After reading this portion of John’s gospel, I recalled a beautiful phrase I heard often when I was growing up.  It is a Hebrew phrase that all of us might want to make part of our vocabulary. The phrase is “L’Chaim!” and it means “to life!” It is a toast to life, a salute to the incredible miracle of being among the living. It is a word which recognizes life, rejoices in it, affirms it, and does so in such a way as to include the all-important note of celebration and appreciation. Such a phrase is very appropriate for us today especially after hearing Jesus say, “I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly.” 

Abundant life. That phrase, as much as any in the Bible, captures what most people I know — including myself — long for. Not just more life, but abundant life. Not just more stuff, but life — real life. Jesus in this passage makes a promise, a huge promise; a life-changing promise.
However, as we all know, Jesus is not the only one to offer promises to us. Most of the ads we’re subjected to day in and day out also promise abundant life, but it is abundance understood precisely as more — more money, more possessions, more cars, more Face Book Friends, more…. You can fill in the blanks as well as I can of all the things you hear each day that promise you abundant life.

Just think of yourself in front of the television hearing things like: Thin thighs in thirty days. Sure! Make a delicious chicken dinner in ten minutes. Right! Be the owner of the most beautiful music in the world; only $10.99 per month. We have been lead to disbelief, especially in grand promises. And we become anxious and afraid when we feel we don’t measure up to the false standards of the world.  The chicken/thigh/music people don’t have the power. They just say they do.

Of course there’s a cost to buying into all that false advertisement. They are designed to make you believe you are insufficient, that you are not good enough and do not have enough; that you are not worthy of love and respect and happiness unless you purchase whatever they are trying to sell you. You see ads work precisely by creating in us a sense of lack, a sense of profound insufficiency. And the only way to satisfy that lack is to buy the product in question, and that’s the lure of those kinds of advertisements.

Now, against this backdrop, hear again the promise of Jesus: “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Jesus doesn’t just make a promise here; he puts his money where his mouth is. Or, more accurately, he puts his life where his promise is: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”  But why? Why did Jesus, the good shepherd lay down his life? He did it to tell us that we are, in fact, enough.  Jesus didn’t die in order to make some kind of payment to God or to satisfy God’s wrath.  Jesus, in John’s Gospel, is the Revealer, the One who comes to make the invisible God visible and the unapproachable God accessible. Jesus comes to reveal that God loves the whole world, no exceptions. Jesus comes to tell us that we are already loved just as we are, that we are enough, that we need no shoes or books or car or reputation or lover or high status job or big bank account or list of achievements on a resume or a whole bunch of letters after our name or anything else to be deserving of God’s love. We are all recipients of the free gift of God’s unconditional and unending love.
 So many messages are trying to tell us that we are not enough, that we are not worthy of love, that we need to earn acceptance. And it’s our job and privilege to name those messages a lie and to point to the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep — for us! — Simply out of love.  

Jesus didn’t come just for the original group of disciples. He came also for us, and we are now invited to hear and believe this message of grace and acceptance and to share it with each other and all those we meet.
Because it is hard for some people to believe Jesus’ message of love; it needs to be said again and again and not just by the person standing behind this pulpit, but by all of Jesus’ disciples; this message of God’s love needs to be said by you to others. And so I’d like to suggest that right now here in this place each one of us turn to the person sitting next to you and say these simple words, “You are a beloved child of God, and you are enough.” That’s it. And after we hear those wonderful words; return the favor and say them back to the person who first spoke to you. You are a beloved child of God, and you are enough.  So let’s start right now.  If you are not sitting next to someone, feel free to get up and move.

What a blessing it is to hear those words spoken to us. And what a blessing it is to say them to another person. What we just experienced is what it means to be the Body of Christ — to remind each other of God’s promises and speak Jesus’ message of love, acceptance, and grace to each other. And, who knows, maybe having had the chance to practice saying these words to each here in the safety of the sanctuary we’ll find the courage to say them to others as well. Wouldn’t that be a great way to share the blessings of Christ with family, friends, and neighbors?   It all starts here tonight as we remind each other of the love and sacrifice of the Good Shepherd and that we are enough, enough to love, enough to die for, enough to live for.  Now let’s go out beyond the church doors and spread the good news of L’Chaim; to life, to abundant life for all as promised by our Good Shepherd Jesus Christ.  Amen.