4th Week in Easter Time, Monday – 26th April 2021 — Gospel: John 10,1-10
Overflowing Life
The gospel of John, from start to finish, announces that the sole purpose of God’s creative acts and Christ’s work on the cross is life (zoe). The noun is used thirty-six times and various forms of the verb more than twenty times. “Life” or “eternal life” in John’s Gospel is not just about life after death. It is life that begins here and now. It is “knowing” who Jesus is and what he means. It is “knowing” the voice of the good shepherd who truly cares. It is life in community, finding security and nourishment as part of His flock. It is a special relationship that exists between a shepherd and his sheep. For Jesus said, “I am the door of the sheep.”
The truth is that this life is not found in pleasure, performance, possessions, position or pursuits. It is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus says time and time again that He is the giver of life, the author of life.
- Jn 1,4 – “In him was life, and the life was the light of all people”.
- Jn 3,1 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life”.
- Jn 11,25 – “I am the resurrection and the life, those who believe in me, even though they die, will live”.
- Jn 17,3 – “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”.
- Jn 20,31 – “But these are written so that you may believe … and that through believing you may have life in his name.”
Further, qualifying this life, Jesus said, “have it in abundance.” While life ordinarily is full of struggle, what does it mean ‘the life in abundance’ that Jesus promises? The abundant life that Jesus offers is a rare gift for His followers. It is the fullness of life that abounds in new meaning, new energy, new purpose, new significance, new outlook, new hope, new joy, and new vitality that endures even beyond death.
