Wednesday in Epiphany 6: The door into abundant life

Opening Sentence

From the rising of the sun to its setting my Name shall be great among the nations, and in every place incense shall be offered to my Name, and a pure offering; for my Name shall be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 1:11

Commemoration: Thomas Bray

O God of compassion, who opened the eyes of your servant Thomas Bray to see the needs of the Church in the New World, and led him to found societies to meet those needs: Make the Church in this land diligent at all times to propagate the Gospel among those who have not received it, and to promote the spread of Christian knowledge; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalter: Psalm 101, 109

Lessons: Genesis 31:25-50, 1 John 2:12-17, John 10:1-18

"I came that they may have life and have it abundantly," Jesus says. Some have taken this passage and misled many into believing their life ought to be one of blessing upon blessing, joy without sorrow, comfort without suffering. Suffering is seen by these purveyors of the half-truth gospel as a sign of weak or inadequate faith. Life, for the victims of their false teaching, becomes one long guilt trip punctuated by the constant fear that they somehow lack the faith to inherit the kingdom.

But Jesus does not promise us a comfortable life, a luxurious life, or a life free from sorrow or suffering. Jesus says of those he came to save, “I came that they might have life and have it abundantly.”

Familiarity with the imagery Jesus uses is no less and obstacle to understanding what he is talking about than it was to his original hearers. Jesus says he is the "good shepherd" who "lays down his life for the sheep." Tending sheep was a common enough profession in Jesus’ day. Moreover, the Old Testament was replete with images of the shepherd. “The LORD is my shepherd. . .” What is Jesus doing, if not simply elaborating on what should be a very familiar tradition in the history of Israel? Yet, the people don’t understand this “figure of speech,” and many of us today are in the same boat. But why?

For the answer, we need look no further than the Scripture itself. “All who came before me,” Jesus says, “are thieves and robbers.” Now, think for a minute. This is all very, very basic. The coming of the Messiah, the true Shepherd of the sheep, is preceded by false teachers, pretenders, and those who would turn the truth on its head and deceive many. When Jesus arrives on the scene, a veil of deception has descended upon the people, stopping up their ears and turning their hearts to stone. They are enslaved by the false teachings of a religious establishment which has twisted the law so to make it an end in itself, rather than the means to prepare God’s people for the end, which comes in Jesus. When Jesus speaks of the shepherd who enters by the door, who calls the sheep by name and leads them out, he is employing the figurative language of apocalyptic. The shepherd gathering the sheep is an image of the end time, of the last day. It is Jesus gathering the elect, leading them out of the darkness of death and into the glorious light of the presence of God. But not only is Jesus the shepherd who enters by the door. He also says, “I am the door.” To enter through the door that is Christ is to enter into the life of Christ, which is the very life of God. That is the life, the abundant life, which Jesus came to give us.

But don’t be misled. The abundant life is not always the easy life. For As Christ had to suffer before entering into his glory, so we who would “follow in his steps” must also learn the way to life abundant through suffering. In fact more often than not, God’s glory is manifest in our suffering, just as it was in the suffering of Christ. It is a gracious thing, Peter says, “when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.”

It’s not that God enjoys watching his people suffer. But he delights in giving grace upon grace to those who persevere under trial, keeping their eyes focused squarely on him who endured all things for their sake and, through his suffering, entered into glory.

Being mindful of God and of his good and gracious purposes, no single triumph, no single tragedy in this mixed up, sordid, upside down affair we call life is ever an end in itself. The sufferings, the sorrows, the trials and tribulations, as well as the joys and jubilations, are but the means to prepare us and draw us toward that most glorious end: Jesus himself, the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. He is the end. He is the beginning. He is everything in between. He is the door through which we enter into abundant life.

(JAG)

Choose Life