Jesus’ promise: Life in abundance

In this Sunday’s first reading, we hear Peter speaking to a crowd, a gathering of Jesus’ own Jewish people, who initially did not believe that Jesus was truly the Christ foretold in the Old Testament. When those gathered heard Peter’s testimony, they suffered deeply and wanted to know how they could reconcile themselves for their lack of belief. Like Jesus, Peter assured them that if they repented and were baptized, they would not only receive the Lord’s forgiveness but also the gift of the Holy Spirit. The account ends by reporting that about 3,000 people were added to the community that day (Acts 2:41).

Such success was due not only to Peter’s witness but also to that of the early communities we have been hearing about in the first reading each Sunday since Easter. After Jesus’ death and burial, experiences of the risen One by some of the women and men who followed him caused the disciples to abandon their fear, emerge from hiding and proclaim Jesus, the Christ who had risen. These followers formed communities, shared all their resources, ensured that no one went without and took care of the poor. These and many other deeds, grounded in Christ-like compassion and justice, witnessed to their belief in Jesus, the caring approach he extended to all and the way of life he taught. This abrupt change in his followers fashioned an alternative way of living where all those gathered “might have life and have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10). This first reading and those of the previous Sundays are key to understanding this Sunday’s Gospel. 

The images of shepherd and sheep introduced in the responsorial psalm and the second reading figure prominently in this Sunday’s passage from John’s Gospel. The psalm speaks of the Lord as the good shepherd upon whom one can depend for guidance, protection and care for one’s needs. In Peter’s letter, he assures his readers that even if we have gone astray or simply wandered off, as sheep tend to do, the shepherd remains as the guardian to whom we can return.

In the Gospel passage, Jesus begins by speaking of the sheepfold and of coming through the gate, in contrast to thieves and robbers who climb over the wall. Then he speaks of the gatekeeper, the shepherd and the sheep who hear him and follow his voice. Jesus describes this shepherd as one who “has driven out his own” sheep (Jn 10:4). At first glance, the images of this discourse pose a difficulty for us. We are not sure who Jesus is speaking about. But the text then tells us that he was speaking to the Pharisees who did not understand. To add to the seeming perplexity, Jesus then claims that he is the gate that sheep pass through. Remembering that Jesus’ own community was Jewish, he is using several metaphors to drive home his point. He desperately wants his own people to understand the kind of new liberating life he brings. Whether as shepherd or gatekeeper or the gate itself, Jesus persists in engaging each and every person with images that they can relate to individually, so that they are welcomed into the new community. Jesus never grows impatient with people’s failure to understand. He persists with whatever image will work its way into his listeners’ consciousness and help them understand what it means to follow him.  

The early community in Acts, which we have been hearing about, understands. Their behavior toward each other contrasts with the surrounding hierarchical Roman world, where power among a few at the top created an existence filled with life-threatening difficulties for the many at the bottom. In Roman society, the wealth of a few who controlled that ancient economy caused many to go without. Those responsible for keeping order in society threatened people with negative consequences for their beliefs, guaranteeing the silence of truth-tellers. Moreover, those in governance seeded conflict between people, based upon their cultural, ethnic or religious differences, undermining the formation of community.

These new Christian communities Peter speaks about were not only alternatives to the ways of the Roman world but could be an alternative, perhaps, even to our own. The members of these communities are the “saved” residing in “the pasture” (Jn 10:9), which is another image Jesus enlists at the end of this discourse. Pastures are vast expanses of lush greenery offering plenty of food for the likes of sheep. They contrast with deserts that are hot, dry and lack water or vegetation. Such barren terrain cannot support life. Pastures also differ from rangelands in that they need careful maintenance. The growth of vegetation in rangelands is unpredictable, varying from year to year. Instead, pastures are thoughtfully tended. Their seeding and cultivation always produce ample provisions for all that depend upon them. Such care guarantees well-being and what is required for life itself. Therein lies the promise that Jesus, who tends these pastures, made to these communities and us. As he concludes this discourse, he offers that assurance. “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10).