Serving Bread

For my last message of the semester, I gave a Christmas message out of John 10.10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” It is not a traditional text on the Christmas season, but to me it encapsulates why Jesus came.

Using an illustration of sheep-pens, Jesus sees himself as an excellent shepherd in contrast to mediocre care-takers and even the thieves who have malice in their plans toward the sheep. This verse has probably served as one of the core / life verses for me. It is a verse that urges me to receive and live in the abundance of life that Jesus offers.

There are many ways to live our lives. There are plenty of philosophies and economic models that can shape how we live our lives. None of the ways we live our lives come close to what Jesus offers. Tupac Shakur captures a life paradigm that seems rampant in our society. In “Runnin’ (Dying 2 Live)” the chorus laments, “Why am I dying to live if I’m living to die?”

We live for certain moments—whether it be the holidays or the weekends—allowing our day to day lives to simply be fodder for those brief moments that give us pleasure. We don’t enjoy life. We just enjoy brief moments.

Jesus offers life that promises abundance. Why did Jesus come? He came that we may have life and have it abundantly. Our trajectory gets interrupted and in Jesus we receive better life. There are many ways this gift manifests itself in our lives. For example,

• We enjoy the moments between the moments, not just the events themselves.
• We recognize more and more a God-given meaning to our lives.
• We enjoy relationships.
• We enjoy God’s love in our lives.
• We look for the ways that God speaks to us and leads us.
• We enjoy obedience and living right in the sight of God.
• We seek justice and peace in our relationships, in our world and the world around us.

Mary-Jane Watson, in “Spiderman 2,” captures this God-given life in her appeal to Peter Parker to consider a romantic relationship:

I know you think we can’t be together, but can’t you respect me enough to let me make my own decision? I know there’ll be risks but I want to face them with you. It’s wrong that we should be only half alive… half of ourselves. I love you. So here I am - standing in your doorway. I have always been standing in your doorway. Isn’t it about time somebody saved your life?

Mary-Jane is right. It is wrong that we should be only half alive. We need someone to save our lives and give us the good life. And Jesus is standing in the doorway—he has always been standing in the doorway—ready to offer us the good life.

Socrates said, “Not life, but the good life is to be chiefly valued.” This good life is only offered in Jesus. In this Christmas season, we celebrate the one who has come into our lives to offer us the good life.

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