Acts 2:42-47 • Psalm 23 • 1 Peter 2:19-25 • John 10:1-10
[Jesus said:] "Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers." Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
What voice is the voice that we will follow that will lead us to life lived at its deepest level? What is the voice that we listen to that for us, reminds us that someone truly cares not just that we exist, but about the quality of our lives?
Jesus offers our hungry ears this promise: "The sheep hear my voice. I calls my own sheep by name and lead them out." (John 10:3) With so many voices in our families, friends, on television, in advertising...it can be hard to separate out what is the voice of Christ that leads to abundant life.
For Harold Crick, a quite literal voice was drowning out every other voice he heard. Harold was single, and worked in an IRS office. He went about his day counting the same number of brush strokes in his mouth on each side and how many stripes are on the crosswalk as he crosses to get across the street to get to the bus. He began to hear a voice describing his every move back to him. A voice coming from inside his head. The voice quickly helped him see his life is empty, full of dull routine.
Harold is the main character in the 2006 film Stranger than Fiction. Played by Will Farrell, Harold's character is the subject of an unfolding novel being written by the voice in his head, a writer named Karen Eiffel. As the voice of this writer continues to describe his every move, Harold struggles with the questions: is this how I'm meant to live: a life of safety, and predictability? Is this truly living? Is this what life is all about?
Jesus cannot help but call into question such a life that abides strictly to safety and security, rules and expectations. He calls such a life into question in the chapter that immediately precedes today's gospel reading in John chapter 9, the story of the man born blind. Remember our encounter with this a few weeks ago in Lent? Jesus asks the Pharisees whose voice are they following, as they drive out the man born blind—whom Jesus healed—away from the Temple? Is it God's voice? Or is it their own voice adhering to what they are familiar with, the new life given to a sinner, that has been revealed in front of them?
What voice can Harold and the man born blind follow into the pasture of abundant life—life that is fully alive, thriving and gives glory to God? It is the voice of Jesus, who shepherds us to life under his care, life that needs or wants nothing but his mercies, life that risks everything for the sake of the one whose voice promises to always lead us home. Jesus gives us the kind of life that we seek. Not a life of merely existing. Not a life that is without the risk of the thief or bandit threatening to take us away. Not a life that comes from our own manipulation. Not a life that consists of an abundance of possessions. Jesus comes so that we may have life in abundance in his name, life with a capital L, given as a free given gift.
So often the Christian faith is seen in the world as a life of rules and regulations for us to abide by. Jesus offers us a corrective for such an understanding. Jesus says that he comes not to rob or take away life from us. But to give it to us, and to give us life abundantly. As Irenaeus, the second century Christian bishop and writer once said, “The glory of God is the human person fully alive.” The abundant life Jesus comes to give is a life of freedom: freedom from sin, the forces of evil, and the power of death. The next time someone is asking you about what difference faith makes in your life, suggesting that Christianity seems such a legalistic and judgmental faith, share Jesus' promise of John 10:10—of why Jesus says he comes: “I come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
Recently I heard our Bishop, Wayne Miller, say that the question people are wondering most in our culture right now is, “What does it mean for me to live well?” I would argue that the church is the place for us to wrestle with this question. Here we can recognize that we have been given the greatest gift of all—abundant life in Jesus Christ—and ask, “How can our lives best express our thanks to God for this gift?” We will find that our answers to this question in the context of the body of Christ have more depth, breadth and possibility for life-sustaining answers than the answers we will find in all the other places we often look for seeking life abundant. We won't truly find it elsewhere, whether it's buying this product, taking that vacation that will make it all better, or finding that perfect job. Here we are given the promise of a home that proclaims the promise that is the foundation of an abundant life: a promise that Jesus' commitment to his flock is so unwavering he will even lay down his life for us, and in so doing he provides us with true life that does not end, spiritual life that feeds us our souls with the nourishment, community and care we so long and hunger for.
One pastor expresses the abundance of a life lived in the pastures Christ provides for us in this way, a proclamation he gave to a newborn member of his church. These words may speak to the many in this congregation who are expecting or who have recently given birth:
Dear child, life is worthwhile, because we belong to the flock for whom Christ is shepherd! Life cannot be always as safe and protected and sheltered as it is in the womb. But the abundant life given freely by God is a life where Jesus gives us the power to live in this world, to struggle and resist death and destruction. It is a life where we have been shepherded from death to life, and given a home to dwell in forever. It is the life lived under the care of the Good Shepherd. (Kysar)
The life we live together in Jesus' pasture is not a life free, however, from responsibility. Abundant life is a life we live not as a fantasy, but together with those around us whom God has placed in our lives. Together we practice the freedom of abundant, communal, “pasture” life in ways that over time build up into a life lived in abundance—ways that we live out right here at United Lutheran. Together we practice abundant life as we embrace weekly rhythms of rest and worship, tell stories, care for one another in injury and illness, and steward the resources of our households, our church, our society and our planet.
Harold Crick eventually found the way to abundant life. Without giving away the film's ending, he discovered abundant life not in striving to control and manipulate his future. He discovered abundance not by listening not to his own voice, or the voice of the novelist in his head. He found abundant life by listening to those around him in need. Harold found that abundant life given away to the other sheep in his pasture, laid down for the sake of others in the sheepfold, seems stranger than fiction. But in the end it is true abundant life we will find in giving away the life Jesus gives for us, just as Francis of Assisi proclaimed, “it is in giving that we receive...it is in pardoning that we are pardoned...and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” Amen.
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