John 10:1-10

 

          

 

 

Have you ever visited a gated community? I’m assuming no one in this congregation lives in one—unless it’s at a winter residence. I’m not aware the Creston has any.

            I have visited gated communities on at least two occasions that I can remember, the most recent being almost two years ago. In order for us to enter this gated community, one of the residents had to alert the gatekeeper in advance, and give a detailed description of us, when we would be arriving, what kind of car we drove, what we looked like. When we drove up to the barrier that blocked the entrance, the gatekeeper popped out of his guardhouse to confront us. He checked carefully to see that we matched the description before he opened the gate and let us in to a neighborhood of wealth and luxury far beyond anything I’ve been around.

            That is my most vivid point of reference for gatekeeper. So when Jesus refers to himself in John 10:3 as the gatekeeper, this is the first thing that comes to mind.

            Gatekeepers, in my meager experience, are people whose job is to regulate traffic. They are security people; there to make sure only the right people get in. They make the final decisions on who is qualified to enter and who is not.

            Is that what Jesus was trying to convey when he likens himself to a gatekeeper? Is he the security guy at the entrance to heaven? When we say in our creed that Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead, is that what we mean? That Jesus stands at the gate of heaven checking references and reviewing performance tapes to see who is worthy of enjoying the riches of heaven?

            That’s certainly one way to take it. It meshes with the image from Matthew 25 of the goats and sheep milling around on judgment day, where God declares those who have fed the hungry etc, can enter heaven while those who have not are out of luck.

            I guess it’s not surprising then, that over the centuries and even today, many Christians have come to view Jesus as the security enforcer at the gate of heaven. Heaven is often described as the ultimate gated community, and it’s a hard place to get into. You don’t get past Jesus unless you are on the short list.

            In popular stories about heaven, Jesus has subcontracted the security job to St. Peter, who sits at the gate of heaven checking credentials. And in turn, it seems that Peter has subcontracted the security job to those in the church, who stand guard over the kingdom of God, making judgments over who is worthy and who isn’t.

            Jesus the gatekeeper. The guy who makes sure the right people get into heaven and the riffraff  are kept out. Jesus standing there like the grizzled guy from Monty Python, blocking the entrance and saying, “No one passes this bridge by me unless he answers these questions three.”

            Both the beauty and the problem with poetic images is that they can be taken many different ways. What’s interesting about the John passage is that Jesus sees that the image isn’t connecting with his audience. John 10:6 says, “Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.” The disciples didn’t understand what Jesus meant by calling himself the gatekeeper.

            I can’t help but think that verse is pointed directly at us, 2000 years later. Jesus used this figure of speech with us, but we do not understand what he is saying. We totally miss the point. In describing himself as the gatekeeper, Jesus is not saying I am the security guy at the gate.

            In our reading for today, he refines the image to clarify what he is talking about. “Alright, forget the gatekeeper metaphor,” he says. “Try this. Zoom in on the gate. I am the gate for the sheep.” He says it twice for emphasis. “Focus on the gate, as opposed to the gatekeeper.

            What’s the difference here? How does this clarify anything?

            Well, what’s the purpose of the gate? Is it to keep people out? No that’s the job of the wall or the fence. I’ve often thought that gated communities should be called walled communities. A gate is an opening in a fence or wall. It’s a way to get in. The difference between the gated neighborhood and any other one is not that the gated community has a way to get in. All neighborhoods have ways to get in. The difference is that gated communities have walls or fences to keep people out.

            Okay, but isn’t the point of a gate to let only some people in while keeping others out? It’s still selective, right? So even if Jesus is the gate, he is still there to let the right people in and keep the undesirable people out, right?

            That doesn’t fit in very well with the story of the Gospel.

            I would suggest that there’s another way to look at gates that is closer to what Jesus has in mind. Anyone know what Sioux Falls, S.D.’s nickname is? Gateway to the Plains. Gateway. Does that mean that Sioux Falls views its purpose as the security force for the plains? They are the ones who determine who gets into the plains and who doesn’t? No, it’s the place through which you go to get into the plains. It is the best place from which to access the plains.

