4th SUNDAY OF EASTER - A

I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.

Jn 10:1-10

There are two parables in this gospel periscope:

• First parable (Jn 10:1-5) – There is the shepherd who enters in the normal way because he has received the mission on behalf of the flock. The parable compares him to those who wish to dominate the flock for their own profit. These are the Pharisees.
• Second parable (Jn 10:7-10) – It comments on the declaration of Jesus as the door or gate.

v. 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.

At night the sheep are gathered together into a fold surrounded by a low wall and watched over by a guard.

v.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.

There are two groups of people in Israel. The first are those who belong to shepherd. They listen to him and only to him. The second are those who do not respond to Jesus because they neve belonged to him.

v. 6. Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.

In the mind of John speaking in parables is the means of revelation proper to the earthly mission of Jesus. They cannot truly be understood except through faith and in the light of the final revelation which is the moment of the elevation of Jesus and the giving of the gift of the Spirit.

v. 8. All who came [before me] are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.

Jesus is not talking about the prophets of the OT but of those men in both the Jewish and Gentile worlds who pretend with their own ways to bring to men salva-tion and knowledge of things divine.

v. 9. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.

The theme of door or gate which gives access to heavenly things was common in the Hebrew tradition and in the synoptic.

• In solemn wonder he cried out: "How awesome is this shrine! This is nothing else but an abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven! (Gn 28:17)
• Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. (Lk 13:24)

In John Jesus himself through his incarnation is the place of discovery and reception of things divine. This is the meaning of the second parable.

Jesus saves from death and from all that brings destruction to man.

Because the disciples have been saved, they find freedom and security.

v. 10. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.

While the false saviors seek to disperse and destroy, Jesus has as his mission to fill his disciples and make them participants in the life of the Father.