John 10:1-10 - Jesus Is the Door - April 30, 2023

On the church calendar, this Sunday is known as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” It’s a wonderful picture of our Savior’s person and work. And while we often associate this “Shepherd” language with children being rocked to sleep to the sound of “I am Jesus’ little Lamb” it’s also true that it’s one of the most comforting images of Jesus as we near our departure from this life. Countless Christians have found comfort in the words of Psalm 23 as they near the end: even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me (Psalm 23:4). This image properly depicts Jesus as a caring, compassionate and protective Lord and Savior. However, in these verses of John chapter 10, Jesus employs a different metaphor to describe his work for us. Today, Jesus calls himself a door.

At first it might strike us as kind of a strange metaphor. If you visit someone else’s home, you might notice how green their lawn is, you might comment on the landscaping, you might notice the open concept design, your eye might be drawn to a piece of art or a family picture, but who comments on, appreciates, or even really notices a front door. (Here’s a test: do you know what color your own front door is?) Nevertheless, even if we don’t pay much attention to them, doors are important elements that contribute to our safety, security and health. They keep the cold, the rain and snow, people who would do us harm, and, sickness and disease out; and keep warmth, health, and happiness in. But the image Jesus is drawing on here is even more vivid (we might say “intense”) than our front doors today. In Biblical times, after the shepherd would bring his flock into the pen (which, often, was nothing more than bushes placed in a circle) for the night, he would lay down at the entrance; he literally served as a door to keep danger out and the sheep in. The whole idea was that nothing could get into the pen without going through the shepherd.

Actually, to be perfectly accurate, Jesus doesn’t just say that he’s a door. He says Amen, Amen, I tell you: I am THE door for the sheep – in the original Greek he’s asserting in a not-so-subtle fashion that he’s the only door, the exclusive door…meaning that there is no other. Why is he saying this here and now? The context is key to unlocking this somewhat mysterious illustration (John 10:6). Jesus had just given a blind man his sight in John 9 – and how did the Pharisees, the church leaders, treat this formerly blind man? Did they ask for and accept his testimony regarding Jesus of Nazareth and the miracle he had performed? No! They excommunicated him for speaking the truth about Jesus and what he had done (John 9:34). In response, Jesus called out the Pharisees as false teachers; men who created false doors based on obedience to their own man-made laws to lead people to try to earn heaven themselves. He warned them that because of their impenitence and unbelief your sin remains (John 9:41). Sound harsh? Yes. But that is the only possible outcome for anyone and everyone who refuses to come to God through the only door, through Jesus. There is no other way in.

There was a time when most people, and certainly most Christians, understood that truth – even if it caused them heartache because people they know and love have rejected the path to heaven Jesus offers. There was a time when it was understood that the claims made by the various world religions – Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity – could not logically coexist; they couldn’t all be true. But things have changed. Today, while many may accept that Jesus is a door to God, to heaven, to eternal life, they would use the same breath to reject him as the only door. Today it is considered narrow-minded, intolerant, unloving, and even un-American to confess that Jesus is the only door; that Christianity is the only true religion – that is, the only religion that leads to heaven.

What do you think? Is that true? Is it unloving and intolerant to proclaim Jesus Christ, crucified, buried and risen, as the only door, the only way to God and to eternal life? Well…would anyone consider you unloving and hateful if you insist that guests use the front door to enter your home and not your bedroom window? The devil and the world love to set up a false dichotomy, a deceptive “either-or” choice when it comes to Christianity. They like to make it seem like you can either love your neighbor (especially if they happen to belong to some kind of minority group) or love Jesus – but not both; you can be a patriot or a Christian – but not both; you can be a reasonable, intelligent person who appreciates the discoveries of science and the benefits of medicine or you can trust the Bible – but not both. This false dichotomy, this false choice is, I believe, one of the reasons that so many Christians are so hesitant to confess their faith boldly before the world. We know that just like in every age, publicly confessing the Christian faith today will often also get you labeled as bigoted, anti-science, and, even unpatriotic – even when none of those things are true.

But anyone who falls into that “either-or” trap is missing the point. The point is not whether you can be a good and responsible citizen, a reasonable and intelligent individual, and a faithful Christian at the same time (you most certainly can! The Christians gathered in Acts 2 and the Christians gathered here prove it!), but is Jesus the only door or not? Is he the only way to salvation or is he just one option among many? The Bible is unequivocal on this point. This is what Peter confessed while he was on trial before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem: there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Paul told Timothy: there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all (1 Timothy 2:5). And Jesus himself says: I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me (John 14:6).

