John 10:1-21 – The Good Shepherd Calls Us to Abundant Living
/Lectionary Readings for Sept. 12, 2021 16th Sunday After Pentecost, Year B
Proverbs 1:20-33 v33 But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.
Psalm 19 v1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.
James 3:1-12 v2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.
Mark 8:27-38 v36 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?
But this week we continue our series exploring the book of John, now with Chapter 10.
Weekly Meditative Exercise
Christianity includes a long and rich tradition of embracing meditative practices as a way of keeping us connected with God, ourselves, and each other. I encourage you to spend some time each week (ideally 10-30 minutes) trying each weekly exercise. You will naturally find some more appealing and effective than others. You’ll like some but not others, and after 6-12 months you’ll better understand what’s available and what helps you.
This week’s exercise focuses on Gratitude (pages 31-33)
From Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun. InterVarsity Press, 2005.
Desire: to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s prompting to live with a grateful heart, cognizant of God’s work in my life and my abundant resources
Definition: Gratitude is a loving and thankful response toward God for his presence with us and within this world. Delighting in God and His good will is the heartbeat of thankfulness.
Scripture: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever…” (Psalm 136:1-2)
As you engage with this exercise, I encourage you to make notes each day (written or typed into your phone) about what you are grateful for. Some people call this “keeping a gratitude journal.” Nobody is perfect and no body’s body or life is perfect. Gratitude is NOT a celebration of perfection, but rather a celebration of what is good in our lives, what brings us joy, what brings us peace, and from the Christian perspective – what helps us perceive God’s love & presence around us. I encourage you to share your gratitudes with me and with each other.
Peace through Leadership Quotes
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” ~ Melody Beattie
When we take on an attitude of gratitude, we are more likely to live in peace with ourselves and with each other.
Any time I preach or lead a group, regardless of age, I start the same way. I’m going to say three short sentences. Please repeat each sentence, with enthusiasm.
God made me. God loves me. God has plans for me.
Preface to Today’s Scripture Reading
“I tell you the truth...” In the New Living Translation of the Bible, Jesus uses that phrase 22 times in John’s Gospel. (The New International Version uses the phrase “truly I tell you” 26 times.) Jesus seems to use this phrase as a way of saying, “Hey! Pay attention! I’m telling you something really important about God!”
In today’s reading, Jesus begins by describing the difference between a good shepherd verses a thief or a bandit. Jesus continued to offer what sounds like a 4-H Club’s lesson titled “Mutually Beneficial Behavioral Patterns of Sheep and Shepherds.” Sounds fascinating (wink). His audience “did not understand what he was saying to them.” As a blessing to the people in front of Him as well as us today, Jesus explained the theological meanings of His illustration – an explanation that quite frankly leaves us with as many questions as it does answers.
Jesus spoke about sheep because shepherding was part of His community’s social and economic fabric. Everyone understood shepherding. As populations around our nation and around the world continue migrating toward cities, Jesus’ illustration becomes increasingly difficult to understand.
A few years ago, the respected magazine Psychology Today published an article titled Why Sheep Matter: They’re Intelligent, Emotional, and Unique. Another group found that sheep “form deep and lasting bonds with each other, they stick up for one another in fights, and they grieve when they lose a friend. They experience all of the same emotions that we do including fear, joy, boredom, anger and happiness to name a few. ... they also have wonderful memories!”
In our reading, notice that Jesus describes Himself as both the gate and the “good shepherd,” but curiously not as the gatekeeper. Also notice that Jesus says “I am...” three times to describe Himself; He used the same “I am” God used when Moses asked for God’s name. His listeners, still likely in the Synagogue, would have noticed that profound connection to the sacred Torah – all the more material for the Jewish leaders to hold against Jesus.
Let’s open our ears, minds, and hearts as we hear today’s Scripture.
Read John 10:1-21 and the rest of Chapter 10 this week!
