A gate that is open to everyone.

Homily Easter 4 2026: "I am the gate." [John 10:1-10]  

As we saw when I was talking to the children, there are all sorts of gates. They may make us think of security, but also of invitation, being invited into a beautiful place or invited to leave a place of safety to go out and find adventure and excitement.Unfortunately, they can also be divisive, creating insiders and outsiders.

Insiders and Outsiders

Of course, the concept of insiders and outsiders isn't limited to the sheepherding world. We humans love that game too. Every human institution plays it. You're a member or you're not a member, whether it's of an ethnic group, a social class, a neighborhood, a Facebook group, or a golf club.

And that's also true in churches. Often, it's the old timers versus the newcomers. Sadly, and even worse, some churches determine who is inside and who is outside, based on a person's race or colour, what they believe, how they like to worship.   It could also be based on sexual preference, income disparities, age, and even how you dress. 

Exclusive Salvation?

Traditional interpretations of this parable have far too often taught exclusive salvation, in that, Jesus is there to stop anyone except true believers getting into his secure place. The gate is to keep undesirables out, be they followers of other religions, those that are too rich or too poor, those of the wrong race or sexual orientation.  The list is long …

All are welcome.

But there is another way to look at this. As a progressive Christian, I interpret the gate as being a welcoming, accessible entrance to the spiritual life for everybody, not a narrow barrier. The gate symbolizes Jesus actively protecting and offering a secure new environment for the flock.

Who or what are the thieves and robbers?

In this interpretation, the thieves and robbers are not people of other persuasions, or even people who out and out deny the existence of God or the teachings of Jesus.  The thieves and robbers are systems (religious, political, social, economic) and individuals in positions of power that prey on the weak, hoard resources, and deny others humanity. They are ideologies that exploit, oppress, or break down life – such as: consumerism, peer pressure, conspicuous consumption, or the desire or need to portray a particular image.  They are unjust structures that maintain inequality while claiming legitimacy.

I know we can all think of examples, so i won’t spend time elaborating on this.

Thresholds / Liminal space

The gate is a threshold. In Celtic Christianity, thresholds are considered to be special places or times, where the veil between heaven and earth, between God and us, is particularly thin. A threshold can be a thin time like the twilight between day and night, like the beginning of a new year, the beginning of a new day. Or it can be a thin place, a door, a gate, the shoreline where land and sea meet. But when I think of Jesus as a gate, as a threshold, I know that Jesus is the ultimate thin place, a place where earth and heaven meet.

Another name for a threshold is liminal space. Franciscan Richard Rohr wrote, "Liminal spaces enable us to see beyond ourselves to the broader and more inclusive world that lies before us."  That broader and more inclusive world that we see through the thin veil is the subject of much of Jesus' teaching. In the synoptic Gospels, it's called the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. In John's Gospel, it's called Eternal Life or Abundant Life.

Jesus told us at the end of the reading we heard today;  he said, "I am come that you may have life and may have it abundantly." (John 10:10) Think about it: abundant life as a current reality—safety, community, and fulfillment—rather than solely a promise of afterlife salvation.

Abundant Life

Abundant life, imagine it. I'm not preaching the prosperity gospel here. Abundant Life will not always be comfortable or pleasurable or insulated or wealthy life. But it is nevertheless abundant life.

According to the dictionary, abundant means plentiful or more than enough. What does abundant life mean to you?

Perhaps abundant life for sheep doesn't require anything more than to lie down and eat in green pastures, and to drink at still waters, and to be protected from large, hungry predators.

Abundant life for us is a little more complicated. We need food and drink. We need restful sleep. But perhaps more than these, for the abundant life, we need to know that we are loved, that we are worthwhile people. We want a world where those who are mocked and demeaned and deprived of levers of power and privilege and indeed dignity find divine food and safety. The abundant life is not so much about things we may have, but about the loving relationships we experience with others and especially with God.

Re-imagine life, Abundant Life.

As Jesus followers, we want to make a meaningful contribution to the world.  In a world marked by exclusion, injustice and inequity, the image of Jesus as the gate invites communities to reimagine access, protection, and belonging. It calls for the dismantling of harmful barriers and the creation of spaces where all can enter Jesus’ vision for human community, move freely there, and experience the fullness of life.

Jesus crucified, faith from a place of power

In the earliest centuries of Christianity, the dominant image of Jesus was not the crucified victim but the Good Shepherd, carrying lambs on his shoulders.  In the catacombs of Rome, for example, there are many images of the Good Shepherd, but only one image of Christ on the cross, and that was painted in mockery of the Christians.  However, as Christianity moved from the margins to the center of power, particularly after Constantine the Great legalized it in the fourth century and it align with the Roman Empire, the dominant imagery of Jesus began to shift. The cross, once a symbol of state terror and execution, became the central emblem of the faith and replaced the image of the Good Shepherd. 

Jesus the shepherd, faith rooted in solidarity with all.

Recovering the image of Jesus as shepherd is a way of reclaiming a vision of faith rooted in solidarity, protection, and the flourishing of all people. It reminds us that the earliest Christian imagination centered not on glorifying suffering but on resisting the forces that cause it and nurturing communities where abundant life, where justice and compassion, are possible.

To be like Christ in his role as "the Gate" (John 10:9) means to emulate his character as a protector, provider, and the source of safe access to God's presence.

“Thy Kingdom come on Earth …”

Abundant life is not mere survival; it is “God's kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”  The gate is the threshold through which/whom we pass to have abundant life It exists so that the sheep “may come in and go out and find pasture,” a phrase that evokes freedom, sustenance, and flourishing. If we as Jesus followers are to become Christ-like, we too need to be gates through which people pass to have abundant life. We need to show the love of God.

Invitation – live Abundant Life

 I think in this passage there is a profound invitation for us not simply to listen to Jesus’ promise of salvation and abundant life but actually to live into it. How? By joining ourselves to his mission to bring abundant life to all of God’s children. That means, of course, that we must first pay attention to what is robbing the children of God near us (or farther away) of life and then stand with them against those forces so that they might have, not just life, but life in abundance.

This isn't something one can do alone. Within our church and our community, there are numerous groups working to draw people into the abundant life that Jesus presented. They're all doing the same thing, claiming Jesus' resurrection promises and power by helping others to experience the abundant life that Jesus promises. I think of Alongside Hope, previously known as PWRDF, the Primate's Relief and Development Fund, Food banks, Townsend Smith Foundation, local hospitals and long term care facilities, Habitat for Humanity, and numerous other organizations. Just Google Volunteer opportunities in Milton, Burlington, or wherever you live.

The Gospel we Profess and Live

So might this be a time for all of us to explode and expand our vision of abundant life. That abundant life isn’t simply a promise about some distant eternal future, but is a concrete invitation to discover life right now by extending it to those around us? That salvation isn’t only the forgiveness of sin but also being commissioned by Jesus to help others experience abundant life in their settings?

After all, church isn’t the place where we go to hear about abundant life, but the place that sends us out to experience and share it as we commit ourselves to the wellbeing of all God’s children and, indeed, the world God loves so much.

Isn't this the gospel that we claim to believe?

Amen