6 April 2026
Fourth Sunday of Easter Time (Year A)
Jn 10:1–10
In the past few Sundays, we have seen that the Risen One is the Good Shepherd, who goes in search of the scattered sheep and leads them back to the place where they can find life, where they can rediscover the flock to which they belong.
The Gospel of this Fourth Sunday of Easter, taken from chapter ten of the Gospel of John (Jn 10:1–10), develops precisely this image: there are the sheep and there is the shepherd; there is the keeper of the sheepfold and there is the gate; but there are also strangers, thieves, and robbers, who do not so much wish to give life to the flock as rather to pursue their own interests, to gain something for themselves.
And they do so with violence: the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy (Jn 10:10); the Good Shepherd comes with gentleness, and He comes so that His own may have life, and have it abundantly (Jn 10:10).
But how does it happen that the Risen One gives His own abundant life?
He can do so because, before being shepherd, Jesus is the gate (Jn 10:7,9): in these few verses, Jesus repeats it twice. He is the gate of the sheep, and whoever passes through Him will be saved and will find life.
The image of the gate is a fundamental one.
In the biblical tradition, access to God was restricted by spaces, rituals, purifications, and mediations.
The gate of the Temple was a boundary: one could enter only under certain conditions.
There was a distance between God and humanity, and this distance spoke of two separate worlds, between which communication was not easy.
In religious history, gates often separated: inside only the pure, the devout, the worthy could enter. Everyone else remained outside.
But the image of the gate is fundamental also for another reason.
The passage from John emphasizes, in fact, that the good shepherd enters the sheepfold through the gate; whoever climbs in from another place is a thief and a robber (Jn 10:1–2).
What does this mean?
We can understand it if we return, once again, to chapter 3 of Genesis.
Adam and Eve, in fact, do not “pass through” a gate, but rather climb over a boundary, like the thief of whom Jesus speaks of in today’s Gospel. They do not pass relationship, trust, or the word received. They want to enter into abundant life without entering through the right gate, which is the gate of freedom in obedience.
After sinning, Adam and Eve hide themselves—that is, they shut themselves in: they do no come out, nor enter, they find no resting place. And the expulsion from the garden is, in some way, a gate that closes. But it is not a final condemnation; there is a threshold left open.
This is why, in the history of salvation, a gate was necessary—someone who would reopen the possibility of a relationship between God and us.
Jesus thus presents Himself as this gate: the Gospel accounts tell us that whoever encounters him finds the path towards life. A path that was often blocked by mistakes, sins, feelings of guilt… Jesus opens a passageway, and whoever passes through it is reborn.
It is interesting that Jesus says that, through this gate, one can enter and one can exit: people are no longer divided between those who are inside and those who are outside. Everyone are in a way both inside and outside, because the gate is open in both directions, and offers everyone, always, the possibility to pass through.
Jesus, then, is the gate, so that no one remains excluded: so that no one is kept out, and so that no one remains trapped inside…
One final note.
We have seen that anyone who does not enter through this gate and claims to be a shepherd capable of laying down his life is a thief who, instead of giving life, brings death: he steals, kills, and destroys.
The gate, on the other hand, is a gentle symbol: it does not compel, impose, invade, or divide.
The gate waits to be crossed. And when someone passes through, the gate does not hold them back, but lets them go. It does not fear movement, but rather permits it, even favors it.
The gate is also a space for discernment; it is an invitation to live in truth: the thief steals life, the thief steals life, but those who enter through the door have nothing to hide and welcome everything as a gift.
They reject shortcuts, strips away pretense, and purifies one’s desires; For abundant life comes only through humble awareness of oneself.
+Pierbattista
*Translated from the original in Italian
