John 10:1-10 - Life in All Its Fullness

A couple of years ago a man from West Virginia won the Powerball lottery jackpot. His friends had always described him as a boisterous, generous and happy-go-lucky guy until he won the $315 million prize. To most of us that would seem like such a blessing, but with money comes great temptations and complications. James Whittaker’s winnings were the richest undivided jackpot in U.S. history. Although he quickly gave millions away to his church and other charities, his money eventually brought him problems and difficulties that he had never experienced before. He became a slave to his wealth and it led him down paths where he never thought he would find himself. Since winning the jackpot in 2002, Whittaker has been arrested twice for drunken driving and has been ordered into rehab. Recently, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor assault charge for attacking a bar manager, and is accused in two lawsuits of causing trouble at a nightclub and a racetrack. His wife, understanding the effects that the money has had on her husband, recently was quoted as saying, “I wish all of this would have never happened, I wish I would have torn that ticket up.” The Whittakers have come to realize that money and material things do not bring happiness. This is not where true fulfillment in life is found. Their material possessions and wealth had robbed them of their joy.

We have all seen examples of these types of things first hand. People who have reached the pinnacles of their careers or have made fortunes, yet they still feel emptiness. Something in their life is missing. Their lives lack significance and purpose and they continue to wander aimlessly looking for their soul’s true home.

A few weeks ago I was at a birthday party for a friend of my wife’s. I really did not know too many people there so I found a couch by the TV where a group of guys were sitting. I started to talk with one guy in particular. He was a really bright guy who had always dreamed of being a lawyer. He had just graduated from Harvard Law School a couple of years earlier and was now working at a large law firm in downtown Chicago. He was getting married, had a brand new condominium in Chicago, and a new car. He was doing well in his job and thought that he could make partner in his law firm in three years. He claimed he had accomplished nearly all of his goals and realized all of his dreams. If there is an American dream this guy was living it.

BUT his story did not end there. As we talked some more, this guy conveyed to me that he was unhappy. All these things that he had amassed, all the goals that he had met, all the successes that he had had, did not satisfy his heart. He yearned for more. His heart desired something greater. Something more significant. He was searching for something that his Harvard education, his high profile job, and his new condo could not provide.

He told me that he was ready to leave his legal career and seek after something more fulfilling. . . maybe a career in computer science he thought out loud.

This guy was searching; he was looking for life in all its fullness, but he was looking in the wrong places. He was guided by the wrong priorities and was being led astray by falsehood and deception.

This afternoon’s passage shows us that the Pharisees had a similar problem. They were looking in the wrong places and in the wrong direction for guidance in their lives and they were leading people from God as opposed to God. Although the Pharisees did not recognize their emptiness, Jesus attempts to explain how they can obtain life in all its fullness.

Jesus clarifies things for them with a parable. He uses an example of something they could relate to and seeks to explain to them where they can find a better life, a life that will result in true fulfillment. Jesus uses the example of a shepherd and his sheep to describe his relationship with God’s people, those who choose to be his followers. Jesus draws a clear distinction between those that try to lead the sheep astray, who want to destroy and kill them, and the good shepherds who want to lead the sheep out of danger and into an abundant life. The shepherd goes to the sheep by the proper way and enters through the gate, whereas the thief and robber are not permitted entry and seek to climb over the wall. The sheep are the shepherd’s. He has a claim of ownership over them and anyone who seeks to take the sheep away is a robber and a thief. Jesus’ words were a direct critique of the leadership of his day.

Jesus says that when he calls the sheep, they know his voice and follow him. Sheep are amazing this way. They know their master’s voice and can distinguish it from a stranger’s voice.

Take for instance this story of a man in Australia who was arrested and charged with stealing a sheep. He vigorously protested that it was one of his own that had been missing for many days. When the case went to court, the judge didn’t know how to decide the matter. Finally he asked that the sheep be brought into the courtroom. Then he ordered the plaintiff to step outside and call the animal. The sheep made no response except to raise its head and look frightened.

The judge then instructed the defendant to go to the courtyard and call the sheep. When the accused man began to make his distinctive call, the sheep ran toward the door and that voice. It was obvious that he recognized the familiar voice of his master. “His sheep knows him,” said the judge. Case dismissed.

Jesus wants his hearers to recognize that the sheep, the followers of Christ know his voice and are quick to follow after his lead. The sheep can also distinguish between their shepherd’s voice and that of a stranger. They flee the stranger’s voice. Genuine Christians strive to be so focused on Jesus that they recognize the difference between God’s truth and the thieves and bandits of the world that seek to destroy life with false idols and deception.