So what does this mean for us? It means that while we can certainly support and defend the First Amendment right of anyone to worship and believe anything they want, at the very same time we will use that freedom to fearlessly confess that the Bible forbids believing in, worshiping, and praying to anyone or anything other than the Triune God (Deuteronomy 6:4) in the name of Jesus, his only begotten Son. Not because we hate other religions or their followers – but because no other door leads to salvation. He is the only Door, no matter how many people believe otherwise. And that is, admittedly, a rather “un-American” concept. In America we have chosen to decide most things by counting votes, by popular approval. Tens of thousands of Wisconsinites voted earlier this month to decide who would serve as the newest State Supreme Court Justice. Whether a competitor stays or leaves a reality TV show is often left in the hands of viewers who can vote on their phones. And, it’s true, in many situations, popular opinion can be right.

But not when it comes to God, to salvation and to eternity. If we allow popular opinion to shape our faith, we will – inevitably – wind up doomed and damned. Just consider how often the majority was dead wrong in Bible history. There were 10 spies who refused to believe God’s promise to give them Canaan, and only two, Joshua and Caleb, who believed (Numbers 13-14) and the Israelites paid the price for listening to the majority opinion by spending 40 years wandering and dying in the desert (1 Corinthians 10:5). In 1 Kings there were hundreds of prophets who claimed that Baal was god while there was only one man, Elijah, who confessed the Lord as God (1 Kings 18:19, 22) – and those prophets met a swift and violent end (1 Kings 18:40). Jesus stood alone before a mob of “mostly peaceful” protestors (who just happened to be screaming for him to be violently murdered), he stood against the entire Sanhedrin and the full authority of the Roman Empire, and we certainly know who was proven right in that situation – and it wasn’t the majority (Matthew 26:59).

No matter what the majority says, Jesus is the only Door that leads to eternal life. Why? How can we be so sure? Because no one else left heaven to come into this world to live a perfect life as our substitute and to give his life as a ransom for sinners (Matthew 20:28). No one else carried the sins of the world to the cross and spilled his blood there to pay for them (1 Peter 2:24). No one else was despised, beaten, and crucified in our place (Isaiah 53). No one else endured the wrath of God as our substitute (Romans 3:25). The blood of no one else can atone the sins of the world (1 John 2:2). And, most importantly, no one else proved the truth of his word and his work by rising from the dead (Matthew 28:1-10). That is what Jesus is saying in these words from John 10. He is declaring the absolute exclusivity of Christianity. He is stating in vivid terms – in terms that even a child could understand – that there is only one way to God, one way to be saved – and he is it! By God’s grace, you and I believe and confess this truth because Jesus has called [us] by name in Baptism and [we] know his voice as we hear it in the pages of Scripture.

At the same time, this door has two sides. Yes, Christianity it absolutely exclusive; but it is also absolutely inclusive. In other words, Jesus is the only door, but this door is open to all. Our hope, then, every time we pray thy kingdom come, is that the Holy Spirit would first open our eyes, hearts, and minds to understand and believe this truth about Jesus, the only Door. But the 2nd petition also includes asking God to bring his kingdom, his Gospel, the faith only the Holy Spirit can create through the Word to the hearts of many others – everyone, including everyone you know and love! In Jesus, anyone can have forgiveness and life, not as a result of their own efforts or obedience, but his. In Jesus, everyone can be certain that the wrath of God has been quenched forever by his death on the cross. In Jesus, every single person can be sure that they are included because he didn’t just come to suffer and die for some, he came to suffer and die for the whole world (John 3:16; 1 John 2:2). In Jesus, it doesn’t matter how dark your sins are, how woefully lacking your good works are, how weak your faith is – because it’s not about you or your works; it’s about him and his work.

That’s the difference between Jesus, the Christian faith, and all the false religions and false teachers out there. He draws the contrast this way: A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. While imposters and false teachers come only to fleece the flock and destroy their souls by pointing them to themselves for salvation, Jesus comes to give; to give abundant life. What is abundant life? Is it wealth, health, happiness? No! It’s the peace that comes from knowing that in baptism God called you by name, made you his child, and wrote your name in the book of life in heaven (Revelation 21:27). It’s the freedom from guilt that results from hearing that God has declared you “not-guilty” in the Absolution – so that you don’t have to spend your life trying to earn God’s favor. It’s the rock-solid and tangible assurance of Jesus’ redeeming life, death, and resurrection which he puts in your hand and your mouth in Holy Communion. No other religion has this – these promises and these means of grace to reliably deliver them to sinners. No other religion has a God who became one of us, gave his life for us, rose again for us – and now and until the end of time leads us like a Good Shepherd by coming to us in Word and Sacrament. Jesus is the only Door to heaven and the most unloving and hateful thing we could ever do is to fail to confess that truth lovingly, boldly and publicly.

Jesus is the only Door. I know, it’s a kind strange metaphor – but, when you think about it, it makes sense. Doors keep bad things out and good things in. Doors lead you to people you love. Doors grant access that can’t be found anywhere else. Jesus is your Door – the only Door – to God and to eternal life. Continue listening to his voice, his Word, and know that whatever happens in our world, in our church, and in your life, in Jesus you have an open door to abundant life now and forever in heaven. Amen.