that Abundant Life
We are in the Epiphany Season, and I’m intrigued with our Collect for the Day:
Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in Jesus.
We ARE free from the bondage of sin, freed in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus; freed in baptism, freed again weekly in priestly absolution, but what is this “abundant life”?
“The abundant life” is an allusion to John 10:10, where Jesus is confronted by legalistic Pharisees who are outraged that he's violated the Sabbath by healing a man born blind, healing on the Sabbath. In retort, Jesus claims as his own sheep, all outcast, marginalized people, the blind and deaf and dumb and lame, claims them as his own sheep, saying, “I AM their Gate, I AM their Good Shepherd.” And then, contrasting himself to the Pharisees, Jesus says “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
What IS abundant life? It’s that the man born blind and given his sight, is not an outcast, but a beloved child of God: life abundant!
The N.T. Greek word is περισσὸν, which means “abundant, beyond, advantage, further, excessive, superior, greater, excellent, superfluous, extraordinary.”
And what does it mean for US to pray for the abundant life? Wealth? Power? Prestige? Luxury? A great personality? Safety? Happiness? Food, shelter, clothing, medical care and good health?
It is none of that! Those are the values of the Pharisees! Much has been made of a vile, greedy, selfish, profane obscenity called The Prosperity Gospel, that God wants you to be rich. God does not want you to be rich, God wants you to be like Jesus, in a life of love and sacrifice, and yet, how is that abundance?
And with what is happening to others, in Gaza, Ukraine - - and cold, hungry, hurting, helpless, homeless people throughout the world, are we to feel that God has blessed US with abundant life when other humans are desperate? That’s obtuse blasphemy!
What is “the abundant life”?
You have to see, you have to perceive, you have to realize it. In my own life and Time, I have found that it varies. Whether my life is abundant depends on what I SEE. Being here with you this morning, my life is abundant. Years ago, serving Holy Nativity School as chaplain and religion teacher, my life was abundant. Raising our children and growing old with Linda, life is abundant.
Abundance comes as an Epiphany, a realization, an empowerment.
I've told you this story before: thirty-some years ago a man in our town was in his boat with his daughter, running up the Apalachicola River, when the boat’s motor began to sputter. Jim turned his attention from driving, around to check the motor, and in that split-second of inattention, the boat crashed into a piling. Monica was thrown from the boat into another piling. Unconscious, rushed to hospital, she was put on life support. In the ER the doctors told her daddy that she was brain dead. The most beloved person in his life, and Jim has to say “I guess you might as well pull the plug,” and they did, and Monica stopped breathing. She was 19, same as my own daughter. I was told about it Sunday morning at coffee hour. It was crushing, our little town was in tears.
The family were not members of any local church, and there was speculation: who would officiate Monica’s funeral? A doting father of beloved daughters, I thought it would be the most agonizing thing a minister could be asked to do, but I did not worry about it, and Sunday afternoon I drove to Panama City to see my parents, returning to Apalachicola a day or so later.
Tuesday morning as I arrived home, Linda met me on the front porch and said, “You need to sit down.” She said, “Monica’s daddy was here: he does not want anyone but YOU to officiate her funeral.” I collapsed in sobs. I could not do this.
The funeral would be two days later, in Trinity Episcopal Church. I met the family at the funeral home, and prayed with them at the girl’s open casket as her daddy touched her face and held her hand, and wept.
It was gut-wrenching. Facing the funeral of a beloved daughter who was so much like my own daughter, I was distraught, I could not sleep, I could hardly think.
The next morning my phone rang, and Joe, a dear friend, a retired Presbyterian minister, said, “Tom, I want to come see you.” He came, and we sat in the living room of the rectory, and Joe said, “Tom, I know how you are feeling about Monica’s funeral, and I’ve come to pray with you.”
And I turned it over to him.
He prayed, "Lord, this is overwhelming Tom, and Tom is not sufficient; but YOU are sufficient. Tom is not sufficient, but YOU ARE sufficient, and your power working in Tom can make Tom sufficient.”
Joe prayed, and God empowered me. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it abundantly sufficient to keep on keeping on.
The “abundant life”.
What is it? If you do not know, but want to know, you have to work it out for yourself. You may discover, as I have, that it’s about how you perceive life, how you face life's encounters. If you know that you are not sufficient to life’s challenges, remember: Jesus came with power, that you might have life abundantly.
Abundant life is Epiphany, a realization. There’s a word for it in Mark’s gospel: chapter 9, verse one, Jesus says,
“There are some standing here who will not taste death before they SEE that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
SEE - - the NT Greek word is ἴδωσιν (ὁράω) - - I see, I perceive, realize, understand, experience, see spiritually with the mind’s eye, discern, comprehend. The abundant life is all around you. The abundant life is conveyed, stepped into, seen, acted on, and passed on. It is empowering. It comes to you by realization, Epiphany: the lightbulb coming on over your head: AHA!
The abundant life is the kingdom of God that you step into, as the Holy Spirit enters you at baptism: the life of Jesus, the Way of the Cross, a life of love and sacrifice. In the abundant life, we take God’s love for granted. Taking God’s love for granted means you do not worry about God being obsessed with your sins; you do not worry about death, or afterlife in some religious vision of streets of gold; you take up the life of Jesus, which is the kingdom of God here and now.
The abundant life is knowing God loves you - - the knowledge and love of God, conveyed, realized, and sufficient, by the power of God working in you, as the power of God worked in Jesus.
The abundant life is best-conceived at Ephesians 3, verses 20 and 21:
"Now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to his power that worketh in us, unto him be dominion in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end."
And as Father Steve says, “God love you. Amen.”
+++++++++++++++
Sermon/Homiletic endeavor by the Rev Tom Weller in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida on February 4, 2024, the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany. Text: the Collect for the Day.
With apologies: I preached this sermon at both eight o'clock and ten-thirty services. After eight o'clock I took my notes away and did some reworking. When I was done, I put it back together but got the pages out of order - - so - - - sorry. TW+
Art: Abundant Life, 2019, Alex K Mason