A few verses always have been difficult for me to wrap my head around. For example, Jesus talks about being “the gate,” and states, “Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” This has often been interpreted to mean that salvation is dependent on being a Christian, that all others are denied God’s grace. Traveling down that path has led to ever-narrowing definitions of what constitutes being a “true” Christian, putting more and more of the world’s population beyond the pale.
Here is where I depart from orthodox belief, even within the relatively open-minded Episcopal Church. Later in this passage (verse 16), Jesus says, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they weill listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” In orthodox interpretation, this is a reference to the gentiles (“this fold” being the original Jewish followers of Jesus and “other sheep” being the non-Jewish Christians of the Evangelist’s day). I choose to view this passage differently. I have seen, in my study of other major world religions, too many similarities of basic fundamental messages between faiths for me to believe that God did not have a hand in them. To me, when Jesus talks about his “other sheep,” he is talking about assuming different guises in different cultures, tailoring his message to the unique faith histories of different peoples.
Does this mean that I see all other faiths as equal, that I am some form of unitarian? No. For me, God’s grace as expressed through Jesus’ incarnation, life, death and resurrection is indeed the only gate to my salvation. What I refuse to do, however, is impose that paradigm on everyone else. God’s love is universal, and I cannot see a loving God denying his grace to good people simply because they are not Christians (as defined by institutional Christianity). After all, if I’m right, and Jesus has spoken to “other sheep” in many other voices, then we are indeed one flock with one shepherd, even if we call that shepherd by different names.
There’s a Hindu prayer that I heard while at school many years ago. Paraphrasing, it asks God to forgive us for worshiping him in this form (shape), because he is in all forms; for worshiping him in this place, because he is in all places; and for worshiping him with this ritual, because he needs no ritual to be worshiped. Being imperfect mortals, the prayer concludes, we are not capable of understanding God as he really is, so we use this form, this place, and this ritual because we can understand these, and thereby know a pale reflection of the unknowable.