The figure of the thieves and robbers in this passage does not refer to any particular person, but is applicable to anyone who unlawfully claims to have control over the flock, to every corrupter of the faithful or of those who are called to faith, to everyone who might be a temptation to them. Our culture and our world reek of these things. Of robbers and thieves seeking to steal us away from the protection of our shepherd. The Pharisees were sometimes this to the people of Jesus’ time. Sometimes the thieves and robbers succeed and our lives are left torn and tattered. Jesus, however, calls us closer to him so that we will more readily be able to distinguish his truth from the lies and deception of those that sneak around his way.

But Jesus takes the parable a step further still and explains the way that his true followers, the true sheep that are not influenced by the cheap trick and sneaky tactics of the robbers and thieves, should act. Jesus says that his sheep are accustomed to the way he comes to them and they are frightened by thieves and robbers climbing over the walls.

Those who hear Jesus’ voice and recognize it are those who are of the truth. Man’s true being is more than simply his or her worldly existence; everyone was created to be in relationship with God, led by the shepherd Jesus Christ. We are not forced to go to Jesus, however, we must make a conscious decision to do so. Jesus does not poke and prod the sheep as someone leading them to slaughter would do; he simply walks and the sheep can choose to follow. They trust him. Jesus’ call goes out to all and everyone has the right to choose it. Everyone is given the opportunity to be led by Jesus into the abundant green pastures and to feast on God’s goodness, but the opportunity must be taken.

Just as Jesus’ followers fully recognize his voice, Jesus as the shepherd fully values and appreciates his sheep. To a much greater extent than many of us can comprehend.

Here the analogy of the sheep and the shepherd provides great significance. Shepherds had an unbelievable relationship with their sheep. Sheep were like valued pets. There was nothing about their sheep that good shepherds did not know. Although the individual sheep in a flock all looked alike to the untrained eye, a good shepherd could tell them apart – often because of their specific markings or peculiar traits. A shepherd would say, “see that sheep over there? Notice how its feet toe in a little. The one behind it walks kind of sideways; the next one has a patch of wool off its back, there’s one with a black mark below its eye, while the one closest to us has a small piece torn out of its ear. The shepherd knows each by name. These were not just sheep; they were Patch, Limpy, Blackie, Tag, Nosey, and so on. By day and night the shepherd lived with them. He had to be close to them.

Jesus in a similar manner came from heaven to earth to be close to us. Jesus knows our traits and watches over us with love and concern. He looks at us and calls us by name. Dan, Cheryl, Noah . . . He knows us intimately. He knows what we have been through and what we need.

But John reports that the Pharisees did not understand what Jesus was saying. Their issue is not that they cannot comprehend the point intellectually, but that they are unwilling to respond to Jesus’ challenge. It is too difficult. Jesus calls them to give up their allegiance to themselves or to other things that seek to steal God’s glory. Jesus calls them to follow him. Not to lead, but to follow. Jesus wanted more than their intellectual understanding, he wanted them to walk behind him. He wanted them to be his sheep.

So Jesus tries to explain the parable further. He explains that he is not only the good shepherd who cares for his sheep, but he is the gate to their pen as well. Jesus is the gate leading to the green pastures, a gate through which the sheep must pass if they are to have an abundant life. Jesus has come to bring us an abundant life. This idea mirrors that of John 14:6. There Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” Those who go in and out of the gate, that is Jesus, find the life in all its fullness. This gift of life is in direct contrast to the slaughter that is associated with the thieves and robbers. The thieves come to destroy, but Jesus came so that everyone who believes in him may not be destroyed but may have eternal life.

An artist around 1500, right before the beginning of the reformation, depicted this passage in an etching on a piece of wood. The print shows Jesus standing at the doorway to the sheep pen, which is depicted as a church. Jesus is determining who can enter the sheep pen. A text beneath the etching reveals what is happening in the picture. On the roof of the church are monks and bishops, even the pope himself, chopping their way in and escaping with big bags of money. In the distance Christ is being re-crucified by such violence to his church and the sheep that should have been inside the church are now outside, gathered around the crucified shepherd.

Of course much has changed since this etching was done and we no longer have to look at the Catholic Church in this way, but the etching does encourage us to consider who the text’s thieves and robbers are in our own time – and whether we really want to insist on following the world’s guidance to wealth and material possessions.

Jesus presented the Pharisees with a choice . . . we are presented with the same choice. Whose voice will you recognize? Which voice will we respond to? Jesus says that his sheep will run from the robbers and thieves. They don’t just ignore them, they run from them. They flee from them. All Christians must do the same.

