Limited Access

Opening the doors of our hearts to others

04/12/2019

John 10:31-42 The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?" The Jews answered him, "We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy. You, a man, are making yourself God." Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, 'You are gods"'?  If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came, and Scripture cannot be set aside, can you say that the one whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world blasphemes because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? If I do not perform my Father's works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father." Then they tried again to arrest him; but he escaped from their power. He went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained. Many came to him and said, "John performed no sign,but everything John said about this man was true." And many there began to believe in him.

I have never been to Jerusalem or the Holy Land. After my father returned from a pilgrimage there, he exclaimed, “It’s like no place on earth.” Apparently, he had a good trip. One of the first things you notice when you get to Jerusalem is that access to the Temple Mount is very limited. You cannot just waltz up to the Temple (what’s left of it), open the door and walk in. There are actually eleven gates that provide access to the Temple Mount area, but you and I can only use one of the eleven gates. Why? Because we are not Muslim. That one gate open to everyone is called the “Mughrabi Gate,” or the “Gate of the Moors.” But Muslims can enter the Temple Mount area through all eleven gates. Those other ten gates are called “Gate of the Tribes,” “Gate of Remission,” “Gate of Darkness,” “Gate of Bani Ghanim,” “Gate of the Palace,” “Council Gate,” “Iron Gate,” “Cotton Merchant’s Gate,” “Ablution Gate,” “Tranquility Gate,” and “Chain Gate.”

Now, this limited access to the Temple Mount should not shock us because we also have gates and doors that limit access to our own church. Do you know how many gates or doors there are into Immaculate Conception Church? There are five gates or doors: the “North Entry Gate,” the “Garrison Avenue Gate,” the “Rogers Gate,” the “Sacristy Gate,” and the very little known, “Cry Room Gate.” Actually, the cry room is ironically named because there are never any crying babies in there, and it’s a great place to sleep. But just like Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, we, too, control access into this sacred space by locking the doors at night. Many years ago church doors were never locked and people of any faith (or no faith) could come and go as they pleased to worship God. It’s kind of sad, isn’t it, that whether you go to the Holy Land or to your “local holy land” of your parish church, access is limited.

In the gospel today, Jesus talks about free and open access not so much to the Temple Mount, but to himself, who he has already described as the new Temple. If you go back and read the whole of John chapter 10 (today’s gospel is only the last part), you see Jesus has a long explanation about gates, and how he is the true gate. In John 10:7, Jesus said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep…Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” And what do we see happening at the end of John 10? We read: “Many came to him and said, ‘John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true.’ And many there began to believe in him.” In other words, access to the true Temple, which is Jesus, is easy and open. The gates are never locked; you do not need a passport; you do not need a special key. You just need a little faith, love and humility.

May I suggest three other gates, where we may struggle to open and allow greater access to others? The first is the gate to our own hearts. Sometimes when someone hurts us, we slam that door closed and lock it up tight, because we do not want someone else to get inside the gate and hurt us again. Several years ago, a dear priest-friend of mine committed suicide. In his note he wrote: “I did not feel as if anyone loved me.” The sad reality was that many people loved him, but he had locked the gate of his heart from the inside and would not allow anyone to love him. He allowed very limited access.

The second gate is that to our nation and access for immigrants to enter the United States. I bet that comment woke everyone up! You know by now that this priest is not into peddling politics from the pulpit. I believe there are good and reasonable arguments on both sides of the border-control and immigration issue. Good Catholics can disagree on the best way to deal with the growing crisis. The real challenge is to be a welcoming country but also controlling our borders. We shouldn’t just lock the gate and throw away the key. A great little book that balances these two principles is John F. Kennedy’s Nation of Immigrants. I highly recommend you read it. After all, if we had barred the doors, my family might not have come to the United States.

And the third gate is the one we will all have to stand before one day, namely, the gate of heaven. And I believe that gate will only open as wide to us as we have opened wide the gates in our lives to others. Fortunately for us, Jesus is the Gate of Paradise, and all you need to enter is a little faith, love and humility.

Praised be Jesus Christ!