John 10:1-10
1 "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber.
2 But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.
5 But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers."
6 Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.
7 So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep.
8 All who came [before me] are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
9 I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.
10 A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
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It's easy to get caught in the details of this passage and focus on who's the thief, who's the robber, who's the sheep. If christ is the gate, who's the gatekeeper? Wait, here Jesus says he's the gate, and below he's the shepherd?
I know this is easy because I just did all of that. I gave up and went to the Church Fathers, and it turns out that they're all over the map on some of the details too. I know this may be shocking, but I take pride in being able to do that kind of thing. :)
Then I stopped and laughed. I'm missing the forest for the trees.
Christ is the way. He is the only way to the abundant life. Everything passes through Him. We come to Him to enter into the pasture. Always through Him, and nothing else.
