“Abundant Life”

May 15, 2011 – Graduate Sunday
John 10: 1-10

Jesus was teaching his followers and those who were gathered around about abundant life and how to find it. That’s something all of us here would also like to know, right – especially the graduates here today? I know I want to have a full life, don’t you? I want to have everything I need, all my hopes and dreams come true, lots of good friends, a healthy family, a fantastic job, more than enough money, nothing to worry about. I want the good life… don’t you?

7So again Jesus said to them,
Jesus has just explained to everyone about their ‘entering” this abundant life they were all looking for, and he sees in their faces this look before – the one that says, ‘What in the world are you talking about?’ Teachers and parents, you’ve seen that look, haven’t you? You’ve said something and they just don’t get it. So patiently, Jesus tells them again – only this time in a different way. Like any good teacher, Jesus tries to explain it one more time so they’ll understand.

“Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.
This time, Jesus says, “I am the gate. I’m the way. Enter here. I’m the real deal.” In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus even talks about this being a “narrow gate.” Bill Cotton, retired pastor of the Iowa Conference, believes Jesus might actually be pointing out the need for us to keep our focus. In his weekly Thursday’s Memo for Preachers, he tells about going to his grandson’s graduation at the University of Northern Iowa this past weekend and because of extra security for Michelle Obama who would be speaking to the graduates, having to “pass through one of those narrow gates like they have at airports.” He said, “Imagine seventeen thousand Iowans trying to get through those narrow gates,” which he described as “a bit of a squeeze.” But folks made it through to honor the nineteen hundred young people who were completing a milestone in their lives. It required focus on everyone’s part to make it through such a narrow gate. Staying focused is important in education, as well as in life. And it is especially important in our faith. Without focus there is no direction.

8All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them.
There are other ‘ways’ – or so it seems – choices made that can cheat us of what we are really looking for. In the end they rob us of life and what might have been. All the stuff others tell us we need, all the things we think are so important, are only distractions from the real wealth the apostle Paul says consists of an abundance of love, joy, and peace.

9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved,… saved from being cheated and robbed in life. Jesus says it again, a third time – “I am the gate.” How clear can he be? Abundant life is not something to earn or achieve, buy or barter for. Rather, it is a gift, the sheer gift of a God who loves us enough to lay down his life for us.

10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
But staying focused can be hard. It’s not easy, by any means. It requires thinking about God and trying to understand God’s place in our lives. It requires prayer and ‘being with God’ on a regular basis. And it requires a careful examination of who we belong to day by day. A full – abundant – life in God is hard work. But it is worth it because that is where we find real meaning and purpose in the gate through which we find a loving and merciful God.

Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip once said, “I cannot fail to be thrilled every time I read the things that Jesus said, and I am more and more convinced of the necessity of following him. What Jesus means to me is this: In him we are able to see God, and to understand [God's] feelings toward us. Do you feel God’s love?!

“I came,” Jesus said, “that you may have life, and have it abundantly.”
Graduates, your parents and grandparents, as well as your whole family, will be very proud of you next week as they sit on folding chairs or on hard bleachers to hear one name, your name, read and to see you receive your diploma that has required focus on your part, and on their part these many years. It’s a great milestone, to be sure. But you are not through yet. There is more. So, remain focused always remembering what Jesus said, “I am the way.”