Thomas J Parlette
“The Gate”
John 10: 1-10
4/26/26
I am old enough to remember the day when we had three TV channels. No streaming services, no cable, no movie channels – just NBC, CBS and ABC. Now I love all the choices of our modern media platforms, don’t get me wrong – but there were some advantages to just three networks. For one thing, the whole country consumed basically the same media. For the most part, we were watching the same programs and the next day we had something to talk about in school our around the water cooler, when those still existed. In a way, it was kind of unifying.
I remember that every evening at 6:00 Eastern time, the evening news came on. There was no 24 hour news cycle with talking heads covering the same story all day – no, you had to wait until 6:00 o’clock to get your news. When I was a kid, our house always tuned in to Walter Cronkite on CBS News. He was the guy. You knew something was the true because Walter Cronkite said so. For a time his nickname was “the trusted man in America.” His famous tagline said it best. He used to sign off every broadcast saying – “And that’s the way it is…” Walter Cronkite represented truth to America for almost 20 years.
Well, times have changed. We have so many news outlets, so many talking heads, experts and pundits telling us their version of the truth that it’s hard to know what’s true anymore.
According to Newsguard, an organization that tracks fake news sites, the number of AI-enabled fake news sites increased tenfold in 2023. These sites are operated by little or no human supervision.
This doesn’t mean that we are defenseless. Researchers, tech companies and governments agencies are collaborating to fight AI-powered misinformation with AI-powered technology. Platform companies partner with professional fact-checkers and content moderators to tag fake information and use it to detect misinformation early in the process before it can be widely disseminated. (1)
Sometimes I miss the days of the news delivered by the “most trusted man in America.”
Knowing which voice is trustworthy and which voice is not is exactly what Jesus is taking about this morning.
Today is what is unofficially known as Shepherd Sunday. This is one of a couple of Sundays where we focus on the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The first passage we read this morning was the well-known 23rd Psalm, in which the Lord is compared to a shepherd, making us lie down in green pastures, leading us beside still waters and restoring our souls as we are led in paths of righteousness. A lovely image that even most known Christians are familiar with.
The second passage is from John and talks to us about what a good shepherd is and is not. The good shepherd comes in to the sheep in the proper way – through the gate, knows the gatekeeper personally, and gets to know the sheep by name. But, Jesus doesn’t call himself the Good Shepherd – not yet. In today’s passage, Jesus says, “I am the gate.”
In reality, if we look closely at the text, we actually have two separate passages. In the first passage, Jesus talks about the true shepherd, the trustworthy shepherd and emphasizes that the true shepherds voice is known to his sheep and they follow him. But unfortunately, the disciples do not understand the metaphor.
This leads us to the second part of the passage. Jesus sounds a bit frustrated with his disciples as he says, “OK, I see I’ve lost you. Let me be clear – “I am the gate. Me. I’m the gate.”
Still, his disciples look confused, so he goes on. “Everyone who came before me, thieves and bandits. Don’t listen to them. I am the gate.”
Later, Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd – but not yet.
We know that’s what he’s GOING to say – but he doesn’t say it here, not yet.
For now, Jesus says – “I am the gate.” Twice.
So, what’s he getting at, why a gate?
Well, let’s consider the life of a first century shepherd for just a moment. Typically, sheep pens in Jesus’ day were simple structures, high rock walls with only one entrance. In the morning, the shepherd would gather his sheep from among the multiple flocks that would often be penned together for the night, and lead them out to a pasture with good grass for them to graze. Each shepherd would have their unique “call” to gather his sheep – a whistle, a phrase, something that would be distinct, that his sheep would recognize.
One of the differences between shepherds in the middle east and other shepherds in other areas is that shepherds in the middle east would lead the sheep – they would be out front and the sheep would follow. In other areas, the shepherd would follow behind the sheep and poke and push them in the right direction.
