"The Abundant Life"

   

Can anyone here please tell me what the meaning of a riddle is?  Here are three:  The answers are at the end of the message today. 

1. You answer me, although I never ask you questions. What am I?
 

2. You can't keep this until you have given it. What is it?

3. Some months have 30 days, some months have 31 days; how many have 28?

Can anyone here please tell me what their understanding of the meaning of the word “Metaphor is?” Here are four examples:  Some metaphors by famous people:   

Pablo Picasso said this “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

Vincent Van Gogh said this:  “Conscience is a man’s compass.”

Bob Dylan said: “Chaos is a friend of mine.”

Albert Einstein said this: “All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree.”

May 7 2017:  Readings   John 10: 1-10,  1 Peter 2: 19-25,  Psalm 23.

Well according to the dictionary a riddle is: a question or statement intentionally phrased so to make you think, it requires ingenuity in discovering its answer or meaning.  

Metaphor: a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to illustrate a comparison.  In biblical terms a metaphor is generally used by Jesus to expose a hidden truth.  This may or may not help you but when reading the stories of the bible you should not be looking to prove the story as fact, you should always be looking for the transformative truth which is always there hidden within the content of the story. 

Jesus was a master of the riddle and the metaphor. His stories and parables are full to overflowing with hidden transformative meaning and there is always something more to be discovered.  The key here folks is this:  you have to read the stories and scriptures for yourself, so as to discern the metaphors in order to be enlightened.  In fact Jesus not only baffled the wise and religious folk of his time but continues to do that for many clergy including myself and church going folk today.   The wonderful thing about the bible is the discovery of its hidden truths.   Here is one of those truths:  You do not read the bible the bible reads you, meaning the words are living words that meet you where you are in your faith journey. The more honest, open and humble you are about your ego and its illusionary little or false self, the more mature you become in spirit.  This maturity opens a pathway so the stories can reveal deeper truths to you.  The scriptures cannot reveal more to you than you are open to receiving.

May I suggest a little homework for you, read John 10: 1-10 again at your leisure and look for the metaphors and their meaning for you?  Remembering that we are all at different levels of spiritually maturity.  Therefore we may get different meanings from Jesus’ illustrations and that’s ok folks.  Particularly pay attention to the last line as it may be the punch line for the entire parable and its metaphors.  “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

Through the Gospels Jesus claims to provide the critical elements of the abundant life. In fact he makes the claim, “that is why I came in the first place to show you the way, "The Way" is to the abundant life”. It really isn't about after you die it's about the here and now.   

 Many feel the way to an abundant life is through accomplishments, education, personal status and personal wealth or through a series of brownie points by doing good deeds.  But we all know that all the above are temporal.  They will all disappear with our physical death.  So then what is the abundant life?   

When we think about abundance, our tendency is to judge or make a decision based on the world’s standards, which then, I suspect, connects a concept of abundance to affluence. Lifted up, admired, and favored are those whose wealth and riches seem to prove that they’ve done something right, that they are right with God.   Abundance equals affluence.  Believing equals blessings.  Faith leads to fortune.  Caution:  Beware of the PROSPERITY GOSPEL preaching you often hear on the TV that has become so popular today.  It just might be one of the thieves Jesus is speaking about in the passage today.

The meaning of abundant life is a critical question for our time, especially when the basics of life, clean water and eatable food are denied to so many in this world and our natural resources, the life blood of the planet’s life is in jeopardy.  As a result, how the church defines abundance becomes an important aspect of preaching.  Abundant life according to Jesus’ standards is just about the opposite of how abundant gets defined by contemporary or worldly standards.   

Let us never forget that these words of Jesus, “I came that they {meaning you and I} may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).  John’s interpretation of the healing of the man blind from birth – is a man begging for his next meal, a man constantly exposed to the elements, a man without community, alone to fend for himself.  By restoring this man’s sight, Jesus does much more than making him able to see again.  There is a deeper meaning to his story.  In the healing of the man born blind, protection, provision, and presence are now his -- and forever, which is why abundant life from Johns perspective could actually matter.  The whole of the parable is about this abundant life of protection, provision, and presence.  Protection, meaning a life without fear, Jesus is trying to illustrate to us, of whom or what shall you be afraid while in the Shepard’s care?  You are protected!

Provision, all of your basic needs will be met if you enter into this abundant life through the “Gate.” And who is the Gate?  Presence, you are never alone if you keep the awareness of the Lord in your mind at all times.  Not just on Sunday morning, or during devotions in the morning or in the evening but every minute of your awakened day.   That’s it!! That is why he came.   Not to offer observable wealth, nor assumed affluence, not a life of luxury or lavishness. No, it seems that the abundant life, according to Jesus, is:  Protection: 1. Living without any fear, knowing that you will be safe and sound storm or no storm.  Provision: 2.  That everything you need you already have, trusting that your basic needs will always be met.  Presence: 3.  Being present with the Lord all of your waking hours, in other words believing that you are never alone.   Isiah 49: “ I will never forget you my people”  Isn’t that GREAT!                                                            Thanks be to God.  

Answers to the riddles. 
1.  A telephone.

2. A promise.

3. They all do.