The Reverend John E. McGinn, Rector
Saint John’s Episcopal Church
Sandwich,
Massachusetts 02563
April 13, 2008 4
Easter
Today’s sermon is from the
Gospel of John, chapter 10, verses 1-10.
The faculty gathered for
their weekly meeting, and a professor of archeology brought with him a lamp
recently unearthed in the Middle East.
It was reported to contain a genie, who when the lamp was rubbed would
appear and grant one wishes. A professor
of philosophy was particularly intrigued, and he grabbed the lamp, and he
rubbed it vigorously. Suddenly, a genie
appeared and made him an offer. He could
choose one of three rewards: wealth or wisdom
or beauty. Without hesitating, the
philosophy professor selected wisdom.
“Done,” said the genie and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. All the faculty members turned toward the
professor who sat surrounded by a halo of light. At length, one of his colleagues whispered,
“Say something…what wise insight do you now have?” The professor, much wiser now, sighs and says,
“I should have taken the money.”
Our scripture reading for
today contain one of the best sayings of Jesus.
It is exceedingly well-known but often sadly misunderstood. This saying is in the second half of today’s
Gospel that I just read from John, and is best known in its King James
translation: Jesus says, “I have come
that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” And this is the favored verse of scripture
for many modern Christians; for they read it as an endorsement of their
extravagant lifestyle. They equate the
abundant life to living in the lap of luxury.
They listen enthusiastically to the pitch of the TV evangelist living in
his multimillion-dollar home who declares, “God wants his people to have nice
things.” And certainly the TV evangelist
lives up to this creed. Many of them
live opulent lifestyles.
Now I’m not going to be
hypercritical - I like nice things also.
My guess is that you like nice things; all God’s children like nice
things. Does that mean, therefore, that
we can use this verse of scripture from the Gospel of John to baptize rampant
materialism? I don’t think it does. In our culture, we are apt to confuse the
abundant life that Jesus taught with what is often referred to in our culture
as “the good life.” The good life
consists of things, the accumulation of toys.
Someone once saw an epitaph on a tomb that read like this: “She died of things.” And the next tomb said: “He died providing things for her.”
Did you know that there are
more malls than high schools in the United States today? In a recent year, more people filed for
bankruptcy than enrolled in college. Our
credo today is “shop until you drop.”
Americans, on the average, spend six hours shopping each week and forty
minutes playing with their children. As
one commentator has put it, “We have defined ourselves by what we have and what
we use, not by who we are or the kind of people that we might become.
I don’t want you to confuse
the good life with the abundant life that Jesus promised. There is nothing wrong with having lots of
stuff, but it can’t openly satisfy your deepest needs. Only the abundant life can do that. So often this phrase is taken out of context
to justify a materialistic lifestyle.
These lessons for the day
tell us how to have an abundant life.
Now, three of the lessons for the day, by the way, compare us to
sheep. In Psalm 23 the Lord is our
shepherd. In 1st Peter we are
like sheep going astray. In John’s
Gospel, we are like sheep herded into a pen for the night. Being compared to sheep isn’t very
complimentary, but it is probably a good description of the human
condition. The point is, of course, that
we have a shepherd; one who looks after us and protects us.
There are some powerful
insights in today’s lesson about abundant living. I want to begin here: The person who has abundant life recognizes
Jesus’ voice. John writes, “The man who
enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman open the gate and the sheep
listen to his voice. He calls his own
sheep by name and leads them out. And
when he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep
follow him because they know his voice.”
The key to abundant life is
not the accumulation of many things. The
key to abundant life is to recognize the voice of Jesus in your life. It is to know that you are walking in the
light of his revelations. It is to live
as Jesus would have you live.
I want to this morning give
you an example of a man who has had some understanding of the difference
between the good life and the abundant life.
One of the most admired men
who has ever made their living as a professional basketball player is former
San Antonio Spur great, David Robinson.
And I’d also tell you that one of the things about David Robinson is he
was also a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, and before he could
play professional basketball, he had to serve in the Navy.
David Robinson was the NBA
rookie of the year in 1990; he was the defensive player of the year in 1992;
and he was the most valuable player of the year in 1995. When he is eligible, which I believe is in a
couple of years, Robinson is probably headed for the Basketball Hall of Fame in
Springfield.
