Sermon Seeds: By the Gate

Sunday, April 26, 2026
Fourth Sunday of Easter | Year A
(Liturgical Color: White)

Lectionary Citations
Acts 2:42-47 • Psalm 23 • 1 Peter 2:19-25 • John 10:1-10
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?z=s&d=46&y=17134

Focus Scripture: John 10:1-10
Focus Theme: By the Gate
Series: That Message Spread (Click here for the series overview.)

Reflection
By Cheryl A. Lindsay

Do you ever wonder, if Jesus lived on earth during contemporary times, what would be the metaphor for their relationship with their disciples? Shepherd imagery finds a home in the biblical corpus because it was familiar. Most metaphors gain their power from the association to something well-known. How many of us know shepherds? I pastor a local church in a semi-rural community. When I began my call there, I quickly learned that I would need to do more in-depth research to ensure that my exposition of agrarian metaphors would be true to the lived experience of the members of my congregation. Fortunately, they were very gracious when letting me know when my descriptions were just a bit off even if they understood my point.

One of the challenges in relating to the biblical witness is that there is a chiasm of time, space, and culture to cross to enter into these stories with authenticity and truth. Applying new metaphors could help in translation…just like a well-placed illustration in a sermon. But, what do we do when a translation cannot be found? We only have words to communicate what has been established. Translating the Bible from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek proves to be challenging enough. The cultural and contextual differences add another layer of complexity in understanding the message for today.

Could the problem be that we do not have spaces and circumstances that even attempt to reach the level of care conveyed in the role of the shepherd? With the family farm facing extinction, agricultural industries run more like corporations than small businesses that involve the entire family. The role of a shepherd is not a job that can be left at the end of a shift. The shepherd devotes their life, around the clock, to the care and protection of the sheep. Where do we find that commitment and companionship today?

Perhaps, that is the challenge faced by the church. As an institution, at times, it may resemble a corporation more than a community of commitment and care…for members, neighbors, and even enemies.

The Johannine Jesus, unlike his Synoptic counterpart, does not speak in parables. In John 10, however, he employs the “figure” (Gk. paroimia) of the shepherd who calls his sheep by name and leads them out of the sheepfold. This is a pastoral, everyday scenario that lends itself readily to a cosmological interpretation. The shepherd is a well-known biblical metaphor for leaders, divine and human, such as Moses (Exod. 3:1), David (2 Sam. 5:2), and God (Psalm 23). The language (hearing the voice, calling the sheep by name, leading them out) recalls John 5:28, in which Jesus promises that “all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out” and anticipates 11:43, in which Jesus calls Lazarus by name out of his grave…..Jesus also refers to “other sheep that do not belong to this fold” (10:16), perhaps an allusion to members of the Johannine community—believers—who are not of Jewish origin.
Adele Reinhartz

It is also possible that Jesus truly affirmed a cosmological pasture in which the entire created order belonged. Jesus was present and active in the creation acts represented in the narratives of Genesis 1 and 2, and Jesus enters into that creation in a normal way—a gestational process that culminates in his birth. That is, in part, a way of understanding the “gate” found in the comparison that Jesus makes to the way of a shepherd entering into the location of the sheep. J. Ramsey Michaels’ translation uses “door” rather than “gate.” The message remains the same. (Although Michaels does consider this discourse to be a “parable” of sorts.)

Whether or not this “parable” is comparable to Jesus’ use of parables in the other three Gospels could be debated at length. Its closest kinship is with certain parables of “normalcy,” describing what is natural or appropriate in everyday life. Doctors, for example, are normally for sick people, not those who are well (see Mk 2:17). Fasting is normal when someone has died, but not at a wedding celebration (Mk 2:18–20). New wine normally goes in new bottles (Mk 2:22). If a sheep falls into a pit, its owner will normally pull it out, even on the Sabbath (Mt 12:11). If a shepherd loses track of even one sheep out of a hundred, he will normally leave the rest to fend for themselves while he goes out to look for it (Lk 15:4). If not common occurrences, these are at least common responses to everyday life situations, or even to emergencies. Similarly here, the first thing that gives legitimacy to the shepherd of the sheep is that he enters the courtyard in the normal fashion, “through the door” (v. 1). If we see someone climbing over the wall instead of entering in the normal way, it is fair to assume he is not the shepherd or owner of the sheep, but most likely a “thief and robber” (v. 1). Even today, someone seen climbing into a house through a window is more likely than not up to no good.
J. Ramsey Michaels