            How about St. Louis? Gateway to the West. Does St. Louis assume responsibility for seeing who gets to go west and who doesn’t? No, historically, it was the best place from which travelers could access the western United States. It was the place that made it possible for travelers to get to the west.

            Ever seen that big arch they have down there in St. Louis? It’s called the Gateway Arch. How effective a barrier is that Gateway arch? Not at all. It’s wide open. It doesn’t stop anyone or anything. That’s not the purpose of the gate. Its purpose is to serve as a landmark, to let people know that if you want to get to the west, this is the place to go.

It stands not as a barrier, but as an invitation to everyone.

            The Statue of Liberty stands in the New York harbor at a point that is called the Gateway to America. Is this gateway the symbol of exclusivity? The symbol of a place where the elite get in and the riffraff get turned away?

           

Read what it says right on the base of the statue standing at that gateway:

            

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

           

 

An invitation to the wretched refuse to come on in? This gateway is exactly the opposite of what we know as a gated community.

            The gateway of the Statue of is the point of entry to a new world, a land of opportunity. A land, at least in an idealistic vision, where all can enjoy an equal opportunity to make a good life for themselves, free from those artificial barriers of status and privilege.

 

            I can see Jesus saying those very words that grace the statue of liberty. In fact, he did say something very close to that. “Come to me all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens.”

 

            Is this the type of gate that Jesus is talking about when he describes himself as the gate? I’m pretty sure it is, mainly because of what Jesus says is on the other side of that gate. Verse 10 tells us that what is on the other side of that gate is life. Abundant life.  

           

            Jesus is the gateway to life. “Come to all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you life. That’s what that image means.

 

            Ok, that sounds good, but there is still a nagging sense that Jesus meant to include the desirable people and keep out the bad. In this passage, he talks about protecting sheep from thieves who come to steal and kill and destroy. If Jesus is the gateway to life, isn’t part of his job to keep out those who come to steal and kill and destroy? We’re back to letting the good guys in and keeping the bad guys out.

 

            But remember, keeping the bad guys out is not what a gate is for. Keeping the destroyers out is what a wall is for. Jesus says that the purpose of evil is to steal what is protected by the wall. He says that evil does not use the gateway to life; evil does not come through Jesus to accomplish its ends. Evil tries to jump the walls; evil tries to get by without Jesus. Evil seeks get life through selfish means. And it doesn’t work.

 

            To those who come through the gate, there is no barrier. The book of Revelation contains many visions of doors and gates in heaven. None of them are locked. Not one. Most of them stand wide open at all times.

 

            In Luke 11:9 Jesus makes a very telling statement about doors and gates. “Knock and the door will be opened. For everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” The door isn’t there to keep people out. For everyone who seeks life through Jesus, the door opens.

 

            In Jesus’s world, gates and doors are entrances. They open easily.

 

            When Jesus says that he can open up a world of abundant life to you, he does not have in mind a selective process. Anyone can use the gate. The only people who cannot enter into the world of new life are those who won’t use the gate. The only people who cannot get this abundant life that Jesus offers are the people who don’t want it. The people who want to destroy life. The people who are determined to crawl over the wall that is there to protect creation for those who would exploit and abuse

 

            If Jesus were teaching today, he might well have used an image such as, “I am the Gateway Arch, who opens up a land of opportunity, of rich, fulfilling life.” He might have said, “I am the Statue of Liberty,” the beacon of hope for the oppressed, the downtrodden, and the hopeless people of the world.

 

            We can probably all be glad that I am no architect. But if I were given free reign to design a church building exactly as I wanted it, I would build a giant gate just outside the entrance to the church. A gate that could be seen for miles around.

            The doors of that gate would be wide open, and above it would be written the words,

            “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden. All who are in pain and suffering. All who are crushed under the heel of oppression. All who are persecuted and made fun of. All who are down on their luck. All who are frightened by the future. All who have lost hope.

            “Come into this place. Enter here and enjoy the fountain of life that overflows into a river of compassion for the world.

 

            Enter the gateway that is open to all, the gateway of Jesus Christ.”