We are too easily duped. The robbers and the thieves sneak in and steal our hearts, they steal our souls, they steal our lives. But Jesus calls us to enter into his flock. To walk through the gate, which is him, to eternal life. . . to life in all its fullness. This essential Christian message has the power to transform lives. To change priorities and to bring people into a right relationship with God. We must convey this message to a hurting world.

Author, pastor, and one time atheist Lee Strobel said in one sermon: “How can I tell you the difference God has made in my life? My daughter Allison was 5 years old when I became a follower of Jesus, and all she had known in those five years was a dad who was profane and angry. I remember I came home one night and kicked a hole in the living room wall just out of anger with life. I am ashamed to think of the times Allison hid in her room to get away from me.

Five months after I gave my life to Jesus Christ, that little girl went to my wife and said, “Mommy I want God to do for me what he’s done for Daddy.” At age 5! What was she saying? She’d never studied the archeological evidence validating the truth of the Bible. All she knew was her dad used to be this way: hard to live with. But more and more her dad is becoming this way. And if that is what God does to people, then sign her up. At age 5 she gave her life to Jesus. Strobel says, “God changed my family. He changed my world. He changed my eternity.”

Lee Strobel discovered something amazing when he became a Christian. He discovered God’s ability to change lives. To change a person’s focus so that it is on the good shepherd and not on thieves and robbers. The good shepherd leads to a life full of fulfillment. A life full of promise. A life that is abundant. That is the good news that should be preached. That by entering through the gate of Jesus Christ we become his sheep ready to be led to green pastures; to the life of abundance and fulfillment. Where we can learn to flee from the thieves and robbers that threaten our well-being.

An entire world is searching for the abundant life, for life in all its fullness. They have a desire to find it, but are lost. They have been lured by robbers and thieves. As Christians we need to tell others where they can find what they are looking for. We need to lead them to Christ, who then will lead them to green pastures, life in all its fullness.

Believe!

John 20:19-31 (NLT)

¹⁹That evening, on the first day of the week, the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! "Peace be with you," he said. ²⁰As he spoke, he held out his hands for them to see, and he showed them his side. They were filled with joy when they saw their Lord! ²¹He spoke to them again and said, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." ²²Then he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven. If you refuse to forgive them, they are unforgiven."

²⁴One of the disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. ²⁵They told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he replied, "I won't believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side."

²⁶Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. He said, "Peace be with you." ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don't be faithless any longer. Believe!"

²⁸"My Lord and my God!" Thomas exclaimed.

²⁹Then Jesus told him, "You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven't seen me and believe anyway."

³⁰Jesus' disciples saw him do many other miraculous signs besides the ones recorded in this book. ³¹But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life.

Most of you that know me know that I love sports and am a huge Illinois fan. When I drive to North Park each day I listen to The Score 670 on the radio. The Score is an all sports radio station that analyzes and discusses sports all day long. On Friday morning I was listening to the Score when I shockingly heard that Dee Brown and Luther Head, two of the Illinois basketball team’s best players had very high temperatures as the result of food poisoning that they got at a restaurant in St. Louis. Being the dedicated Illini fan that I am, I nearly drove off of the road. On Friday mornings I play basketball with some guys at the seminary so the first thing I told them was what I heard on the radio. They were as surprised as I was.

So after my first class, I used my break to get onto the internet and find out more information. I could not find anything though. Not one article. Not on ESPN, CNN, nowhere. I was a little confused but I continued to fret over the Illini’s chances on Saturday without these two players. By the end of the day I was pretty sure they would not have a chance to win Saturday’s game against Louisville. So I got in my car to drive home at the end of the day to hear what the folks on the Score had to say about the upcoming game and the food poisoning. Nothing. No mention of it. They talked about Illinois, but no one brought up the incident. Then. A light bulb finally turned on in my head. It was April 1. April Fool’s Day and I had just been made a fool of for the entire day. It was merely a joke perpetuated by one of the morning commentators. (Pause)

Aren’t we all a little afraid of being made a fool? It is no wonder that we are so skeptical about certain things?

We are a culture that needs to see it to believe it. You know I had a friend that I played basketball with when I was in high school. We played all four years together. He used to tell me all the time that he could dunk the basketball. Yet in all the years that I had played basketball with him I had never seen him dunk it. Not in a game. Not in practice. Never. We gave him such a hard time. We repeatedly told him he could not dunk it and to quit telling us he could. Then one day at practice my senior year, he had a break away and he went up for what I assumed would be a lay up . . . and sure enough he dunked it. I had no choice now but to believe him because I had seen it.

How would we have reacted if we had heard from friends of Jesus’ resurrection? How do we react today when we hear of Jesus’ resurrection?

