The Tender Care of the Shepherd

What does the Lord mean by referring to himself as the door? There is a beautiful story about the great preacher G. Campbell Morgan traveling across the Atlantic. As he was on the steamer, he noticed that among the passengers was Sir George Adam Smith, who was at that time the most famous Old Testament scholar. The greatest preacher of the day (Morgan) and the greatest Old Testament scholar (Smith) had a great time as they traveled together. Morgan said that among the tales Sir George told of the East was this one:

"He was one day traveling with a guide, and came across a shepherd and his sheep. He fell into conversation with him. The man showed him the fold into which the sheep were led at night. It consisted of four walls, with a way in. Sir George said to him, 'That is where they go at night?' 'Yes,' said the shepherd, 'and when they are in there, they are perfectly safe.' 'But there is no door,' said Sir George. 'I am the door,' said the shepherd. He was not a Christian man; he was not speaking in the language of the New Testament. He was speaking from the Arab shep- herd's standpoint. Sir George looked at him and said, 'What do you mean by the door?' Said the shepherd, 'When the light has gone, and all the sheep are inside, I lie in the open space, and no sheep ever goes out but across my body, and no wolf comes in unless he crosses my body; I am the door."' (G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to John (Old Tappan, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell, 1934), 177.)

-R. Kent Hughes, 1001 Great Stories and Quotes (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1998), 40.