Fourth Sunday of Easter – A – April 30, 2023
Did you notice the “gatekeeper” in verse 3 of today’s Gospel? Who is this? We could say it is the Father who is one with Jesus and opens the gate to him. Or it could be John the Baptist, who heralded the coming of the Messiah. The power of parables like this is that there are many ways to approach them.
We might gain a new insight to this familiar passage if we connect it to the healing of the man born blind (Jn 9), which immediately precedes and gives context to this discourse. The man who had been blind desired to see the one who healed him (Jn 9:36–38).
Perhaps then we are the gatekeeper, the ones who must choose whether to open our hearts to Christ at the sound of his voice. The gate opens both ways—to let the shepherd in and to send his followers out. Click To TweetHowever, the Pharisees, whom Jesus accused of being blind (Jn 9:39–41) and now of being thieves and robbers, expressed no desire to know or follow Jesus. The man whose eyes had been opened had also opened his heart; the Pharisees kept theirs closed shut.
Perhaps then we are the gatekeeper, the ones who must choose whether to open our hearts to Christ at the sound of his voice. The gate opens both ways—to let the shepherd in and to send his followers out. Let us pray that we may open our hearts to Jesus, who is gate and shepherd, who waits for us to unlock the door of our heart and follow him.
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