It is easy to read this story about the disciples and Thomas and point fingers at them for their unbelief. Isn’t it fairly convenient to say well of course the apostles believed. . . Jesus appeared to them and showed them the marks of his crucifixion. I am confident that we are just as skeptical, though.

Perhaps you can relate to these words modified from a poem by a Dallas seminarian:

Let me meet you on the mountain, Lord,
Just once.
You wouldn't have to burn a whole bush.
Just a few smoking branches
And I would surely be ...your Moses.

Let me meet you on the water, Lord,
Just once.
It wouldn't have to be on the Kishwaukee River.
Just on a puddle after a Spring rain
And I would surely be...your Peter.

Let me meet you on the road, Lord,
Just once.
You wouldn't have to blind me on Interstate 88.
Just a few bright lights on the way to church
And I would surely be...your Paul.

Let me meet you, Lord,
Just once.
Anywhere. Anytime.
Just meeting you in the Word is so hard sometimes
Must I always be...your Thomas?

We all have doubts. Even the apostles. . . Jesus’ chosen followers had doubts. Christ calls us to overcome these doubts, though. He calls us to Believe in the resurrection. To believe in what he did for us on the cross. To believe in what he overcame when he left the tomb.

But what does it mean to believe?

Presbyterian missionary John G. Paton sailed to the South Sea Islands in 1858. For a while, he served on the small island of Aniwa where his life was constantly in danger from murderers and cannibals.

One of Paton’s primary goals was to create a translation of the Bible that the natives could read, but Paton could not find a word in the native language for the word “believe”. Trying to translate the encounter of Paul with the Philippian jailer in Acts 16, Paton came to the verse, “What must I do to be saved?”

When Paton got to that verse and tried to translate the word “believe,” he finally settled upon this: “Lean your whole weight upon the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.” Isn’t that what it means to believe in Jesus? To lean your whole weight upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s take a little closer look at the passage in John that we just read. I think you will find that the disciples struggled to lean their whole weight upon the Lord Jesus Christ too. Immediately before Jesus’ appearing to his disciples and eventually to Thomas, Mary Magdelene went to Jesus’ tomb and found it empty. Mary ran back and told Peter and another disciple that the tomb was empty and they checked it out too. Sure enough the tomb was empty. All that was left were his burial linens.

Jesus then appears to Mary Magdelene and tells her to go tell the disciples that He is alive. So she does. Mary Magdelene went to the disciples and told them what she had found. The tomb was empty. That Jesus was alive.

But did the disciples go and search after Jesus? Did they rush out to find him? No. It wasn’t that they did not trust in Mary’s words, it was simply that they had seen Jesus die on the cross and were skeptical that he could be alive. So they locked themselves in a room because they were scared of the Jewish leaders and did nothing. They had narrowly escaped arrest with Jesus in Gethsemane; they realized that as the disciples of one who was regarded as a dangerous agitator they would be under suspicion; and they were probably consulting together on how best to withdraw from the city without attracting the notice of the temple police or Roman authorities. The doors were locked because they were afraid that the Jews would send police for them as they had for Jesus.

I think we miss a lot from this passage when we refer to this story as all about the Doubting Thomas. Thomas wasn’t the only one doubting here. They were all doubting. They were all unbelieving.

But the message of this passage is less about doubt, than it is about how to believe. The disciples should have been able to believe in the resurrection when Mary Magdelene told them that Jesus was alive. And Thomas should have been able to believe in the resurrection when the disciples told him that Jesus was alive. Their limitations on God and on Jesus were too large. They were skeptical that he could have risen from the dead.

Jesus did not give up on them though. Jesus desired for them to believe and thus appeared to them showing his wounds and explaining to them that he was alive.

For the disciples, Jesus appears in the locked room with them. Can you imagine how crazy this must have been. Jesus did not use the door; he just appeared. Here are the disciples sitting in a locked room, scared, and likely discussing the reports of Mary Magdelene. They are asking themselves how could Jesus be alive when they all watched as he died on the cross. As they are talking, Jesus appears in the room. They had to think he was going to scold them for their unbelief but he simply says “peace be with you.” This was and still is the everyday greeting of Jews in Palestine. The disciples had to be shocked. At first they probably thought they were seeing a ghost. But Jesus shows them his wounds to convince them of his identity and the Bible says they were overjoyed. The promise of Jesus, made to them in the Upper Room, that he would come to them and turn their grief into joy was now fulfilled. The disciples were now overjoyed, not only to see him again, but also to realize that he was undefeated by death and that his claims were validated. Their leader, their master, their friend was alive.

