4th Sunday of Easter - Year A (John 10: 1-10)

“I am the gate.”
Although I know that in the Mideast the shepherd often sleeps at the opening of the sheep pen and is literally a human gate, the gate images that fill my mind as I prayerfully consider this Gospel text are made of wood. Perhaps this is the result of a recent do-it-yourself project where a gate/door was added to the potting shed we are building in the back yard. It seems an obvious jump then, from the gate to the cross. We are incorporated into the fold by way of the cross. We are saved from our twin enemies, sin and death, by the cross. We are given access to the fullness of life through the cross.
Gates serve two functions that can seem at cross (no pun intended) purposes. A closed gate marks a boundary between “in and out” which cannot be passed. An open gate creates a space in which the boundary between “in and out” is breached. The cross stands as just such a paradox as it condemns our sin and announces our salvation.