Reflection by The Rev'd Dr Deborah Broome

Abundant life, shaped by the Shepherd

[Jesus said] “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 10:1-10

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally known as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” Always there’s Psalm 23, plus other images of shepherd, flock, and sheepfold in the readings. This year we get “The Lord is my shepherd: therefore can I lack nothing” “I am the gate for the sheep.” What resonates for me is that in both of these the sheep are already God’s, they are already Jesus’.  Belonging comes first – we don’t have to behave in a certain way. The sheep are known, called by name, invited into relationship. Entry into the sheepfold isn’t about doing the right things in the right way – it’s about recognising the shepherd’s voice.

I think so much of what we do as church is about making the shepherd’s voice easier for people to hear.  How easy is it for people to recognise that voice in your parish, do you think?  If someone were to come along for the first time, if someone were standing “at the gate” and dipping a toe into a service or one of your other activities, what would they hear before anything else?

When you’re worried by what you don’t have – whether that’s enough money to buy groceries and petrol, enough work to give you a sense of purpose and to make a contribution, enough time and energy to do all the things you think you should – then it’s incredibly comforting to be able to say “The Lord is my shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing.”  When we’re tempted to focus on what we lack, then to hear Jesus saying “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” is just what we need. 

What does abundant life look like?  The psalm gives us a glimpse: “You spread a table for me in the sight of my enemies, you have anointed my head with oil and my cup overflows.” Abundant life always overflows its own boundaries. There’s that generous hospitality that God offers, that hospitality we see in so many places right through Scripture. The hospitality our church communities want to extend to people – not just in sharing food and drink, but in sharing in our common life.

Jesus described himself as the gate for the sheep – a gate, not a barrier, so something that makes it possible for the sheep to go out and find pasture. The church isn’t a tightly guarded enclosure, to keep the sheep tucked up safely inside: the point isn’t security – it’s abundant life. When Christ is the gate entry always leads somewhere: “that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” We are people being drawn even deeper into a shared life, a life shaped by the Lord who is our shepherd, sustained by Jesus the gate through which we go out to find life-giving pasture.  This is a life lived for the sake of the world.

Photo credit: Momcilo, Unsplash