Can we be shepherds with Jesus as the gate?

Brad Sullivan
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A
Sunday, April 13th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10


There are two main points from our Gospel story which I’d like to discuss today. One is the idea of Jesus as the gate for the sheepfold, and the second is the idea of us as shepherds. Now, I might be preaching a little bit of heresy here, I’m not quite sure, but have a listen, and see what you think.
Jesus said he is the gate and only the one who enters the pasture by the gate is shepherd. I think he was referring to himself as the shepherd. Indeed, if we went on one verse farther than today’s reading, we would have read Jesus calling himself the good shepherd, but listening to the second half of the passage today, Jesus didn’t call himself the shepherd. Rather, Jesus called himself the gate.
Now, Jesus can be and is both the good shepherd and the gate, but looking only at Jesus as gate, he said “whoever enters by [him] will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture,” (John10:9) and earlier, he said the shepherd enters through the gate. Perhaps those who enter by the gate of Jesus are not only sheep, but also shepherds.
This is where the potential heresy comes in. I’m not sure about this idea of people who follow Jesus being not only sheep, but shepherds, but I want to work with the idea a little bit today. Can sheep act as shepherds? Well, in the reading we heard from Acts, the apostles were certainly acting as shepherds. Listen again to the passage:
The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)
By that last sentence, we hear of Jesus as the main shepherd, “adding to their number those who were being saved.” Jesus was in charge of the whole flock, but we also heard of the people devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship. The apostles were sheep of the Jesus, the good shepherd, and the apostles also served as shepherds, little shepherds, say, for the believers. The apostles led the believers in the abundant life that Jesus gave. “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they sold their possessions and gave to all as any had need. They spent time together in the temple and broke bread and ate with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” That’s abundant life. Would that we had that life. That was the life Jesus had taught the apostles, and the life, therefore, the apostles continued to teach as shepherds leading fellow sheep through the gate of Jesus.
Looking then, at Jesus as the gate, and the apostles as little shepherds going in and out through the gate of Jesus, I have three points I’d like to make as this passage relates to our lives.
First, we can all be shepherds at various points in our lives. As we live and continue following Jesus as our shepherd, we will continually change from sheep to shepherd, and from shepherd to sheep. We can each act as a little shepherd to each other as God’s Spirit moves in us and as need arises among us, and every little shepherd will need to be led as a sheep by others. Even the greatest shepherd within Jesus’ flock is still a sheep of Jesus.
This brings up the second point. While we can all act as shepherds to one another, we are all Jesus’ sheep. None of us possess the flock. While we are to devote ourselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, while we are to work for the needs of the poor and the oppressed, and while we are to devote ourselves to proclaiming by word and example the good news of God in Christ, we must remember that we will not add to our number those who are being saved. The Lord will add to our number those who are being saved.
Our responsibility is to be the best sheep we can be, hearing Jesus’ voice and following him. Our responsibility is to live as Jesus taught us to live, to live as the believers did in Acts 2. Our responsibility is to act as little shepherds to one another when the Spirit calls and the need arises. Our responsibility is not, however, for the ultimate salvation of the world. We do have responsibility to Jesus’ flock as shepherds and as sheep, but the flock is not ours to do with as we will.
The flock is not ours to control, nor will the flock live or die by any one of us. As written in 1 Corinthians, “[Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:7) None of us grows the flock. None of us controls the flock. If, as shepherds, we hold on too tightly and try to control the flock ourselves, then we begin losing our faith in Jesus, begin believing he is not actually in control of his own flock. Further, seeking to control the actions of the flock rather than guide the actions of the flock is not leading as Jesus led.
This brings me to the third point. If you are going to act as a shepherd, make sure you’ve entered through the gate of Jesus. By this, I don’t only mean Baptism. Rather, when I say make sure you’ve entered through the gate of Jesus, make sure each time you begin shepherding others that you are doing so in the same manner that Jesus did. When we lead others, we need to lead them to the same place Jesus led, teaching the same lessons, and we must also lead others as Jesus led.
Continuing the previous example, Jesus did not lead by compulsion. He did not force anyone to follow him or to listen to his teachings. Jesus allowed people to reject him. As shepherds, then, we too are to teach as Jesus taught, to offer correction to one another, to proclaim the good news of God’s kingdom, but we are not to do so through coercion or compulsion, or by vilifying those who don’t accept the story.
In other words, we are not to place ourselves above anyone else. Whenever we act as shepherds, we are to remember that we are also lowly sheep. Jesus, after all, “did not did not [even] count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” (Philippians 2:6-7) We, then, when acting as shepherds must humble ourselves, not becoming holier than thou or lording our perceived righteousness over others. Rather, we are to offer correction to fellow sheep with meekness and humility out of love for our fellow sheep.
One might say, “but what about when I know I’m right, can I then place myself above others to force them to be right?” No, even when we know with absolute certainty that we are right, we are still not to force others to be right. We are Jesus’ sheep, and he doesn’t force us to be right. Additionally, being right does lead to a life of abundance. Entering life through the gate of Jesus leads to a life of abundance.
Jesus is the gate through which we pass from a normal existence to a life of abundance. Jesus is the gate through which we pass as sheep, following him to this life of abundance, and Jesus is the gate through which we pass when serving as little shepherds to fellow sheep. Jesus is the gate through which the apostles passed when shepherding the early church. They passed through the gate of Jesus and served as shepherds like Jesus. Think again of the life described in Acts 2, a life of abundance, of harmony, and of trust in God. We too can live that life when we pass through the gate of Jesus. Amen.