Issue 403
What does it mean to be full? At work you will talk about a full schedule, a full order book, a full inbox. If you are inviting people to an event, it is great when it is full and all tickets are sold. If you are in education, full quotas of students are encouraging.
Then you may talk about a full social life, packed with events, parties or friends. Close to that may be a full stomach and, for some who drink alcohol, they will end up with a skin full.
Frederick Beuchner once expressed the idea in his book The Hungering Dark that it would be very sad to get to the end of our lives and then discover we had only used part of ourselves.
This raises the question of ‘what is a full life?’ Is a full life the same as a full schedule or inbox? Does it contain a full social life and a full stomach? If we can define a full life – do you want it? So we are now in what do you want territory and soon will reconnect with John’s (and Mary’s) gospel.
Just before we do, you might like to reflect on the idea of the not full or empty life. What might that mean for you, and what kind of life are you living right now?
Move your mind to the temple area of Jerusalem around 32AD and you will hear some words which impact these questions. Jesus is teaching and debating and, as usual, causing a whole lot of trouble in the minds of the hearers. At one point he says ‘I have come that they may have life and have it to the full’. The ‘they’ in this phrase is anyone who wants it. So the questions is ‘do you want a full life – Jesus of Nazareth style?’
To understand what he means, it would help you if you heard what he described the as the opposite. It’s often useful to let the opposite add meaning to a phrase. He explains, ‘the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy’. So you now have the full life contrasted with the stolen, killed or destroyed life. You have his approach versus the thief’s approach.
Now you are in a position to tease out of John 10 the features of the full life and figure out if you want it – or if you are living it already.
The whole of the chapter contains imagery of shepherding. Traditionally we focus on this imagery and learn lessons about sheep and shepherds. That is fine as far as it goes but it does not go far enough. If you look, you will see the hand of Marry working with John (remember we our arguing that after the death of Jesus, John took Mary into his house and so she would be influential in this account).
The focal point of this chapter is not the shepherding but the full life. For those of you who like numbers, it is John 10:10. The word used means not just full but full to bursting, super abundance, overflowing, an explosion of life.
Now you can look at the shepherding imagery and see how it helps you figure the fullness out. Immediately after this phrase, Jesus defines himself as the Good Shepherd. The word used this time means lovely, winsome, beautiful, as well as faithful, tender, and powerful . It speaks of a multi-layered relationship with the sheep. Here you can see John and Mary’s hands together.
Jesus is saying life is full when you are in love with me. Life is full when there is tenderness between you and me. Life is full when you feel my care, faithfulness and affection. That passion is so powerful that it will lead him to lay down his life for you.
He then fleshes out that core concept. You will hear his voice and your heart leap will at the sound of it. That’s full life. He will speak your name and your soul will melt. When trouble comes, he will fight for you against wolves, thieves or robbers. When you need a place of rest, he will guide you in by being the gateway to refreshment. When you don’t to know where to go, he will show you from the front and encourage you to follow.
Not only that, he will connect you with others and create a communion which forms a social bonding in a way that only he can.
So for him, he is defining this fullness in these various ways and ever expanding life in terms of depth of love, width of relationship, height of pleasure and length of time (eternal). This life is obtainable only from him and through his mediation.
To be clear, he describes the alternatives. You will be familiar with the feeling of living an unfulfilled life. Perhaps you sense that some things actually steal your life or kill or destroy your sense of living. You feel you are living a shadow or partial life. Activities, individuals or your current structure is draining, not filling you.
This is what he was describing in the temple area and it was all taking place in the run up to Hanukkah, which was celebrated on the 25th of December. Perhaps this is a good time of year to consider what kind of 25th of December defines your life. What is a full stocking, social calendar, order book, stomach, Christmas card list.
What do you want? Do you want the full life?
John 10
1 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
19 The Jews who heard these words were again divided. 20 Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”
21 But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”22 Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Again his Jewish opponents picked up stones to stone him, 32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me? 33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God. 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’? 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? 37 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.
40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, 41 and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.
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Geoff Shattock
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