Shepherds and doors

 

So many doors,
colours, sizes, shapes;
some swing from the left,
others from the right,
some slide.
Inwards opening,
outwards swinging;
so many choices.
Which doors are for me?
Will it be the journey within,
beyond,
or both?

The fourth gospel
designates the Good Shepherd as the gate,
a door through which
his sheep might enter into life.
When I passed through that door,
many years ago,
I was told by some earnest sisters and brothers
that there were certain doors
to be avoided for fear of one’s eternal life.
These well-meaning friends insisted
that those who travel through such doors
will be lost.

So many doors,
so many dangers.
I went through one anyway.
Had to;
too many questions,
too many doubts.
And maybe,
just perhaps,
notwithstanding all the warnings,
it was the Shepherd
who was waiting at the other side.

© Ken Rookes 2014

I am the door

Deep down in human life is the thought of the doorway. Through it come the visitors to our life, and through it we all walk, to our home, to visit friends, to escape the cold, to enter a new life. To come through the door is to choose another place of hope, of support, of  meaning, another life. We can choose to go out the door, whether to flee the burning house, to leave behind a life become toxic and destructive, to travel into new life and places, to new experience.  Perhaps the ones inside are our people, our loved ones, the ones we really don’t want to be without, the ones we will one day grieve over, the ones who might break our hearts or our bank balance.

The door metaphor, in the thought of John, gave Jesus the place that belonged properly to him. It doesn’t matter whether they are sheep or people, or whether the door is for keeping things out or for keeping things in. In a world of spiritual meaning, the disciples gave to Jesus a unique position, for when he spoke of the Shepherd and the sheep, or the sheep and the sheepyard, he spoke of the things that already were a risk for them, already a danger, but already a hope, a vision and a prayer. Jesus, as they remembered this saying, offered himself as a special person able to give hope and depth to life, without commanding it, without taking over anyone’s dream of a better, safer and more abundant life. Dangers, threats and our vulnerable, fragile life, all need one who can explain, support and inspire us to keep our eyes on the vision: the rule of God in human life.

Rev Brad Harris, Robinvale