Jesus Is the Door: Protection, provision, healing

The picture of Christ as the door is often overlooked, or maybe it is just me. This passage always seems to go straight to the Good Shepherd. But I can’t stop the picture of the times when I enter the front door and I feel like I can take a breath and relax. I can slip off my shoes and I am at home. There is a physical door between outside and inside, there is a marked point of my coming and going.

Storms may rage outside that door, cars may race by just feet away, fires and arms may be set in the midst of the neighborhood, but the house is a refuge. Just as Jesus is our refuge.

Behind the door

Entering the house, or the sheep pen, should be a time to relax, and know that the dangers are kept at bay, that our wounds will be tended, that we will be free to rest, drink, and eat to our heart’s content. This is the home that Jesus has built for us: free from danger, wounds bound up, abundant provision.

Refuge for restoration

It is also interesting to note that the pen is only used for a specified period of time, overnight for example. There is a time when the Shepherd leads us back out. We cannot stay forever in this idyllic place, but we are welcome regularly to gather and find restoration behind and with him, the door that he is.

Jesus stands between us and threat

There will always be robbers, thieves, and strangers, as described in the passage. They will go after our peace, joy, even our faith. But Jesus stands between us and them. He is the door between us and them and they will not prevail.  

I keep having the thought that not everyone has a safe home. Jesus can be your safe place, hiding place. He will still keep you from danger, tend to your wounds, provide abundantly, and most of all, accompany in your unsafe places. He will guide you to the safety and the refuge he has prepared for you. Please reach out to church leaders or police if your home is not safe. Jesus has placed his heart in these people, and they can and will help. Jesus continues to stand between you and harm, and he has made us for fellowship to walk in company as he did. These people can do that with you. Jesus is life, and you are worthy to have abundant life in him. Jesus is the door: he is protection, provision, healing (John 10:1-10).