7/30/2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 2. 5-6)

“But the man who takes care of the sheep enters through the gate. He is the shepherd. The one who guards the gate opens it for the shepherd [that he might come in.]” (John 10.2-3a)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

We watch, in a movie or a television show, about someone who walks up to the door of some building and knocks. A smaller door within the door opens. A face looks out to see who is standing at the door. A request is made for some clue that an invitation has been extended. It serves also as a verification that the person on the outside is expected to be on the inside. Some word is “given.” If it is the intended “word,” then entrance is gained. Throughout the Old Testament, “gatekeepers” are mentioned often. They serve to protect the various gates associated with the community of faith in God. It could be a gate of a house or a city. It was especially the gate of the Temple and most especially it was the curtain which stood between God’s presence in purest form and the one intended to bring in the sacrifice to inquire of God in the Holy of Holies. There was another gate, too. It was the “sheep gate” or, as Jesus taught, “the door of the sheep.“

The purpose of the “gate,” or door, was to provide a layer of protection against the enemy who sought to gain entry. Jesus taught, “If anyone attempts to gain entry by any other manner than that of the gate, or door, then everyone will know that person is intended to “steal, kill and/or destroy.” (John 10.10) The “gate,” therefore, was a symbol of integrity, positive intentionality and acceptance with the purpose of welcome and service. The last purpose, that of welcome and service, is critical in the understanding of what Jesus was teaching as recorded in the tenth chapter of John’s gospel. As “the gate,” He literally stands the gap between the unrighteous, unruly and uncaring “outside world” and the righteous, reconciling and rejoicing always “inside world.” Inside was where the authentic treasures of life could be found. Jesus admonished His disciples “Lay up your treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust can claim them and no thief can steal them.” (Matthew 6.19f) Jesus said, in John’s gospel, that He was the gate of the sheep, the door through which they passed into at night or in the storm for safety or in the morning to go out to pasture by still waters and be “restored.” In the fields away from the city or from the master of the flock’s homestead, sheep pens would be established for such instances. Walls of stone would have been built with an opening in it for the sheep to pass through. Many times there was no barrier, door or gate in place. It was the responsibility of the shepherd, if the shepherd was good, to stand the gap and become the barrier, gate or door of the sheep. Perhaps set up in the higher places where the shepherd would take the flocks in late spring for the freshest water and greenest grass, no such “shelter” existed. Instead, the shepherd found find a place resembling a small valley or inlet to serve as a resting place. It may high walls which were the sides of the hills or mountains. Of course, there was no pre-built barrier, gate or door set in place. None, of course, except for the shepherd who kept watch, built a small multi-purpose fire and would serve as the “door of the sheep.”

Of course, in the aforementioned illustrations, the shepherd was not only “the door,” but served as the “door, or gate, keeper.” The role of the gatekeeper was to guard that door. They alone would be responsible for opening the gate, or the door, and allowing the one on the outside to come in. The “word” would have to be given in order to gain entrance. We have such “passwords” used on a daily basis with our cellphones, computers and computer programmers. We also have those who wish to steal those passwords in order to gain entry without the owner’s permission. The gatekeeper must be vigilant in their duty of protecting “the treasure inside.” Jesus started His teaching on this by drawing attention to the one who stood watch at the gate or door. They served the utmost spiritual responsibility of guarding the treasure inside. That treasure, in this instance and indeed in the only instance that truly and ultimately matters, is eternal life abiding in the unadulterated and pure presence of Almighty God. As Jesus presents Himself as the Shepherd, He who works for the Good Shepherd who is God His Father and ours, then who are the door minders and gate keepers. The imagery may seem a bit cluttered at this point as to Jesus being the gate and the gatekeeper, but no more than understanding the dual purpose each disciple must embrace as one created to be sheep of the shepherd and maturing into shepherds of other sheep. While it is the purpose of Jesus to bring the hope of salvation into all the world, His other purpose was to build up a community of faith who would carry on His work on earth until He would return. The Lamb of God would also be the Shepherd of God’s Lambs. We see that transitioning of duty and authority in Jesus’ last words to Peter by the lakeshore. With each question and response between Jesus and Peter there was the conferring of duty, responsibility and authority. It would only be entrusted to those who “passed the inquiry” of do you love me. In that discussion, Jesus modeled for Peter and the six other disciples who were there that day, how they would execute the duties of their new office. They were being transformed from fishers of people to shepherds of the flock. The duty of “fishing” would be transferred to those “new” disciples who would then be trained to become “shepherds” of new flocks. That was the cycle of authentic life and living in the Kingdom of God on earth as it was in Heaven.

You might think of it this way. Maybe it is the “give and take” which would happen at the gateway to the treasure of the kingdom to be shared with those who were “in the know.” The gatekeeper would say “When is a door not a barrier to keep others out?” The one standing at the door knocking would answer “When the door is a door way.” “What is that way?” the gatekeeper would ask. “Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and by no other shall we gain entrance into the Kingdom of God.” would be the reply. “And how would we know it is truly the way and the life?” the gatekeeper would ask. And the reply would be “take care of the lambs, take care of the sheep and ‘take care, my sheep.’” Amazing how Jesus would weave His instruction as a thread in so many teachings. I will be reflecting on them this coming week as I myself explore the door, the doorway and the doorkeeper which we are called to be in this world in the name of Jesus our Christ.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD:

Father, You have revealed Yourself to us best in Jesus the Christ. By Him and Him alone shall we gain the eternal life and our place in eternal rest, living for You always. Show us more and by Your Holy Spirit instruct us in the way we should go, the truth we should reveal and the life we shall live with you forever. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.