“I AM the Door”
John 10:9

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Third Sunday in Lent—March 15, 2020

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

We continue our Lenten Sunday sermon series on the great “I AM” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John:

“I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life”

“I AM the Light of the World”

“I AM the Resurrection and the Life”

“I AM the True Vine”

“I AM the Bread of Life”

“I AM the Good Shepherd”

This morning we consider Jesus’ declaration in today’s Gospel Reading: “I AM the Door; whoever enters through Me will be saved.”

One off the most popular TV game shows when I was a child was “Let’s Make a Deal,” which is now back on the air.  The contestants are presented with several doors from which to choose, and the valuable prize is behind only one of the doors.  When I was a kid it was host was Monty Hall who would ask, “Do you take door #1, or door #2?”

That is really symbolic of our whole lives.  For, our lives are like a series of doors, which you decide upon, and then walk through.  The course that your life takes depends on how you answer innumerable times the question, “Door #1, or door #2?”

Our first parents were confronted with that question, on behalf of all of humanity, in the Garden of Eden.  “Will you take the door of faith and obedience, or the door of sin and rebellion against God?”  We were all cursed because they made the wrong choice, and started us all down the path that leads to doom, death and destruction.

On the game show “Let’s Make a Deal,” as the contestants are considering which door to take, the audience will shout out, “Door #1!” or “Door #2!”  Of course, they don’t know the right answer any more than the contestant.  But, often the contestants follow the audience, and do whatever the majority is shouting out. 

And that’s often how it is for us in life.  Like the audience shouting out the wrong door for us to take, we often follow the voices of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh, urging us to continue down the path of doom, death and destruction.  We shouldn’t trust them, we shouldn’t follow them, but often we do.

The one person on “Let’s Make a Deal” who DOES know the answer is the host.   But, Monty Hall had a perfect poker face, and you could never get even a hint from him which door you should take in order to win the prize.

“I am the Door; whoever enters through Me will be saved.”  In the game of life, Jesus is doing something for you that Monty Hall would never do.  In the middle of the contest, Jesus is leaning over and whispering in your ear, “Take door #1.”

“I am the Door; whoever enters through Me will be saved.”  Jesus GIVES you as free gift the greatest, most wonderful prize possible.  As Paul says in Romans, “For the wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is ETERNAL LIFE through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

As he declares in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus is your Good Shepherd, who laid down his life as a sacrifice to pay for all your sins.  Revelation says, “[He] loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.”  And Paul says in Ephesians, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

“I am the Door; whoever enters through Me will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”  Jesus was originally speaking in today’s Gospel Reading to a nomadic, agricultural people, so he uses an image that they would understand from their everyday lives, the door to a sheep pen.

On a mission trip to Kenya, I encountered the very same type of sheep pen, still in use today among the Masai tribe.  By the way, the Lutheran Church in Kenya is having great success among the Masai, and the men and women of this village are your faithful Lutheran brothers and sisters in Christ.  The pasty white guy in the background is the Missouri Synod president Matthew Harrison, who invited me to go with him on the trip.

This picture shows President Harrison stooping down to enter through the gate of the sheep pen.  It is made out of large branches thrust into the ground to form a circular corral.

The sheep pen has only this one opening.  They still do it just like they did back in ancient Israel.  At the end of each day the Masai shepherds herd all the sheep and other animals through this gate into the common pen.

This is the imagery Jesus is using when he says, “I am the Door; whoever enters through Me will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”  The sheep pen represents heaven, and when Jesus says that he is the “Door” or “Gate” for the sheep, he means that he is the entrance, the only entrance, into heaven.  As he proclaims in another “I AM” statement in our sermon series, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except THROUGH Me.”

At the end of each day, the Masai shepherds gather their flocks safely into the pen.  In the same way, at the end of your LIFE, your great Good Shepherd will gather YOU into the eternal peace and safety of heaven.  So, there is a double symbolism, for Jesus is not only the Good Shepherd, he is also the Door, the gateway through which his flock enters eternal life.

“I am the Door; whoever enters through Me will be saved.”  Perhaps as you look back over your life, you wonder about or even regret some of the doors you have chosen.  Did you make the right decision?  Would things have been different, would things have been better, if you had done things another way, if you had chosen a different door? 

Isaiah says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.”  We must confess that often our choices have been rebellious and sinful, destructive for both ourselves and for others.  But, we take comfort in the Parable of the Lost Sheep.  For, Jesus is your Good Shepherd, who seeks you out even when you go astray, and lovingly brings you back into his fold.

Psalm 23 says, “He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Like the Robert Frost poem about a road diverging in a wood, as we go down the path of life, we come to forks in the road, we face that question, “Door #1, or door #2?”

Sometimes there IS a clear answer from the Word of God.  As other Psalms say, “You show me the path of life. . .  direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.”  When there IS a clear answer from the God’s Word, do not let sin rule over you, but follow the path of life, God’s guidance and direction in your life.  For, no matter how you rationalize it, you will NEVER find happiness in your life by going against God’s will as revealed in his Word.

However, there are other times when there is no clear command from God, no clear right or wrong choice.  Then we take comfort in the wonderful assurance in the book of Romans: “And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love him.”

They call the final segment on “Let’s Make a Deal” “The Big Deal,” when the top contestant is given a chance for a much bigger, final prize.  But, if you chose the wrong door, you get stuck with the booby prize. 

“Be faithful unto death,” Jesus promises, “and I will give you the crown of life.”  Jesus himself IS the Door.  When you trust in him, you’ll never get the booby prize—not in this life, or in the life to come.  You can’t pick the wrong door, because he IS the Door.  Throughout every segment of your life, he is working all things together for your good.  And when at the end you finally get to “The Big Deal,” he will award you THE prize, the crown of eternal life.

“I AM the Door; whoever enters through Me will be saved.”

Amen.