Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; John 10:1-10
April 13, 2008
Dwight Zscheile
“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” This statement from Jesus stands as one of the Bible’s summaries of the good news of Jesus. Yet abundance is a tricky thing in our culture. More than one preacher has taken this text and skewed it toward a gospel of prosperity—the idea that God promises us material wealth if we are faithful. The rest of the biblical story contradicts that message too much for it to be credible. For Jesus died with only a frayed shirt or tunic left to his name. There must be something else going on here.
We live in the most materially abundant society in human history and one of the most spiritually impoverished. Everywhere you turn are images of abundance to which we are supposed to be entitled. No matter how wealthy we are, we are constantly reminded by consumerism of the gap between what we have and what we ought to have. We never measure up. In the endless cycle of consumerism, there is never enough abundance.
“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” What does the abundant life Jesus is talking about look like? We don’t have to turn too far to find a picture: our reading from Acts 2. You recall that earlier in Acts 2 the Holy Spirit descends upon a large gathering of Jews in Jerusalem, and the apostles speak in various languages to them. The Spirit creates a new community. Once they are baptized—and thus enter this community—life changes:
"Those who had been baptized devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved."
The Spirit unifies people from different places, languages and cultures into a common community dwelling with and for one another. They share in practices like teaching and learning, fellowship, hospitality, prayer. They share possessions, gifts and time with one another. They share in a spirit of generosity, gratitude and praise. Their community is open to new participants, who are being added daily.
This vision of abundant life is primarily about relationships—sharing a common life—not about individuals winning a race to acquire the most. It involves personal sacrifice for the sake of one another, not the sacrifice of others for individual personal gain. It is a life lived with God at the center.
Modern western culture has turned spirituality into a primarily private, inner matter. It is easy to think of the spiritual life as something that we fit into the gaps of the rest of our lives—perhaps something we attend to when things aren’t going well, or when we have time for it, something around the edges. For some, it functions like a hobby. Perhaps that is why so many Americans dabble in various spiritual traditions without ever making a real commitment to any one of them. You can do that if spirituality is on the edge of your life, for then it doesn’t challenge whatever is at the center.
Today’s readings call us to rethink this pattern, to invite God into the center of our lives—both personally and communally. The abundant life offered by Jesus is about following the shepherd wherever that may lead us. It is about living in his presence, knowing his voice, abiding with him. It is about no longer being a stranger to God, but growing into close relationship with him and his friends.
So many of our culture’s promises of abundance are really reductions of life. Our relationships are impoverished by superficiality, by using people for our own ends, by failing to see other people as irreducibly full of dignity and immeasurable value. Our experience of family and community is reduced by endless mobility, by over-programming, by frenetic activity. Our competitive pursuit of material gain impoverishes those who cannot compete. Our rejection of moral traditions deprives us of the wisdom of the generations.
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus calls for discernment between those forces that lead to death and those that lead to life. There are real consequences, for when God is not at the center of our lives, something else is. Many of Jesus’ confrontations in the gospel stories are with those who are blinded from this. Ironically, in John it is the man born blind who grasps the truth, while the experts refuse it. Many of those whom Jesus encounters are closed off to what God is doing in him, often because they are already too committed to some other path.
Where is God in your life? Is God at the center or on the edges? Do you know the shepherd’s voice? Some of you in this room may have struggled to commit to following Jesus. You may be struggling right now as I speak. You may have your doubts and temptations—we all do. I’m not sure the doubts and temptations go away. In fact, I’m pretty sure they don’t. Certainly the hard challenges of life don’t go away, as Psalm 23 reminds us. We have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death; there are enemies to face.
Yet God promises to go there with us, to protect us, to grace us with companionship even in those hardest moments. We are invited into a new pattern of life—abundant life—together. The shepherd is calling, for each and every one of us. Will we follow?
