It’s Good Shepherd Sunday: this year’s gospel, John 10:1-10, focuses, not just on the sheep and the shepherds but on the sheep fold and, in particular, the gate to the fold.   We are used to hearing the sheep and shepherd stories: we understand that God promises to care for us as a shepherd cares for her flock and that we are also called to be shepherds of God’s people, caring for others. When Jesus calls himself the sheep gate, though, things get trickier. Gates open both ways: they open and close, they allow for the sheep to go in and go out.  The church has often been a closed a gate, keeping out those who might harm the sheep, keeping the sheep safe.  But the gate in this morning’s reading seems to be open continually, allowing the sheep in and out.  Although we are called to be both sheep and shepherds, I’m not sure that we are called to be the gate; this is God’s job, not ours.  God is the one who gets to decide who comes in, not us, as the reading from Acts 2:42-47, reminds us: “everyday the Lord added to their number”.  Our job is to embrace all whom God sends whomever they may be.      

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