I am the Door + Easter 4A, 2026 + ACL
I am the Door
Easter 4A, 2026 (John
10, 1 Peter 2, Acts 2)
St Paul’s Emmanuel, Santa Paula / All
Santos Oxnard
The Rev. Alene Campbell-Langdell
A couple of weeks ago, I sat in a concert listening to the
musician sharing a little of her life story prior to singing a song about
belonging in community. She shared her
experience of growing up in a fundamentalist church in the Memphis area, being
outed as a Lesbian in college, and then being shunned by the community to teach
her about love. She ended by saying that
she just wished she could sing this song about belonging in a church and know
it was true.
If we are to understand Jesus’ words here in John 10, we have
to put them back in the context in which they were said. So, let’s go back to chapter 9. You will remember that we read the story of
the healing of the man born blind during Lent.
After all the back and forth between the man, his parents, and the
religious leaders of the day, the story ends with the man being kicked out of
the synagogue. Jesus then finds him and reintroduces
himself. I like the way The Message
translation tells this part of the story, “Jesus heard that they had thrown him
out, and went and found him. He asked
him, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’
The man said, ‘Point him out to me, sir, so that I can believe in him.’ Jesus said, ‘You’re looking right at him.
Don’t you recognize my voice?’ (John 9:35-37).
This is the context in which we hear a few verses later, “The sheep
follow [the shepherd] because they know his voice” (John 10:4).
Much has been written about Jesus as a Shepherd. Yet, in Year A of the lectionary, we have
another metaphor that Jesus uses to describe himself in relation to the
sheep. Twice in these 10 verses, Jesus
says, “I am the door” (translated here as gate because he’s talking about a
sheepfold). This is a particularly
poignant image for those like the man born blind in John or the musician who
were kicked out of their community for telling the truth as best they
could.
Talking about gates or doors in connection with Jesus can
feel particularly tricky in this political environment, and yet, maybe it also
points to ways of making this a constructive dialogue. When Jesus talks about protecting the sheep
from thieves and bandits, this is something that border enthusiasts understand
well. Surely there is nothing good about
those who sneak in via tunnels in the dead of night. But Jesus turns this imagery on its head by
comparing the thieves to the shepherd, not the sheep. Those who seek to steal, kill, and destroy
are not shepherds. They are not true
leaders. Remember that this is being said to one who has been kicked out of the
community. The man born blind has had
the fence used against him to keep him out.
Jesus finds him and invites him back in while reminding all who are
listening of the true test for anyone who would claim to be a leader in the
community: do they bring life or do they instead steal, kill, and destroy the life
they find? Do those who claim to care
bring healing or destruction?
This question is enacted viscerally later in John as Jesus
acts out his identity as the gate immediately prior to his arrest. In John 18, we read that when Judas came with
soldiers and police to the garden where Jesus was with the other disciples,
Jesus came forward, placing himself at the entrance of the garden between the
soldiers and the disciples. When the
soldiers declare that they are looking for “Jesus of Nazareth,” Jesus answers,
“I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.”
(John 18:8). In this moment, Jesus
stands as the gate to the garden. He is
not surprised by those who seek destruction, but neither will he let them
in.
Elisabeth Johnson points out, “The purpose of the gate is not
to keep out other sheep. Indeed, Jesus
says in verse 16, ‘I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold….’ Rather, the purpose of the gate is to guard
against all that threatens the well-being of the sheep.” [1] For those who own cats or dogs, it might be
easier to imagine the way a cat or dog behaves when the door to a room is
shut. They may have had no desire to
leave or enter the room before, but the moment the door is shut, everything
changes. Jesus makes clear that his role
as a door or gate is not intended to keep the sheep in or out. Like a cat or a dog door in the house, the
gate is designed to provide freedom and life while keeping out anything that
might be harmful.
(I also think of how we sometimes close our patio gate to let
the children play at the church.)
Laura Holmes describes it this way, “[T]he purpose of the
gate is twofold: It protects the sheep from those death-dealing forces
described above. It also provides access
for the sheep to the pasture (10:9). The
expansiveness of this pasture is captured in Jesus’s final words in this
passage: ‘I came that they may have life and have it abundantly’ (10:10).”[2] In this regard, we are given two very
different images of the early Christian community. The passage in 1st Peter has
sometimes been used to bolster illegitimate leaders, those who seek destruction
and their own gain rather than life for those they are called to serve. But let us be clear that Peter’s words about
accepting suffering as part of following Christ are spoken to a community in
crisis. This is a community living in a
situation with no good options. The
options they had were to go along with the injustice and tyranny of the empire,
to essentially condone the oppression of others, or to suffer with the
community. In that situation, Peter says
that salvation is still to be found with the other sheep in the care of the
shepherd. We can trust the Shepherd to
guard our souls and protect us from giving in to the evil that surrounds
us.
In the other picture of the early Christian community, we see
a community that loves and cares for each other. Acts 2 introduces this community that has
surrounded the apostles. And the first
thing we hear is a sense of awe: “because many wonders and signs were being
done by the apostles” (Acts 2:43). Later, we will read more about these
“wonders and signs” as we read about healings and being set free from
prison.
Salvation for this community, as it was for the man born
blind or anyone else who has found themselves on the outside, is a way in to
life, health, and community. Karoline
Lewis remarks that “The man blind from birth is saved from isolation and
marginalization. His healing saves him
from everlasting darkness. Never again
will he wonder where his next meal will be or who will answer his pleas as he
sits begging outside the city. He will
know the safety and security of community.”[3]
As we prepare some in our community for (confirmation later
this year), these two descriptions of life in community can serve as helpful
reminders of our baptismal covenant (which we reaffirm as youth and adult
members of the church). We trust the
Shepherd to enable us to renounce evil even as we find community in and through
the Door. For him, as it is for all of
us, salvation looks like having others care about whether you have food to eat.
Salvation is knowing that you belong.
Salvation is not having to choose between freedom and security. Salvation is trusting both the Door and the
Shepherd.
[1] Elisabeth
Johnson, “Commentary
on John 10:1-10 - Working Preacher from Luther Seminary.” 2017. Working Preacher
from Luther Seminary. May 7, 2017. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-of-easter/commentary-on-john-101-10-3.
[2] Laura Holmes, “Commentary on John 10:1-10 - Working
Preacher from Luther Seminary.” 2026. Working Preacher from Luther Seminary. March
31, 2026. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-of-easter/commentary-on-john-101-10-7.
[3]
Karoline Lewis, “Commentary on John 10- Working Preacher from Luther Seminary.”
2014. Working Preacher from Luther Seminary. May 11, 2014.
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-of-easter/commentary-on-john-101-10-4.
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