“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them. 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 10:1-10
In other places, Jesus is called the Good Shepherd.
Here, he is the gate.
And not the kind of gate meant to keep out. Instead, a gate that we can come in and out from to find pasture.
A gate that offers freedom. A gate that offers life.
Jesus is the gate that offers life.
It makes me think of the wardrobe door that led Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy to Narnia where they met the great Lion King, Aslan.
It was a place where they discovered a life that they hardly knew was possible despite their home being in danger from the Nazi bombs of WWII.
Despite that dangers that might seem to surround us, Jesus lets us know that there is a way to life.
Jesus is a door waiting to be opened. Waiting to show what life is truly meant to be.
Help me not be afraid to go through your gate, Lord, so that I may find life and find it abundantly. Amen