I am the gate…
April 1999 Commetary on the Word of Life: I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture (Jn 10:9). Those who were listening to Jesus were familiar with the image of the gateway, from the dream of Jacob (“This is the gateway to heaven,” Gen 28:17) to God’s beloved Jerusalem with its ancient portals. (See Psalm 24:7) Psalm 118:20 reads: “This gate is the Lord’s; the just shall enter it.” Jesus makes it his own, and fills it with new meaning. He is the gate to salvation, who leads us to pastures where divine goods are freely given. He is the one and only mediator and through him men and women can go to the Father. “He is the door to the Father,” says Ignatius of Antioch, “through whom have entered Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the prophets, the apostles and the Church.” (Phila IX, 1). I am the gate... Yes, the image of the gate surely touched the hearts of