Verse 10 is fairly famous for a variety of reasons, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
Let’s start with the first half of that verse. God did NOT create you to be miserable; our misery never delights God. Is there something in your life that you feel like is stealing, killing, or destroying some part of your existence? That is NOT a rhetorical question. Think about it! What can you do to minimize or eliminate that toxic presence? This is yet another way that our church family – our faith community – can and needs to support each other. Ideally, we need to be able to share with each other so that we can seek wisdom, guidance, and support from each other. Look around you; THIS is your “life support team.” We are blessed to have each other!
Stealing – Many years ago, I remember a pastor saying that the Ten Commandments were all about stealing – stealing love, attention, and respect from God and from people. All these years later, his assessment holds true.
Killing – We kill ourselves and each other in so many ways. We kill hopes and dreams with negative comments spoken to ourselves and others. We kill our minds with negative, pessimistic thinking – that’s proven science (see Inc and CNBC articles). We kill our bodies when we mistreat them with unhealthy foods and behaviors. We can be our own worst enemies.
Humans seem to have an instinct for destroying things and people. It’s so much easier to tear something – or someone – down compare to the energy require to build something – or someone, or ourselves – up. Yet, we are the very products of a God of Creation, our God who is continually creating and recreating.
The second half of verse 10 is often quoted on its own: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
Jesus’ story today tells us that God-in-the-flesh is a Good Shepherd, a loving leader and caregiver, who wants us to feel safe, and loved, and part of a community. The Good Shepherd provides for us and guides us.
Here’s a question I’d like you to ponder during the coming week, “What does it mean to have life abundantly?” You may find it helpful to reflect on the previous decades of your life and notice (last’s week’s spiritual exercise), what you most treasure in hindsight. How has your idea of abundant living changed – or not changed – over the years?
Typically, people in their teens focus on relationships and experiences. Once in their twenties, people often have new careers with new and larger incomes when enables them to begin accumulating more and better stuff – a car, an apartment, stuff to fill the apartment. For Americans in their 20s and 30s, abundant living is often equated with the accumulation of what money can obtain. As people start families, they often add experiences to their portfolio of abundant living – concerts, vacations, etc. Modern marketing fuels this mentality to the point of excess.
And then comes the mid-life crisis, which is such a negative phrase.
I much prefer “an intense time of reassessing priorities and goals.” I had my first mid-life crisis in 8th grade (no kidding) and have had several since then. I embrace these stressful seasons of reflection and clarification.
With each decade of our lives, our ideas of “abundant living” change. As Christians, the question to us is, “How are we letting (or not letting) our faith guide our ideas of what it means to live abundantly?” This is an important question for us to ponder if we want to align our beliefs with our daily lives. How are we using our faith to help us decide what to embrace and what to reject? Again, this is NOT a rhetorical question. We can feel great about rejecting anything that does not lead to more abundant living.
Here’s an idea. Remember the Great Commandments? Love God, love yourself, and love others. What if we used that as a guide and a measure of abundant living? You tell me...
If you felt like you had a direct, personal, intimate, conversational relationship with God, would you describe that as living abundantly?
If you loved yourself – loved who you are, if you could look in the mirror and say, “I like that person!”... would you describe that as living abundantly?
If you found it easier to love other people – even people you don’t enjoy being around... would you describe that as living abundantly?
If we trust Jesus and believe that He’s telling us the truth, then we can follow the words of our Good Shepherd. Of the many directions Jesus gave us, feeding the poor was one of them – along with addressing other basic needs of the most vulnerable people in our community (Matthew 25:34-45, showing hospitality to strangers, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and visiting the imprisoned).
Countless times volunteers in our HOPE Food Pantry have told me, “this is the best day of my entire week. Being able to bless others and help people smile and feel welcomed... it’s the best day of my week.” Isn’t it interesting how serving others gives so many of us a feeling of living more abundantly?
Let’s work on this. Let’s work on removing the toxins in our lives and embracing beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that nurture abundant Christian living. Let’s be grateful for who we are as God’s children, for what God has given us, and for our future’s incredible potential as co-creating partners with God. And let us share this way of living abundantly with as many people as we possibly can!
Amen? Amen!