Jesus, The Gate?

Dear Friends,

When most New Yorkers think of gates they think of exclusion. They think of keeping people out: particularly the poor, the intellectually disadvantaged, people who look different than us.

In this Sunday’s Gospel lesson, Jesus says that he is “the gate.” This might cause some of us to put up our defenses: “Is this one of those ‘Us vs. Them’ passages?”

Well, in a way, it is, but probably not the way you’re thinking. Right before this text, Jesus healed a blind person. Having received his sight, the man presented himself to the religious authorities. Learning that it was Jesus who healed him, the religious leaders reject the man and tell him that he is still lost in his sins. Returning to Jesus, he is received and welcomed into the community of faith.

It is in light of this event that Jesus presents himself as the gate. Not as a wall to keep out the less fortunate, but a fence to keep out “robbers and thieves”: false teachers who “steal, kill, and destroy.”

Who are the “robbers and thieves” of our own day? The first folks that come to mind are certain TV preachers. Those who, like the leaders of old, say that if you are not healthy you simply don’t have enough faith.

Whoever these folks who would exclude you from God’s kingdom may be, the Good Shepherd is not one of them. So no need to put up your defenses, the true high priest says “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

Thanks be to God,

Ben