Read­ing Time: 2 minutes

Introduction

In the past two Sundays, we reflec­ted on com­mu­nion and fear­less­ness as the fruits of resur­rec­tion. This Third Sunday presents anoth­er fruit – repent­ance. Of what use is the cel­eb­ra­tion of Jesus’ resur­rec­tion when and if a per­son can­not repent of his or her ungodly beha­viours, oth­er­wise known as sin? At the end of their dis­cus­sion to the men of Judea and all who live in Jer­u­s­alem (cf. Acts 2:14–35), the apostles said to them, “there­fore, let the entire house of Israel know with cer­tainty that God has made him both Lord and Mes­si­ah, this Jesus whom you cru­ci­fied” (Acts 2:36). On hear­ing these touch­ing words, Luke says they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the oth­er apostles, “broth­ers, what should we do?” (Acts 2:37). Immediately,

I am the gate

Declar­ing him­self the gate for the sheep means Jesus is the only gate that can lead to God. Who­ever wishes to be a mem­ber of the people of God must pass through this gate. That Jesus is the gate for the sheep is an allu­sion and the real­iz­a­tion of Psalm 118:20. Jesus is not only the gate for the sheep, but he is also the bread of life (John 6:35). Jesus affirms that all who came before him were thieves and rob­bers who came to steal. By and with this affirm­a­tion, Jesus dis­tin­guishes him­self from the false proph­ets who are only inter­ested in deceiv­ing and dup­ing the people. (cf. Acts 5:36–37; 21:8). False proph­ets who are only inter­ested in eat­ing the sheep they should shep­herd (cf. Ezek 34:2–4). What will Jesus say today if he should vis­it Nigeria?

I am the gate

The only reas­on for Jesus’ com­ing is for the sheep to have life, and have it abund­antly (John 10:10b). Abund­ant life means tak­ing away misery, sor­row, and every neg­at­iv­ity. Abund­ant life is giv­ing people joy, pro­gress, good health, under­stand­ing, har­mony, fear of God and fel­low­ship with one anoth­er. Com­mu­nion and the bold­ness to pro­claim the Gos­pel and bear wit­ness to the resur­rec­ted Christ can­not be achieved without repentance.

FOR DETAILS, GET YOUR OWN COPY OF THE BOOK “THE WORD OF LIFE” (vol. I)!! The reflec­tion for this Sunday is found on pages 249–254. Happy Reading!

For details on how to get it, con­tact the author on this link: https://m.me/uchennabiblia?fbclid=IwAR2yeg4a6sDGBp9QGkIvKj6FSADumMokN6lshdE0zuo-JHs6qOmlhA7jyHo or email me at: postmaster@uchennabiblia.com or simply send an SMS on 08055265909, and I will get back to you.

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