John 10:1-10

Year A - 4^th Sunday of Easter or Assured ⁴

May 11, 2014

John 10:1-10

Verse 1 - those who don’t enter by a gate are thieves.

Verse 2 - those who enter by a gate are shepherds.

Verse 3 - the gate of the shepherd is opened by a thief.

Verse 4 - the sheep/thieves are called back out.

Verse 5 - not every call is to be followed.

Verse 6 - got it? Nope

Verse 7 - I am a gateway.

Verse 8 - the call I give has not been heard before.

Verse 9 - those who have gone out come in again, go out again, and again

Verse 10 - abundant life is rhythmic.
                 Thief, sheep, thief again, sheep again.
                 Sanctuary, witness, sanctuary again, witness again.
                 Scarcity, abundance, scarcity again, abundance again.

Back to the first part of the story. We do what we can to enter easily. We steal our way in for learning to be a shepherd is too hard. Amazingly, once unfairly in, we are led out again to pasture to learn to come back in and in the process to learn to be a shepherd. The first verse is key. We are in the middle of a larger story. Never doubt the resurrection of thieves.