In almost any conversation
about sports, David Robinson is considered one of the greats. As a professional athlete, David Robinson
surely enjoys the good life, but did you know that David Robinson also enjoys
the abundant life? In 1991, David
Robinson visited the Gates Elementary School in San Antonio and challenged the
children to go to college, promising each one who did a two-thousand-dollar
scholarship. Now many of them took him
up on his offer, and he ended up giving each of them eight-thousand dollars
instead of two thousand. He and his wife
started the Carver Academy in San Antonio.
They donated nine-million dollars to get the school started. This is believed to be the largest charitable
contribution ever made by a professional athlete. Carver Academy is dedicated to academic
excellence; but because David Robinson is a Christian, he wants the children to
understand that spiritual values are as important as academics or
athletics.
And, you know, I get so tired
of this…because we hear so much about athletes who are thugs, who use drugs,
who live a decadent lifestyle. We need
to know that there are athletes who listen to voice of Jesus, who lives their
lives in accordance with his teachings.
And that’s where I begin: by
listening to Jesus’ voice. The person
who has an abundant life also seeks to follow in Jesus’ steps.
The author of 1st
Peter writes, “To this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for
you leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.” And what does it mean to follow in Jesus’
steps? And the writer of 1st
Peter tells us, “He committed no sin and no deceit was found in his
mouth.” That’s a pretty high
standard. He committed no sin; and what
does that mean? So many people have such
a narrow definition of sin. Listen to
the words again of 1st Peter.
“He committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth.” And when they hurled insults at him, he did
not retaliate, and when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to Him who
judges justly.
We think of sin as some
personal transgression. However, it is
clear that sin has a relational dimension as well. When they hurled their insults at Jesus, he
did not retaliate. When he suffered,
Jesus made no threats. We show love for
Jesus by how we treat each other; not only by how we treat those closest to us,
but how we treat all people - those we like and those we dislike; those of whom
we approve, and those of whom we do not; the neighbor and the complete
stranger.
Do you understand that
following in the footsteps of Jesus means living a life for others? It is a paradox. The more selfishly we lead our lives, the
less satisfaction we feel about ourselves.
The more we are open to others, the better we feel about ourselves. The person who lives life abundantly, hears
Jesus’ voice and walks in Jesus’ footsteps performing acts of love as Jesus
performed acts of love.
But there is one thing more,
I think, to say about the abundant life.
The person who has abundant life gratefully accepts what Jesus has done
for her or him. Abundant living is more
than simply being a do-gooder. Abundant
living is life lived out of gratitude of what Jesus has done for us. Abundant living is not something we are able
to do on our own. Abundant living is a
gift - a gift of grace.
And listen again to the words
in 1st Peter. “He himself
bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might die from sins and live
for righteousness, and by his wounds you have been healed.” Then the writer of the epistle adds these
words, “For you are like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the
shepherd and overseer of your souls.”
A few days ago I read the
story of a young boy who lives in Zimbabwe.
This young man’s name is Musimdiwa, and he was rescued by a church
mission which is called the Lovemore House.
And listen as this young African boy describes his life:
“My life was never very
good. Even my name, Musimdiwa, means
unwanted child. When I was two weeks old
my mother dumped me in a stack of old tires, and the police picked me up and
took me to my grandmother. When she gave
me back to my mother, she dumped me again; this time wrapping me in rags and
leaving me in a beer hall. No one ever
really wanted me except my grandmother, and she was too poor to buy enough food
or pay for my school fees. After I ended
up on the streets, some people at church told me about Lovemore House, and they
asked me to come here. I’m going to
finish school and become a soccer player, and later maybe I will have a job in
a bank. Inside my head I ask God to help
me reach my goals, to help me in school and with soccer, and especially to help
me forgive others and not to join in conflict.
Some day I think that God will give me another name - Aman - it will
mean someone good.”
Now, if that young man’s
testimony is important and it touches you, I think it’s really important for
all of us. Now, I think that this boy is
an example of the kind of young person that our church’s teenagers will try to
reach when they go to El Salvador, and when they also go to serve on the Gulf
coast. He’s working hard, this boy, to
reach his goals, for he too would like to have the good life. But he knows there is more. Thanks to the Lovemore House, this young man
knows there is an abundant life, and even with his limited opportunities, he
knows that his abundant life cannot be earned - it comes as a gift from
God. He prays that God will give him a
new name - Aman - someone good.
And, you know, I hope that
God gives you and me new names - names such as someone good, someone with
compassion, kind hearted, generous, forgiving, neighborly, and even
Jesus-like. I hope we understand that
there is more than just the good life - there is the abundant life. We hear Jesus’ voice and we walk in Jesus’
steps.
Amen