"I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:9-10)

Dear Christian friends:

An open door, this is just what the world is looking for today, some golden opportunity, a great discovery, some political break through, such as is happening in eastern Europe and Russia today, that might lead to the abundant life.

Even though the political break through in Russia and Eastern Europe should lead to a better economic life and to a more peaceful economic life and a more peaceful world it will not necessarily lead to the "more abundant life" of which Jesus speaks in our text.

Although life may become more tolerable, even as tolerable as we can make it, there is still the hunger, still the unrest, still the emptiness in our soul. Not even a smile button on our coat lapels can brighten the dismal feelings in our heart. The reason is that by our very nature we are trapped inside the prison of self and greed.

Was the playwright, Sartre, right in hanging up the "No Exit" signs on everything that once looked like a door? Are we trapped in a world and in a life with other people who are trapped, each one pounding on the walls of his own private hell, trying, to find an exit from the prison and an entrance into something better?

Trapped? We need not be. "Today one gate is open!" "I am the door," says Jesus Christ, "by Me if any man enters in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." (verse 9) And what is pasture but the abundant life! "The all embracing mercy, the ever open door," that door is Christ, our Lord, the entrance into the sheepfold of security, the exit to the pastures where the grass is green and where the streams of living waters flow and where we find the abundant life.

But isn't this incredible? Isn't there a confidence in Jesus' claim, "I am the door," too much confidence, in fact that makes it unbelievable? And these sweet words about green pastures and streams of living waters, are they not mere poetic, pious platitudes to feed on when we happen to fell devotional such as on Sunday mornings?

Has anyone ever found abundant life by following this Lord, by going through this door, by daring to accept this word? Really! What war has He ever made to cease? What social program has He ever offered that would heal the sicknesses of society? And does He free us up to really live or does He hem us into a mold?

Does He solve our problems and eliminate the darkness and turn our tragedies to triumphs, or does He sit in silence while we suffer? He tells us that the only way to find life is to lose it. What kind or riddle is this?

The problem is with us. It's not with Christ.

There may be those outside the flock who can see nothing but the fences of the sheepfold and Christ the strongest barrier of all. They see our Lord not as a door that opens to the abundant life, but as a reinforced and bolted barricade that shuts us in, chokes off the joy of life, restrains us from the fun of doing what comes naturally.

They see our God not as an open gate but as a fence that shapes our morals, guards our behavior, and jolts us with a charge of voltage if we should step out of line. They see Him, then, not as a Liberator, but as a jailer, not as Lord, but as a terrible taskmaster.

But perhaps those outside the flock get this wrong impression from so called "followers" insiders, who seem to have found anything but the abundant life. They have merely taken on the faith as though it were another burden or an obligation, and they feel trapped and reminded in God and other people. Are we among them?

Where is the song of praise that should reverberate within the temples of our hearts? Where is the genuine celebration that explodes down in the depths from which we cry, "Lord, hear my voice," when He affirms that "with the Lord is steadfast love," a love that will not let us go? I don't mean the praise that gushes from our lips when things are "right" and "rosy" as we want them to be and confuses that with the abundant life.

I mean the praise and celebration that says, "Yes," to God when things are as He wants them, and knows that is best for us. I mean the praise and celebration that is not conditional by a show of fervor, but the praise and celebration of a believer that waits for God and never waits in vain, and knows that this is life abundant, even when He doesn't seem to be nearby, and he has only the Word and promises upon which to lean.

How can we be sure? How can we be sure the vision of abundant life isn't merely a mirage? Another disappointment as it is with people who would seek it elsewhere? Stand in the door and look! Stand in Christ and see! "I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." The word is "saved" those who enter by the door are saved, and the abundant life is theirs.

Why? For this reason, that the load of quilt is off their backs. The guilt that wrecks relationships, destroys our happiness, upsets our equilibrium, and makes a general misery of life, it's off our backs. Guilt cannot filter through the entrance way, the door that is the Christ. Christ has already filtered it with blood. That's why He died to culminate the mission of His life. He was delivered up for our offenses!

Those who enter by the door are saved, and the abundant life is theirs because they are forgiven. The sin for which we cannot pay with our resources. That sin is paid for by this Lord. That's why He arose from the dead on Easter morning. He rose for our acquittal. He is the good news that the bill has been paid in full.

This also is true: they are the saved who have been saved from self, the prison cell, the iron cage, that turns us inwardly so that we can see and please nobody but ourselves, which is the most destructive way a person can live both for himself and others.

And saved, this too, they are, from death and everything that death implies. The disease that brings it on, the fear that it casts across our days, the finality with which it hits us in the face, the limits it imposes on our dreams and visions.

Through the door, the Christ, we have eternal life, and there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from that life. Not angels, not principalities, not things present or things to come, not powers, or heights, or depths, or grief, or pain, or accidents, or cobalt machines, or bombs, nothing! We are saved!

And we are safe! Safe from every plague that threatens and that claws at unsaved lives. In fear, in sorrow, and in sickness, even in despair, and in sickness, even in despair itself when we feel anything but safe, we are safe.

Our Lord, says something about the thief who comes to steal, kill and to destroy, and all of us have been victimized by thieves. The sad thing is, that thief is often oneself. We know the power of envy, jealousy, and lust and how it can destroy and kill. We know how we have been victimized when we tried to grab more or what we thought was life by victimizing others. But the door to life is Jesus Christ.

The thief cannot gain entrance there. The right hand and the holy arm have gained the victory. Those who enter here are safe. We are safe because we know the door is Christ and nothing can get in unless He filters it and cleanses it from vile intent and uses it to serve our good.

We are safe because we know that whether we are ill or in good health, whether there is grief or joy, whether there is loss or fortune, these are not the ultimates. The ultimate is whether we are in or out, and we are in!

But we are not hemmed in. No way are we hemmed in! Jesus says, "If any man enter in by Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." We are free! Free to live the abundant life to the fullest!

We are free to dare death, Satan and hell to do their worst. St. Paul could mock death and the grave: "Hey death, where is your sting? Hey grave, where is your victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:54) We are free to celebrate life in the resurrection glow, knowing that by Christ's victory the sting of death, which is sin, has been removed and the victory of the grave has been turned into utter defeat.

We are free to joy in the glories of creation, really enjoy God's goodness and wisdom in it, and to use it as faithful stewards! We are free from being dragged about, dictated to, and jerked around by lusts and pride and popular opinion. We are free from having to scratch out our place in life at the expense of someone else.

We are free to love and free to sacrifice ourselves in loving service, even free to lose our lives because really there is no life to lose when His life is our firm possession.

The door is open. The door is Jesus Christ. Through that door is the abundant life. Wouldn't it be tragic if we failed to go through the door, if we fumbled endlessly to find another door? There is no other door. There is no other exit. There is no other entrance: not if it's life abundant we seek, a life secure amid all insecurity, a life that breathes free air as it discovers its new role of servant instead of the role of self styled master.

There may be other doors that lead to other styles of life abundance, but they are doors that slam against your fingers. They are doors that slam behind you and exchange one form of living hell for other forms.

Are we with our open minds offended at this closed mind proclamation that Christ alone is the door? Well, wouldn't it be tragic if we with our open minds missed the open door?

So this message has done what it was meant to do. It has brought us up to Christ. He's the door, the exit from prison the entrance to the abundant life.

Amen.