Fellow-Redeemed in Christ Jesus,
We often speak of Jesus Christ, in dual terms. Jesus is true God and true man in one person. Jesus offered up his life on the cross as both the all-sufficient sacrifice for sin, and our perfect priest. Last week we heard Peter tell the crowd, “God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.”
In John’s gospel, we hear our Redeemer and Savior described himself with several “I am” statements; “I am the resurrection and the life,” for example. Here we have another double picture. We see that Jesus is the only way to heaven. We see that Jesus leads us and cares for us. Jesus is Both the Gate and the Shepherd. Jesus is the only gate to life and salvation. Jesus is the one who calls his sheep by name and leads us.
Jesus used these metaphors to define his person and work. The disciples in their weak understanding did not get what he was telling them so in love Jesus explained. We need to keep in mind that the metaphor is in the nouns and not in the verb, “I am.” The picture is in the “sheep pen.” Jesus really is the only door to life and salvation just as there is one gate to that stall surrounded pen where the sheep could safely graze.
To try and have the forgiveness of sins and get into heaven by any way other way through Jesus’ perfection under the law and innocent sacrifice for sin on the cross, is like running into a stone wall. Because Reese’s parents brought him to Holy Baptism, the Holy Spirit has given him the use of that only door by creating faith in his heart. God has washed all his past and present sins away in Christ and taken Reese into the kingdom of his gracious rule.
What a blessing that through Christ, we do not have to keep banging ourselves against the stonewall of our own efforts to earn forgiveness and eternal salvation. What comfort for this child and for all of us that Jesus Christ is the Gate. We enter into the sheep pen of God’s family through him. There we find the good pasture of the certainty that I am holy in God’s sight through Christ’s blood and know I will go to heaven. I am there already as a child of God. Jesus promised that whoever believes in him has eternal life even though I am not yet experiencing fully its joys. As I walk through Jesus who is the only gate to life and salvation through faith, Jesus is the one who calls his sheep by name and leads them.
This is the second metaphor. I wish they had included verse 11. Jesus pictures himself as the Good Shepherd in these preceding verses but in verse 11 he says, “I am the good shepherd.”
Sheep are not very intelligent yet their Creator has endowed them with the good sense of recognizing their shepherd’s voice and following it. The sheep follow the shepherd’s voice because they trust he will lead them to good grass, sweet water, and safety from wolves and other enemies. Those enemies include thieves and robbers who want to invade the sheep pen and do us harm.
Jesus used this picture to depict his care of us. There are those both inside and outside of the visible church who harm the sheep by not telling the truth about forgiveness and salvation. They really do not care about the sheep. They care only about themselves. They steal the sheep away from Christ. They kill their faith and love for Christ. They destroy the sheep by leading them to weedy grass, polluted water, and lack of safety in the Word.
Against all of these enemies, the voice of the good shepherd rises above the din. We hear that voice in God’s Word. By creating faith in our hearts, the Holy Spirit gives us the good spiritual sense to hear Christ’s voice and follow him as he leads us through life. He even calls us by name. One of the purposes for speaking the child’s name in Holy Baptism is to remind us that Reese and we are not just nameless faces in the crowd. Our good shepherd knows our names, cares for us individually.
A good shepherd goes out ahead of his flock. He blazes the trail. He disperses the enemies. He finds the good pasturage. The sheep follow. Jesus blazed the trail of our death and resurrection by his death and resurrection. Jesus dispersed his enemies of sin, Satan, and the last enemy death. He leads us to the good pasturage of his Word and his daily care so that we do not want for anything.
Jesus said, “His sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” You children know about stranger danger. You do not follow someone you do not know. Therefore, we children of God do not follow someone we do not know, whose voice is not the good shepherd’s voice in his Word. This is how we recognize truth from error. Does the good shepherd speak it? Or, does a stranger speak in words other than God’s Word?
Jesus is both the gate and the shepherd. Enter the gate and follow the shepherd so that you enjoy his purpose, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Amen. <SDG>