KNOWING CHRIST: Exploring the “I am” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John.

I went for a picnic with my parents when we were living in England. En route to Cornwall, we saw signs for picnic tables and pulled to the side of the road to eat our lunch, in what appeared to be a public park. We did not know we were in the middle of a farmer’s field.

My mom laid out a tablecloth, cutlery, plates and sandwiches. As we were eating, a herd of sheep wandered by. They meandered to our table and promptly began eating not only our sandwiches but also our tablecloth. We had entered a sheep pen!

Jesus’ third “I am” statement, in which he names himself “the gate” (see John 10:9), invites us to consider sheep pens—not physical ones, but spaces of rest in our lives that are tended by Jesus our shepherd and guarded by Jesus our gate.

To truly understand this name, we need to pay attention to its’ context. Jesus gives this name within a discourse following his sixth sign, or miracle—one of seven in the Gospel of John—the healing of the man born blind. The religious leaders are threatened by this healing. They grill the man, condemn him and expel him from the synagogue. Jesus hears about the religious leaders’ negative reactions and challenges them, naming their spiritual blindness (see John 9:39). Within this conversation, Jesus explains how their standards and judgments are creating barriers that exclude people from entering the rest and abundance of God. He goes so far as to call the leaders thieves and bandits, stealing rest and abundance from their people (see John 10:1). Jesus indicts the leaders, explaining how they make it challenging for individuals to freely dwell in their faith community.

We do not live with religious leaders who openly require us to denounce Jesus to remain in our communities of faith, yet we do face thieves and bandits in our lives that drain us and steal our peace. Some of these are external pressures, and others are our own internal expectations.

External thieves include disturbing news reports, challenges with family members or financial insecurity. Sometimes they are related to the many demands of our lives in ministry, such as balancing a budget and making challenging cost-saving decisions; parsing out our Exploring the “I am” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John. time to increase our effectiveness and efficiency; and toggling responsibilities that require pivoting skills at a moment’s notice.

We also have internal thieves and bandits that steal our equanimity and sense of abundance. Many of us struggle with unrealistic expectations; falling prey to comparison and competition traps; isolation or loneliness; performance orientation; or not feeling free to be our authentic selves.

The good news of Jesus is that our thieves and bandits do not have to have the last word. When Jesus appears in our lives as our gate, we are invited into a space of relationship, rest and abundance. Jesus as our gate provides a door through which we may withdraw from the many demands of our lives to find a space of nourishment and care.

In the ancient world, sheep pens did not have physical gates—the shepherd was the gate. Once the sheep settled, the shepherd lay down at the opening, offering his body as protection from prowling wolves and thieving bandits. Each morning, the shepherd rose and led his sheep out into the fields. In this way, the gate was permeable; the sheep did not remain locked away but moved from their rest back into the fields.

Jesus’ calling into rest involves a rhythm of withdrawal and connection, for the sheep who leave the pen are invited to reach out to other sheep, inviting them into the fold (see John 10:16).

There are times when we withdraw in an attempt to recover from hurt. We hem ourselves in for self-protection, yet this self-hemming is not fed by Jesus. The efforts we make to be our own gates result in an experience of exhaustion rather than rest, and scarcity rather than abundance.

The invitation to encounter Jesus as our gate is to surrender our care into Jesus’ trusted hands, and in this surrender discover spaces of “mystic grace” (see SASB 777).

PRAYER PRACTICE
Listen to the Canadian Staff Songsters’ recording ’Mid All the Traffic (SASB 777) at salvationist.ca/songsters. While listening, picture yourself entering a space of rest with Jesus. Name the worries and situations that are stealing your peace. As these are named, release them and feel Jesus’ peace enter your heart.

MAJOR CORINNE CAMERON is the corps officer at Yorkminster Citadel in Toronto.

Photo: Joseph Andrews-Cifre/iStock via Getty Images Plus

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