Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. We have come to call the fourth Sunday in Easter “Good Shepherd Sunday,” because of the emphasis in our readings on the way in which God shepherds his people—his sheep. Yet in today’s Gospel, Jesus focuses not upon the image of the Good Shepherd, but rather upon the image of the Door. “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep” (John 10:7, ESV).[1]
“The door?” you ask, wondering, “What’s so special about a door?”
In the English language, we have some excellent idioms about doors: “When God closes one door, he opens another.” You might be encouraged to intern for a company so you can “get your foot in the door.” You might have been so sick that you were practically “at death’s door.” A person of simple character might be described as the boy or girl “next door.” When somebody emphatically denies your request, you feel as though they have just “slammed the door” in your face. The sunshine laws of most states mean that public officials must never meet “behind closed doors.” You might tell an unwanted visitor never to “darken your door” again. There was a 70’s rock band called The Doors (Aside: I’ve actually visited Jim Morrison’s grave in Paris). If you are a fan of Bob Dylan’s repertoire, you may find yourself “knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door.” And if you were to stand in front of the television at home, somebody sitting behind you might remark, “Hey, sit down! You make a better door than a window”?
To which Jesus might simply smile and say, “Thank you,” because in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells us, “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). I AM the Door. This is the third of seven magnificent I AM statements that Jesus speaks in John’s Gospel. Each of them shines light on Christ’s divinity and his saving work. The Greek phrase I AM (ejgwv eijmi) is related to the divine name Yahweh in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. When the LORD spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, he introduced himself as “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex. 3:14). ejgwv eijmi oJ w[n. That is the divine name: I AM. Thus, by his seven I AM statements, Jesus hints that he is, in fact, the very God of Israel who rescued his people from slavery in Egypt.
Who is Jesus? He is I AM. In John 6, Jesus declares, “I am the bread of life.” In John 8 & 9, Jesus heals a man born blind and announces, “I am the light of the world.” Later in John 10, he says, “I am the Good Shepherd.” In John 11, at Lazarus’s funeral, Jesus is “the Resurrection and the Life.” In John 14 he reveals himself to be “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” In John 15 Jesus is the “True Vine.” Here, in our reading today, Jesus is the Door.
Yet what does it mean that Jesus is the Door of the sheep? Obviously, a door opens and closes, permitting or prohibiting entry. But what does that look like? I struggled to understand what was going on here until I came across a story that illustrates what Jesus is talking about:
George Adam Smith, the 19th century biblical scholar tells of traveling one day in the holy land and coming across a shepherd and his sheep. He fell into conversation with him, and the man showed him the fold into which the sheep were led at night. It consisted of four walls, with a way in. Smith asked him, “This is where they go at night?” “Yes,” said the shepherd, “and when they are in there, they are perfectly safe.” “But there is no door,” said Smith. “I am the door,” said the shepherd. He was not a Christian man and wasn’t speaking in the language of the New Testament. He was speaking from an Arab shepherd’s viewpoint. Smith looked and him and asked, “What do you mean you are the door?” “When the light has gone,” said the shepherd, “and all the sheep are inside, I lie in that open space, and no sheep ever goes out but across my body, and no wolf comes in unless he crosses my body; I am the door.”[2]
You see! The shepherd is the door of the sheep pen. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and he is the Door. He sits or lies down in the opening of the sheep pen, stopping up the gap with his own body. No wolf can attack the sheep as long as Jesus lies in the gap. No thief or robber may enter. These are the dangerous strangers whose voices the sheep will not follow. They listen only to the shepherd, because he alone cares for them, loves them, and puts his life on the line for them.
But Jesus did more than just put his life on the line for us. He laid down his life for us by dying on the cross for our sins (cf. John 10:15). Like the shepherd who blocks up the opening to the sheep pen, Jesus bridged the gap between heaven and earth when he extended his arms upon the cross and prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
At one time we all strayed away from God like lost sheep. St. Peter writes, “For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Pet. 2:25). Jesus is the Door and the Shepherd—and the Lamb, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The Bible uses a lot of mixed metaphors to describe Jesus Christ and his saving work. Your English teacher would probably disapprove of all these mixed metaphors. Yet sometimes that is all that will do. Jesus is so overwhelmingly wonderful that we find it difficult to describe him. And so, the images gush into our brain, capturing not only our imaginations, but more importantly, our hearts. That is why there are seven I AM statements in John’s Gospel. Seven is the Hebrew number of perfection or completion. (That’s why there are seven spirits, seven lampstands, seven stars, seven churches, and seven seals in the Book of Revelation).
The image of the Door carries over into Revelation, also known as John’s Apocalypse. Yes, the same John who wrote the Gospel also recorded the series of visions we call Revelation. Probably the most famous passage in all of Revelation is this: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20). Earlier Jesus tells the church in Philadelphia, “I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name” (Rev. 3:8). Right now, there is an open doorway into heaven (cf. Rev. 4:1), which no one except Jesus can shut. Right now, there is time to repent and believe in the Gospel. Right now, there is time to believe in the one God sent to die and rise again for you. Right now, the door is open, but someday it will shut. “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2b). Jesus is both the shepherd and the door. He stands at the door and knocks.
“I am the door,” Jesus declares. “If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9). Now is the time to enter through the Door named Jesus. In the name of the Father and of T the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] All Scripture references, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version.
[2] George Adam Smith, quoted in Sermons.com newsletter.