of Easter, John 10:1-10, April 30, 2023Faith-La Fe Lutheran Church, Pastor Jonathan Linman

Sermon: Fourth Sunday of Easter, John 10:1-10, April 30, 2023

Faith-La Fe Lutheran Church, Pastor Jonathan Linman

Many of us these days live in gated communities. At my condo complex, you need to know the electronic gate code to be able to drive in. For most of my years in New York City, I lived in buildings or complexes that required you to negotiate with the doormen to get in – the doormen literally were the gatekeepers.

All of this is intended to provide for a sense of safety and security. Even if we don’t live in gated communities, we generally lock the doors of our houses and apartments, again for safety reasons.

When I was growing up, we never locked the doors of our house until someone let themselves in and stole our brand-new color TV which my father had won in a contest at a local grocery store, and his winning was reported in the local newspaper. A few days later, the TV was stolen. Then we began locking our doors.

In this crazy world of ours, it’s important to be realistic and take steps to keep ourselves safe. Of course, some go overboard with their safety measures – witness the recent shootings of people who innocently showed up at people’s doors by mistake with no malice intended.

Our locked doors, alarm systems, gated communities and other means of protection are, in large measure, the wages of human sin. Alas, that we need to protect ourselves from each other to such an extent.

But it’s also a healthy impulse to maintain appropriate boundaries sometimes via areas that are closed off to the general public. Christian monasteries have known and practiced this all along. Certain places in the monastery are public places, where visitors are welcomed with open arms. But then there is the monastic enclosure where only the monks are permitted to be. Appropriate boundaries make for healthy communities.

Our campus at Faith-La Fe is built on this monastic model, where literally the heart of our campus is gated with those large iron fences and we have our lovely cloister walk that surrounds our beautiful courtyard, a peaceful oasis from the noise and busyness of Camelback Road.

So, let’s reflect more on the nature of gates, of doors. A first and obvious thing to say is that gates and doors are not walls, which truly keep people out and in. Unlike walls, gates and doors can be open or closed, locked our unlocked.

And gates and doors have their meaning and significance in large measure based on whether you’re inside or outside. When you’re safely enclosed in a gated resort community, that’s an appealing thing. When you’re locked up in prison, that’s not desirable at all for those imprisoned. But those on the outside feel safer when thieves and bandits are locked up. So, what a gate or door means depends on context, and who is in and who is out.

All of this, of course, sets the stage for us to consider a major focus of today’s gospel reading. While today is Good Shepherd Sunday, a Sunday in Eastertide that traditionally focuses on Jesus as the good shepherd of the flock of his church, the focal point of today’s gospel is on Jesus being the gate for the sheep.

Listen again to how Jesus concludes his discourse with his followers when they didn’t understand what he was saying to them. John reports that Jesus said to them: “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep…. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:7b-10)

Jesus said, “I am the gate.” It’s another one of the many “I AM” statements of Jesus recorded in John’s gospel. Others include: I am the good shepherd; I am the way, the truth and the life; I am the vine; I am the bread of life; I am the light of the world; I am the resurrection and the life. Each “I AM” statement sheds light on what the other statements mean.

Today it’s “I am the gate” – or the door in some other translations. Consider this: if Jesus is the gate or the door, is that gate open or shut? Unlocked or locked? What do you think?

There are plenty of Christians who proclaim a Christ that is a tightly shut and locked door. These are the hellfire and brimstone preachers who are preoccupied with the saved and the damned, who moralistically vilify those whose beliefs and practices differ from their own. We could name some names, but we don’t have to.

But that’s not the Jesus we believe in, right? Given our congregation’s commitments to the full inclusion of all people, the Christ we proclaim is a door wide open, a gate that’s not locked even if sometimes it’s closed.

And here’s more: our unlocked-and-open-gate Good Shepherd makes for abundant life for whoever – whoever – enters the sheepfold via himself, our Lord Jesus Christ. This is good news, great news in contrast to the theological thieves and bandits who want to keep the doors and gates closed and locked tight as a drum.

So, then, how do we enter through the open door that is Christ? The portal which is Christ is centered and laser-focused on his death and resurrection. Or as the author of our second reading from 1 Peter puts it: “Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:24-25)

Practically and sacramentally speaking, we enter the open gate through the waters of baptism. Which is precisely why our baptismal font is at the entrance to this grand room of our church. You have to see it, step around it, to find your way to your seats in this sanctuary – a visual reminder that the font of Christ is our open door into this Christian community.

And it’s in baptism, that Christ, our Good Shepherd, calls us by name. Just as Jesus says in John’s gospel that the Good Shepherd “calls his own sheep by name and leads them out,” so, too, does Jesus our shepherd call us by name at baptism – “John, Mary, Roy, Laura – whoever, and hear your own names – I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Thus, coming up out of the water, we find ourselves in this sheepfold, the community of the Church. And it’s here that we have life and have it abundantly, as the Good Shepherd promised.

So, what does the abundant life look life for all those who are welcomed into the sheepfold? We get a good sense of this abundant life in today’s first reading. Listen to it again: “The baptized devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and common life, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and good and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42-47)

Sounds pretty good to me. This is the abundant life, the good life, following the Good Shepherd – and what a contrast to our world which seems to be ruled by thieves and bandits who come only to steal and kill and destroy.

And soon we’re literally going to get a good taste of this abundant life when we come to this table for a simple meal, through which the risen Christ is made known to us anew in the breaking of bread.

In this sheepfold, the cloister of our church, this oasis, this sanctuary, we graze on the word and the sacrament of the altar, and our faith is renewed week after week.

But here’s the thing: sheep don’t spend all their time in the safety of the sheepfold. No, shepherds lead the sheep out to do their work of grazing in the wilds of the world beyond the safety of the gated community.

So it is that even as Jesus calls us by name, he leads us out from this place to our ministry in daily life, and Jesus, our Good Shepherd, goes ahead of us. And we, his sheep, follow him because we know his voice – hearing the shepherd’s voice echo through the centuries in the words – his own words – of scripture.

And what work do we do beyond the safe confines of our sheepfold? We find other lost sheep to let them know where they, too, can be fed and where they can be safe. That is, we assist Christ in shepherding people here to the open gates that more and more of the lost would come to know and enjoy abundant life here.

That’s the work the Good Shepherd entrusts to us. And this is what it means for gates and doors to be unlocked and open – that all, whoever they may be, may enjoy the abundant life that God in Christ promises.

For Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed, alleluia. Amen.