I used to have a job at Hobby airport fueling airplanes. One day, my buddy Ryan and I decided to play a prank on the secretary. For some reason, there was a dog cage inside the hangar, and it was big enough for me to fit in. We thought it'd be a great idea for me to crawl inside of the cage and he would put a blanket over it, hiding me under the cover. So, I crawled into the dog-sized space and waited for the innocent woman.
Ryan went to the woman's office and told her she had to come see the dog that was outside. The woman loved dogs, so she happily obliged. I couldn't see out of the cage, but I could hear perfectly fine. When she drew close, I growled slowly and then barked with all the power I had in me. She screamed as Ryan pulled off the blanket, and when she realized it was me she laughed hysterically. I can still hear the lady's gruff smoker's voice, "I'm gonna get you Jon Tucker!"
This story doesn't really have anything to do with what Jesus says in today's passage, but it does have one thing in common: a cage.
There are several things to be noted about a cage. It confines something. There is usually one way in and one way out. There is a door, or gate at the front of it. In my case with the dog cage, it had to be opened from the outside, so Ryan was my gatekeeper. I would have really freaked out had he left me in there because I didn't have a way out. Jesus uses a story about a sheep pen, a gatekeeper, a gate, sheep, and a shepherd to describe our relationship with him.
He says that the sheep know the voice of the shepherd. The gatekeeper is sort of like the bouncer at a club. He opens the gate, closes the gate, and probably maintains the place. But, the shepherd knows the sheep. He's the one who grooms the sheep, and takes care of any illness. He probably goes out to the pasture with the sheep as they feed, and watches over them. He keeps an eye out on the periphery to make sure there are no predators around waiting to pounce on one of the valued sheep.
Jesus claims here that he is both the Gate and the Good Shepherd. Not only do the sheep know the sound of his voice, but they travel through him to find pasture, or freedom. Now, one thing to point out is that sheep don't talk (at least in a way humans understand). When the sheep get to the gate, they don't ask, "Sir, will you let us out? We have to pee!" They simply walk through behind the shepherd, following his lead. There isn't much pasture inside the confines of the pen, but it is a safe place to rest. Outside of the pen is where the sustenance is. The sheep require both, but they must travel outside the pen to find freedom and sustenance.
There are threats to sheep. For one, there are thieves who want to steal. Sheep are currency. To own sheep is to have a part in the economy, to have the ability to trade. There are predators outside of the pen. Wolves love the taste of sheep, so they'll constantly be on the prowl waiting for the chance to strike. If the shepherd gets sick, and can't tend to his sheep, the sheep are sort of lost. They're not very smart, as it's been said that even when the gate is open, sheep will still wait for their shepherd to lead them out of the pen. Sheep have been known to starve inside their own open pens!
Jesus is talking like this because he loves his audience like a shepherd loves his sheep. Jesus knows that there are thieves all around him like religious scholars and Pharisees and government officials who are trying to exploit, kill, and destroy his followers. There are dangers all around. So, in the best way he can, he describes to the audience how he is concerned with the freedom of his sheep. The gate remains open so people can travel through freely. There are no I.D.'s required, no bag checks.
When we stay close-minded to open pasture, a part of us dies. Even though the gate is open and we see green grass just yards away, we convince ourselves that it's too dangerous to go there. So, we convince ourselves that what we know is all there is, and convince ourselves that there really isn't freedom outside of that. Jesus invites us to walk in and out freely. He doesn't force us in or out, but he stays open. He invites us to get out of our boxes, most of which have been indoctrinated, and try some new pasture. When we stay in our pens of life, we are actually confining ourselves. Although the ability to get out is there, and the access is there, fear paralyzes us. Not only that, but messages keep flooding our heads telling us, "This is the truth! This is the truth! This is the truth!" We get so deluded by adopting other people's belief systems that we find ourselves stuck, staring at the luscious green grass that's just through the gate, but we can't seem to move.
If we are experiencing freedom, and we have everything we need, then chances are we have ventured outside of our own little pens. Some of us have talked to God along the way, and some of us haven't. Jesus doesn't say that the sheep must acknowledge the gate, but simply walk through it. Some sheep probably don't even recognize the gate is even there. But, something or someone had to lead. Someone had to break us out of the cage that we grew up in. Someone had to break us out of the religious sheep pen. Someone had to lead us out of bondage. Wherever we find ourselves in life, we are following something or someone. That something or someone is either leading us to freedom or leading us to exploitation.
Shepherds lay down their lives for their sheep. If we've ever experienced a religious leader, or government official who didn't seem like they wanted to lay their lives down for us, chances are they were in it for something else like money or status. Who are our leaders? Who is leading us to freedom? If we are honest with ourselves and are truly experiencing freedom, we know it wasn't our idea. From the day of birth, we are told what to do. We were told what gender we were, were told what was right, what was wrong, what we could eat and couldn't eat. Most of us break out of this at some point, and for others it takes a long time. If we've broken out of the pen, whose voice led us out? We only followed. If we gave up on religion, whose voice did we follow to freedom? If we've tapped out of all things spiritual, whose voice is leading us to freedom?
Jesus invites us to break out of our pens. He doesn't tell us to pray some prayer or get baptized or say twenty hail Mary's. He tells us through the scriptures that he loves us so much that he wants to do everything he can to help us experience freedom. Whether it's inside or outside of religion, freedom is available and accessible to all. There is no generalization to freedom or following Jesus. Each of us has our own way of finding our path. The voice sounds differently to each of us. The question is, are we paying attention? If we can do whatever we want, whenever we want, then chances are we have learned how to pay attention to the shepherd's voice.
The Shepherd loves us just the way we are. He isn't a bouncer who requires an I.D., but a Gate who simply wants us to be open for passage to freedom.
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