Jesus used, what was a common metaphor, to articulate how he entered into humanity’s common life—a sovereign humbling themselves to a commoner, by association, exalts and affirms the condition of the commoner. Deepening that connection, Jesus invites those they encounter to follow them, to recognize their voice, and to enter the gate–the presence, the fullness of Jesus and abundant life.

There are certain texts that define the gospel. This is one of them. Many interpreters and Bible study participants focus on the potential limitations that may be imposed upon the text. Specifically, they narrow in on the statement, “Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.” Based on this, they insist that only through belief in Jesus may one be saved, and in this instance, salvation almost exclusively means escaping eternal damnation in hell.

Reading that statement with the one that follows it, however, shifts attention from the recipient of the invitation to the disparate invitations being offered. Verse 10 states, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” The comparison in the text does not come from those who believe in Jesus and those who do not. It’s between the life that Christ offers and the one offered by the thief. As John’s gospel was written to a Christian audience, it provided a caution against compromising or sacrificing the faith in the face of evil forces in the world.

It’s an important reminder for those who claim to believe in Jesus Christ today in word but follow a path at odds with the liberative, kin-dom based good news that Jesus not only proclaimed, but modeled and generated in their life on earth. That destructive path demeans God’s beloved with incendiary language and despicable monikers. That destructive path glorifies war and refuses opportunities for peace and bridge building. That destructive path ignores the teaching of Christ and twists the words of scripture into knots of hatred and oppression. That destructive path is evil and the way of sin.

But, the way of Jesus is found by the gate. It’s found in belonging to the kindom of God and its multiple expressions. It’s not limited because the Holy One has no limits, especially not those that human beings, God’s creation, would impose. By the gate is room for diversity and difference. The gate offers safety and protection. Most of all, because Jesus is the gate, it promises God’s flourishing life and love to all who choose to live by the gate.

Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent
The 33rd General Synod adopted a Resolution to Recognize the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). As part of its implementation, Sermon and Weekly Seeds offers Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent related to the season or overall theme for additional consideration in sermon preparation and for individual and congregational study.
“A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. They all have food in their own homes. When we gather together in the moonlit village ground it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.”
― Chinua Achebe

For Further Reflection
“The gatekeepers are not there to prohibit you anything, they just want to frighten you away, if you are courageous enough to go through them, they will let you , thinking you are the owner or his so” ― Bangambiki Habyarimana
“Escape? There is one unwatched way: your eyes. O Beauty! Keep me good that secret gate.” ― Wilfred Owen
“Wherever you are in life, you have come there either because some doors are not opened or some doors are opened!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan

Works Cited
Michaels, Jr. Ramsey. The Gospel of John (New International Commentary on the New Testament). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010.
Reinhartz, Adele. “John.” Gale A. Yee, Ed. Fortress Commentary on the Bible: Two Volume Set. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014.

Suggested Congregational Response to the Reflection
During the Season of Easter, commit to spreading the good news of God’s liberating, redeeming, and reconciling love through consistent communication. Consider the tangible ways your faith community has been positioned to demonstrate the power of new life.

Worship Ways Liturgical Resources
https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/easter-4a-april-26/

The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology (lindsayc@ucc.org), also serves a local church pastor, public theologian, and worship scholar-practitioner with a particular interest in the proclamation of the word in gathered communities. You’re invited to share your reflections on this text in the comments on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SermonSeeds.

A Bible study version of this reflection is at Weekly Seeds.