John 10

Richard Townend

What does it mean for you to live life to the full? In one of the most frequently used verses in the Bible, Jesus says these fantastic words:

'I have come in order that you might have life-life in all its fullness.' John 10:10

Looking at those words, it's easy to see how they could be misinterpreted. Some people may see living life to the full as spending every waking hour in church meetings. Some may see it as jumping off bridges attached to a bungee rope and other adrenaline fuelled activities. Others may see it as travelling around the world and observing different cultures. Some people may see it simply as filling life with as much as they possibly can.

What does it mean for you to be 'at peace'? It's probably something quite different from living life to the full! In simple terms, we think of peace as the absence of strife.

But actually, 'peace' and 'life in all it's fullness' are one and the same thing. Young's Concordance offers the word 'completeness' as an alternative to shalom (the Hebrew word for peace, which appears hundreds of times throughout the Bible).

So as Jesus says, 'I have come in order that you might have life-life in all its fullness,' we can understand that God wants to bring healing and wholeness to a broken world through his shalom.

How can we live life to the full? To get an insight into this, we need to take a look at the whole of John chapter 10, and not just the nice memory verse.

John 10 is a chapter about sheep. Jesus talked about sheep a lot, as they were a unit of wealth as well as a source of food, drink and clothes in the largely rural communities where Jesus taught. In this passage, Jesus talks about the sanctuary of the sheep pen, (v2-3) and compares himself to a shepherd protecting his sheep from the attack of wolves (v12). 'All who come in through me will be saved. Through me they will come and go and find pasture.' (v9).

Crucially, in verse 9, Jesus isn't inviting us to play it safe and stay in the sheep pen. He is encouraging us to go and find pasture, and assuring us of his presence when we venture out.

The danger we face as Christians is that we don't allow ourselves beyond the gate of the sheep pen. We fearfully watch the world around us as we gather in the safe haven of church meetings. We look on at a distance at the wolves lurking in the shadows, but we don't engage.

It's a bit like going to watch a film in 3D. We can choose not to wear the glasses, and watch 2D characters in a 2D world as we sit eating popcorn. Or we can put on the glasses and enter into that world too.

I remember going snorkelling in the Red Sea a few years ago. For the first day of the holiday, I was fearful of going in the sea, and was quite content to watch from above the water, with my feet safely on the pier. I could still see the fish below, but I wasn't in their world. When I took the plunge, everything changed. A kaleidoscope of colour and life exploded around me. Everything was in 3D and it felt great.

Living life to the full is about stepping out into the world and experiencing life in 3D in the knowledge that the Good Shepherd is keeping watch over and guiding us (v14). It's about engaging and interacting with the last, the least and the lost of God's beloved people. It's about sharing faith, hope and love.

So let's live life to the full today, and watch God's shalom break out around us.