The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church
April 30, 2023
4 Easter, Year A
Acts 2:42-47
John 10:1-10
Is it living, or just existence?
Jesus said, “The thief
comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and
have it abundantly.” The thieves Jesus was talking about were all kinds of
folks who would rule over others, promising all sorts of goodies, maybe easy
street, maybe victory over enemies, maybe power, or maybe just solace and a
temporary reprieve from having to feel the difficulties of life. A lot of those
things sound pretty good. Not feeling the difficulties of life for a while,
victory over enemies, easy street, power…those all sound pretty good, and yet
Jesus said the folks peddling those things are thieves coming steal, kill, and
destroy.
Power for one tends to
mean domination over for another. Easy street for one tends to mean subjugation
and oppression for another. Victory for one tends to mean death, defeat, and
despair for another. Not feeling the difficulties of life tends to mean not
dealing with the difficulties of life and sinking deeper and deeper into a pit
of resentment, desperation, and fear.
The thief comes only to
steal and kill and destroy.
Following in those ways,
then, leaves us in a life of fear, doesn’t it? Desire for easy street, victory,
and power: fearful that we won’t get it and someone else will. Desire not to
feel, fear of life and actually having to face life. Following in those ways of
the thief, we end up not truly living, but just existing. We want what we don’t
have or can’t have. We’re afraid of losing what we do have. We numb so as not
to have to experience life as it is. The ways of the thief leave us just
existing.
In the midst of our fear
and our sometimes just existing rather than truly living, Jesus said, “I came
that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
In the earliest church,
which we hear about in Acts 2, we’re told that “those who had been baptized
devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of
bread and the prayers.” We’re further told that they spent time together,
shared meals together, had glad and generous hearts, praised God, and had the goodwill
of all the people. That sounds like the total opposite of fearfully existing.
Spending time together, sharing meals with glad and generous hearts, praising
God, and having the goodwill of all the people sounds like truly living, like
the abundant life Jesus came to give.
So, how do we live this
abundant life? I could simply say, “just trust in Jesus,” but we know from
scripture and from our lives that faith without action doesn’t do a whole lot.
In the book of James, such faith without action is even called “dead.”
So, what action makes
our faith alive such that we have the abundant life Jesus came to give. Well,
again in Acts 2, we’re told, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching
and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
That sounds pretty good.
Being together with others, learning about and following the ways of Jesus,
sharing meals and praying together. That sounds like continually turning our
hearts toward God and one another. That sounds like building a community of trust
and love.
There was a man who did
just that in a story Jesus told. He was a powerful man, living on easy street,
managing a rich man’s money, but he was dishonest, and maybe was taking some on
the side. When he was found out and was about to be fired, he went to everyone
who owed the rich man money and reduced the size of their bills. The point of
the story was that when this man lost his power and easy street life, he
learned to rely on the people around him, and they knew they could rely on him
as well. With money and power gone, he quickly built up a community around him,
because that community of people, living in trust and love with one another is
the abundant life Jesus came to give.
Like the man in the
story Jesus told, the people in the early church, were a community that relied
on each other. They lived in abundant life, not on easy street, not with power,
victory, or numbing. They lived an abundant life in community with one another.
That community, that
abundant life takes trust. Abundant life takes letting people in. Abundant life
takes looking out for and depending on one another. The abundant life Jesus
described takes faith and prayer together with those on whom we depend. The
abundant life Jesus describes takes learning and living Jesus’ was.
One of those ways of
Jesus is to cease fighting. We cease fighting, and rather than living against
others, we live for others. In Jesus’ abundant life, we’re not just going it
alone from one thing to the next, but we’re taking action together. We’re not
just reacting to one another, but we’re reaching out in support and love.
In Jesus’ abundant life,
we’re seeking a revolution, not with power and victory over and against others,
but a revolution of life lived together, for one another. A life where we have
ceased fighting and spend our time instead in prayer and fellowship, sharing
meals together, learning and following the ways of Jesus, learning to love and
trust one another.
That’s abundant life.
The power and victory over others, easy street and numbing our pain, that’s not
abundant life. That’s the fearful solitary life of the thief who came only to
steal and kill and destroy. The abundant life of Jesus is love, trust,
community, prayer, fellowship, learning and following the ways of Jesus. The
abundant life of Jesus is a revolution, living for one another, taking action together,
reaching out in support and love, not just existing, but truly living.
