Connected to the beautiful image of the Good Shepherd in John’s Gospel, we have the parallel image of the sheep gate.  Jesus identifies this entranceway with himself:

“Amen, amen, I say to you,
I am the gate for the sheep. . . .
Whoever enters through me will be saved,
and will come in and go out and find pasture.”  (Jn 10:1-3, 7-10)

In the time of Jesus—and before—the Shepherd would sometimes drive his/her sheep into a space that had no exit, and then lie across the entrance to this passage.  The sheep gathered in this place would be safe since the body of the Shepherd protected them, and one could only enter as permitted by the shepherd.  As we assemble, Jesus is our sheep gate.  He brings us together and offers us his protection and presence.  He knows us to be his sheep, and we know him to be our shepherd.  It is a good place to be.

The image of a sheep gate might also cause us to think about the holy City of Jerusalem.  In the walls of this fortified city there was a narrow entrance called the “sheep gate.”  Through this entrance passed the sheep that were to be sacrificed in the Temple.  Sheep only went in this gate—there was no coming out.  Jesus, however, is the sheep gate through which “the sheep” can safely come in and go out.  He insists that he came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.

The sheep are guided at the gate by the voice of the shepherd.  Jesus says that he gathers his sheep by name.  They follow him in and accompany him out through the portal.  Listen:

The sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”

What a wonderful affirmation!  Jesus knows the name of each of us and calls each of us personally.  No general roll call signals our summoning, but an individual identification that affirms our unique identity and the special love that he has for us.  Each of us has a part in his design.  Each person allows the Lord to show the way in and out of our life’s varying doorways.

We should know the voice of our master and the gateways that he provides.  He calls us to a particular direction and he provides the essential gifts for the journey.  We need to be able and willing to hear and respond.

Pope John Paul II reflected on this Gospel passage.  He affirmed

“Jesus Christ never ceases to be the ‘sheep gate.’ (JP II, World Youth Day, 1993)

The apostle Paul teaches that:

“Jesus is the door through which we have access to the Father” (Eph 2:18).
This shepherding metaphor teaches that Christ is the only true entrance to salvation and communion with God.  He is the true “gate.”