At the end of the day, the shepherd would take the sheep back to the pen, often with a bunch of other sheep. So there would often be more than one flock staying in the same pen overnight. As the sheep entered the pen, the shepherd would check them for little injuries, or bugs that might cause discomfort in the night. Author Phillip Keller, who has spent some time as a sheep rancher in Africa has written a couple of books relating his experience as a shepherd to his faith in Jesus Christ. He says that four conditions have to be met in order for sheep to lie down for the night.
1. They must be free of fear.
2. They must be free from friction with others in the flock.
3. They must be free from injury or parasites,
4. And they must be free from hunger. (2)
Meet all these criteria, and your flock would sleep well. As the sheep were asleep, the shepherd, or shepherds would take turns on guard duty, watching out for predators or poachers. One of their methods was to lie down in front of the opening in the walls and physically act as a gate, both to keep the sheep from wandering and to keep them safe from intruders.
Considering those details of the life of a first-century shepherd, I hope you can see how Jesus’ words and comparison’s might have communicated something about God’s care. At first though, the disciples don’t get it. So Jesus gets very specific and says – twice- “I am the gate.” Meaning, coming in and out of God’s presence is through me. In addition, I am the one who offers protection and assurance in the face of the threats and hardships you face. I am the gate. Come and go through me, and you will be safe, you will be looked after, you will be cared for.
One other fact about shepherding in the first-century, and really any century – taking care of a flock of sheep requires an investment. Nothing comes for free, and that goes for taking care of sheep as well. A quick Google search tells me that taking care of a flock of 50 sheep will cost 6,250 – 12,500 a year – that works out to 125-250 dollars per sheep, per year. That’s a real investment.
Rob Fuquay is the pastor of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Indianapolis, and he has written a book called The God We Can Know: Exploring the “I Am” Sayings of Jesus. In that book he writes about Jesus as the Good Shepherd and Jesus as The Gate. He says, “If it is true that we are not only made BY God, but OUT of God, then God has invested godly qualities in all of us. Jesus comes to protect that investment.” (3)
In the 1980’s movie Trading Places, Dan Akroyd plays a snobbish investor who gets scammed by his bosses. They make a bet that their protégé’ couldn’t survive if they took away everything he had – kind of the same thing that happened to Job. They cancel his credit cards, take his identity, remove him from his prestigious club, pay his butler to pretend not to recognize him and have him literally thrown out onto the street.
But then he meets Jamie Lee Curtiss in prison. She believes in who he is, and Akroyd convinces her to invest her life savings with him so he can make her a fortune in the stock market.
There is one particular scene where Curtis is nursing Akroyd back to health while he is sick. He asks her – “Why are doing this, why are you helping me?” And she says – “I’m protecting my investment.”
That’s what Jesus does – Jesus comes to protect God’s investment in us. God believes in who we really are, God believes in our true identity, and Jesus comes to protect that investment.
God says, “I gave you a sense of humor; you can make people smile. I have put something of myself in you. I believe in you.”
God says, “I gave you the ability to inspire people. You have a way of bringing out the best in people. I believe in you.”
God says, “I gave you sensitivity to others. I gave you my compassion. I believe in you.”
God says, “I gave you wit and intellect. I gave you the ability to lead others in my name. People depend on you. I believe in you.” (4)
That is the investment that God makes in each of us – and Jesus comes to protect that investment.
When Jesus says, “I am the gate,” he is pointing out that he is the way into God’s presence. His is the voice we can trust, for He is the way into God’s assurance of love, forgiveness and grace. And Jesus is reminding us that He comes as the Good Shepherd to protect the investment that God has made in each one of us.
May God be praised. Amen.
1. Jieun Shin, “AI and Misinformation,” College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida, 2024 Dean’s Report, homileticsonline.com.
2. Rob Fuquay, The God We Can Know: Exploring the “I AM Sayings of Jesus, Upper Room Books, Nashville, 2014, p 62.
3. Ibid… p 60.
4. Ibid… p 60-61.
