“10 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” 19 There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. 20 Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”” (John 10:1-21 ESV)

There is an effort the instant we become self-righteous, to forget Forgiveness as Christ’s primary teaching, and to recollect all sorts of mannered or civil Duties, as if the next time around, as if for the next couple hundred years, the Forbidden fruit will be better slinked away from, by a fearful populace.

Some of the most forbidding aspects of God the Father are not His inaccessibility but His decision to give us a chance. To forgive. To end personal vendettas. To do more than a gladiator show for a yawning audience, as though it were a game of two kids—no concern to any of you—at contretemps with each other, isn’t that delightful? For, the Ministry of the Word, it impinges on each and every one of us. We are smart, too, to diagonalize and react, becoming angle and differentiator to each other, with some kind of Genius outlay and personal “Gladiator’s” response. For, we do not take believers to lawsuit before unbelief. Unbelief that Doubts the Doctrine most needsome: forgiveness.

God is forbidding precisely because rather than the distant oppressor (the “middle-class white male”), rather than the turf war with another entity, He has personally drawn near and invoked nearness, invoked fellowship, invoked His timely Care for us. A Care we do not ever lose sight of, because we feel it personally, and we then desire—unlike with the distant oppressor—to live up to His expectations.

More, each of us handles a few talking points, a few Considerations, a few Bells and Pleasure Zones: we are pleased and ring a bell around things more than just, say, a family’s longevity. Families come and go; some are ruined for centuries; overexposed, slandered, frightfully labeled “Royalty” when the opposite is true. Indeed, there are those who would legitimize their own Royal Ascent, using the shrill claim we all must counteract an illegal head. Counteract what authorities have been put into place. And our concerns, beyond simple self-preservation, are for things like keeping the troops upbeat, keeping the friends—no relation—informed, keeping the community oiled.

Christ is, after all, in a time of kings, Himself a King. But we must go deeper, like in the case of a surreal realization: the “movie” might be the opposite, an attempt to share a widely-known story with the poorer classes. Movies might be an aggressive interpretation—hated by some in the more calm or principled careers—of not just one “person” but every “person”, the Everyman, and indeed more: that no one is left out; all have their day in the sun.

God’s plan for us is to call “come up here!” whenever we mope about the impassibility of another’s sins. These things, too, shall pass. If we are frustrated, pinched, wild-eyed, it is but for a moment. A little reflection, and we recollect, just how lowly and calm Christ was and we, too, should be. How He worked the room, and cared to elucidate for the poor in spirit, His Spirit and His Input. In a world full of would-be “kings” and “queens”, some are prevented from even getting out of the gates. But also, we do not lose hope: Christ “got away with it” once, once upon a lonesome night on that Hill. And we, as Christ-followers, earn the big bucks spiritually-speaking, when we put our faith in Him. In a war, both sides regret and both sides on some level do lose. Sanity, experience, probity, teaches people to avoid War at all costs. Almost at all costs: if we have Principles, if we have Compunction, we can go beyond that bald promise “I’ll never concede”, and start to concede… around a few points, here and there. In an age when civil war precedes global war. War of an illustrious (aggressive?) spirit called Holy. War of topsy-turvy things not quite all being what they appear. War… of strange bedfellows and Patience rewarded. For, our solemn plea, is simply for Forgiveness to be attested to, heard, fructified, passed on. This is a forgiveness we receive daily. This is a forgiveness that ceases to try to make deeds literally “illegal”, but does self-reflect and choose this day a new tack. In all freedom.