The college faculty gathered for their weekly meeting. A professor of archeology brought with him a lamp from the Middle East. It was said that when the lamp was rubbed, a genie would appear, and grant one wish to whoever rubs it.
A professor of philosophy was particularly intrigued. He grabbed the lamp, and rubbed it vigorously. Suddenly, a genie appeared and made him an offer. He could choose one of three rewards: wealth, wisdom, or beauty. Without hesitating, the philosophy professor selected wisdom. “Done!” said the genie, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
All the other faculty members turned toward the professor, who sat surrounded by a halo of light. After a while, one of his colleagues whispered, “What wise insight do you now have?”
The professor, much wiser now, sighs and says, “I should have taken the money.”
Our scripture lesson contains one of the best-known sayings of Jesus. But sadly, it is misunderstood. This saying is the second half of John 10:10. Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.”
Jesus did not offer an “existence” of any kind. Jesus offered “life,” and not just “life” but “abundant life” or “whole life” or “fulfilling life”.
For many modern Christians, they equate the abundant life with wealth. And so we have TV evangelists living in their multi-million dollar homes who declare, “God wants His people to have nice things! If you really have faith, you will get a big house or a car.”
Some call this as the theology of prosperity. Certainly, many TV evangelists live up to their creed. Many of them live opulent lifestyles–an air-conditioned dog house; a private jet plane; mansions — not prepared by the Lord after we die, but several mansions in different parts of the world.
I’m not going to be hypocritical. I like nice things. I want to live comfortably with a house and some comforts in life. My guess is that you, too, like nice things.
Sometimes though, there are many people who confuse the “abundant life” that Jesus taught with the accumulation of toys. They think that the more things you own is a sign of an abundant life.
Someone once saw an epitaph on a tomb that read: “She died of things.” The next tomb said, “He died providing things for her.” (Well, it can also be the other way around.)
However, let us not confuse the good life with the abundant life that Christ promised. Ultimately, it is only the life that Christ gives that can satisfy our deepest needs. And it is more than the accumulation of wealth or the toys we have at home.
Abundant life is following the footsteps of Jesus as shown to us in the scriptures. The author of I Peter writes: “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”
In John, Jesus said, “I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice.” And then he continued on to say, “So these will be one flock, one shepherd.” (vs. 16)
Thus, we need to love and care for others as Christ loves us. Not only by how we treat those closest to us, but by 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.
One day, a man stopped in a convenience store. He noticed that the owner of the store had tears in his eyes, and kept looking out the window. He asked what was going on. The store owner said, “Do you see that woman over there? She comes every day around this time. She sits there for about an hour, waiting. Buses come and go, but she never gets on one, and no one ever gets off for her to meet. The other day, I gave her a cup of coffee and sat with her for a while. Her only son lives a long way away. She last saw him two years ago when he boarded one of the buses right there. He is married now, and she has never met her daughter-in-law, or seen their new child. She told me, ‘It helps to come here and wait. I pray for them and their baby. I imagine them in their tiny apartment, saving money to come home. I can’t wait to see them.’”
The reason the owner was looking out the window at that particular moment was that the three of them — the son, his wife and their small child — were just getting off the bus. The look on the woman’s face when this small family fell into her arms was one of pure joy. And this joy only increased when she looked into the face of her grandchild for the first time. The store owner commented, “I’ll never forget that look as long as I live.”
The next day, the same man returned to the convenience store. Before the store owner could say or do anything, the customer said, “You sent her son the money for the bus tickets, didn’t you?”
The store owner looked back with eyes full of love, and a smile and replied, “Yes, I sent the money.” Then he repeated his statement from the day before, “I’ll never forget that look as long as I live.” This man had discovered how to live an abundant life.
Following the footsteps of Jesus means living a life for others. It is a paradox: The more selfishly we live our lives, the less satisfaction we feel about our lives. The more we are open to others, the better we feel about ourselves.
But there is one thing more to say about the abundant life. The person who has abundant life gratefully accepts what Christ has done for him or her. Abundant living is a gift of grace.
When Jesus met with his disciples, “He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”(John 220:22) And in John 10:15 Jesus said, “I lay down my life for the sheep.”
Martha Beck and her husband were students at Harvard University well on their way to careers of academic distinction. Then Martha became pregnant for a second time, and discovered that the baby would almost certainly have Down’s Syndrome. Although not pro-life advocates, Martha and John decided not to terminate the pregnancy. In her book Expecting Adam
She continues: “Living with Adam, loving Adam, has taught me a lot about the truth. He has taught me to look at things in themselves, not at the value a brutal and often senseless world assigns to them. As Adam’s mother, I have been able to see quite clearly that he is no less beautiful for being called ugly, no less wise for appearing dull, no less precious for being seen as worthless. And neither am I. Neither are you. Neither is any of us.”
Whoever we are, the abundant life we have is a gift from God. The life we live is a gift of grace. To accept it gratefully is living a life that is full. That is the abundant life that Jesus talked about. Receive it and live it.