Thomas was not there when Jesus appeared to the disciples so they told him about what had happened. And as the disciples had been skeptical of Mary Magdelene’s report, Thomas was skeptical of the disciples’. The bible describes Thomas as a loyal, outspoken, and rather pessimistic person who was uncertain of the future but closely attached to Jesus. To the disciples’ descriptions of what they had seen, Thomas says, “whatever.” Unless I see it I will not believe it. Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger in where the nails were, and put my hand into his side. I will not believe.

Aren’t these just the types of things that we would probably say? It is easy to relate to Thomas’ comments.

So what happens? Well a week later Thomas is in the locked room with the disciples and Jesus appears to them exactly as he had earlier and exactly how the disciples had described to Thomas. Jesus looks at Thomas and says, “put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side.”

This had to be shocking to Thomas. Not only did Jesus just appear in the room but he knew exactly what Thomas said he needed in order to believe. Jesus then says. “DON’T BE FAITHLESS ANY LONGER. BELIEVE!” Literally Jesus says, “Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Stop doubting and believe. Jesus took Thomas from despairing unbelief and offered him the positive evidence on which he could build an enduring faith. Jesus reveals that the risen Lord and the crucified are one.

Thomas’ response is particularly important in this passage too. Thomas says, “My Lord and my God.” Not master, not leader, not merely Lord, BUT my God. Nobody had previously addressed Jesus like this. The most notorious doubter did not simply acknowledge that Jesus had risen from the dead, but expresses that he is indeed God. Thomas recognizes that Jesus and God the father are one. Jesus was God and should be addressed in the language of adoring worship. Jesus had come into the world to fulfill the Father’s purpose – to speak his words, to do his works, and lay down his life for the salvation of humans; now he expected them to continue his work in his absence by delivering his message.

Jesus goes on to say, “you believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven't seen me and believe anyway.” In this blessing, John reminds everyone – the first readers of his gospel who were one generation removed from these resurrection appearances, and all later readers, no matter how many centuries removed – that knowledge of and relationship with Jesus is not limited to his first disciples. As bold as Jesus’ gesture to Thomas was when he showed up and told him he could put his fingers in Jesus’ wounds, Jesus’ care for the faith of those who come after Thomas, who will not see, is equally without limit and measure.

In this passage, Jesus urges Thomas to move from a position of unbelief to belief. This story does not focus on skepticism, but on the grounds of faith. On what it means to believe.

The truth of Scripture lies in its power to make the presence of God in Jesus available to the faith community in each successive generation. We are asked to take our own step of faith. From unbelief to belief. All of those of us who were not witnesses to the resurrection and life of Christ are called blessed for our faith without seeing. But to be called blessed we must truly believe. We must overcome our doubts and come to God in faith.

We cannot simply say that we believe in Jesus, but must be willing to put our full trust in him. To allow him to carry us across life’s obstacles. If we say that we believe, but fail to trust him when things are scary or difficult our faith is weak. Belief requires action. We must rely on Christ’s promises and let go of control of our life.

Perhaps you have heard the story of Blondin, a famous tightrope walker who lived in the latter part of the 19^th Century. Once Blondin strung a tightrope across the Niagara Falls. Thousands of curious onlookers had gathered to watch Blondin walk the tightrope from the Canadian to the American side of the falls. Thousands cheered his name as he stepped on the high rope.

Silencing the crowd, Blondin said to them, “I am going to walk across the Niagara Falls on the tightrope, but this time I will carry someone on my shoulders. Do you believe in me?

“We believe! We Believe!” shouted the excited crowd.

“Then which of you will be the lucky person to have Blondin carry him across the falls?” Blondin asked.

Heavy silence fell over the crowd. But in a few minutes one of the onlookers moved slowly toward Blondin, climbed up on his shoulders, and had the thrill of his life as Blondin carried him safely across to the American side of the falls.

All the people agreed that they believed Blondin could do it, but only one man believed in Blondin enough to trust him.

Do we believe in Jesus enough to give up control and let him carry our life on his shoulders? Are we skeptical of the truth contained in the Scriptures? Do we let doubt prohibit us from living boldly for God? Do we lock ourselves in a room that protects us from spreading God’s message because we are afraid Jesus won’t live up to his promises?

God calls us to be believers. To trust in the reports of the eye witnesses to the resurrection. To lean our whole weight upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we pray, let us ask that God give us the strength and faith to overcome our doubts and put our trust in him. To allow God to carry us on his shoulders over the struggles and temptations of this life.

Lord, help us to be believers. Believers that trust in your goodness and holiness. Help us to overcome our doubts and lean our whole weight upon you. Give us the strength to relinquish control over our lives and to allow you to carry us through life’s difficulties. We pray this in your name. Amen.