The Fourth Sunday of Easter, 26 April 2026, Austwick, Clapham
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
In a world ruled by thieves and destroyers, what does it mean to have abundant life? Scripture invites us to travel with The Good Shepherd, from whom abundant life flows.
In the biblical world, the image of a ‘shepherd’ is interchangeable with that of a ‘king’. A shepherd is a name which the prophets and the psalmists use to describe a ruler, a leader of the people. The prophet Ezekiel, particularly, lambasts the rulers of Israel for being poor shepherds, self-indulgent and heedless of the needs of their flock, who covet the people’s riches whilst failing to care for the weakest members of their society. [1]
Ezekiel looks forward to the coming of God’s promised Good Shepherd, who will ‘seek out’ his sheep. This is the Good Shepherd who is the subject of Psalm 23. The words of that psalm are so familiar to us that we may need reminding of their full significance and power – for in a world despoiled by high-handed leaders, these verses are an explosion of grace.
We read Ezekiel exclaiming, “Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep”. Contrast those words with this declaration of The Psalmist: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” The Good Shepherd provides everything that his flock needs. [2]
Ezekiel condemns the shepherds who have “not strengthened the weak, not healed the sick, not bound up the injured, not brought back the strayed, not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them.” How different an experience life is for the person who knows The Good Shepherd, who can proclaim, with the Psalmist, that “He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.”
Whilst this Good Shepherd “leads me in right paths… for his name’s sake”, Ezekiel laments a people who “were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals.”
The Good Shepherd in Ezekiel’s prophecies cries in sadness, “My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them.” This may recall for you Matthew’s description of Jesus, that ‘When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’ [3]
And so, in his own words, Jesus, this Good Shepherd, gathers his flock and invites them to follow him through the Sheep Gate. As they make their way towards the slaughterhouse he walks with them, promising to stay with them through their sufferings until together they reach a place of healing. He journeys alongside them in their struggles, through their losses, until he brings them at last to a place of abundance.
Whereas the poor shepherding of corrupt and self-interested leaders brings deep harm to the flock of the world, Jesus invites us to share ‘the abundance that has been there all the time. Christ the Lamb of God who lays down his life for us, only to receive it graciously back from God, is the gate to entering a new life in community, one that operates out of such grace. It is a life of sharing with others the abundance of the Creator which has been here all the time.’ [4]
In a world ruled by thieves and destroyers, what does it mean to have abundant life? History shows us how the bad shepherds of the world manipulate people’s desires, rivalries, and fears to set one against the other, scattering the flock to enable these leaders to keep their grip on power and wealth. Consequently, the life of the world is diminished, dis-eased. By contrast, Jesus, The Good Shepherd, shows us how abundant life flows through those who put away self-serving desires and learn to open their hearts to others without prejudice or fear.
I think that we can read Acts Chapter 2 as a companion to Jesus’ concluding words in John 10 about receiving life more abundantly. In a world designed around rivalry, people’s ‘basic experience is that of scarcity. In that well-used example of the children fighting over one toy in the midst of a room full of toys, the children experience that toy they are fighting over as scarce. In the midst of what is actually an abundance, their basic experience is that of scarcity.’ [5]
But Acts Chapter 2 describes those who came together as followers of The Way of Jesus, The Good Shepherd, devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, and discovering that between them they had an abundance:
They were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. [6]
Thus the abundant life is available to all who come together to walk The Way of Jesus, The Good Shepherd.
We see this demonstrated in Christian communities of all kinds, like the Taizé Community which began in occupied France during the Second World War as a sanctuary to war refugees seeking shelter, and which has grown into a movement unifying Christians from across Europe and beyond; or like the worldwide L’Arche community houses, where people with and without intellectual disabilities live together as equals. [7]
We see this abundant life wherever Christians open their homes to strangers, be they neighbours, or homeless, or refugees, or travellers in difficulty. We see this wherever people come together in any kind of mutual, practical, expressions of love and care. For all of this shared experience generates gladness of heart, and all of this open generosity builds goodwill.
In societies where ‘care’ is marketised, increasingly privatised, and available only to those who can afford to buy it, more and more people are coming together to make care free and available to all, gladly offering what they have, and can do, for the well-being of each other. [8]
This is what it means to have abundant life in a world ruled by thieves and destroyers. This is what it means to travel with The Good Shepherd, from whom abundant life flows.
Notes
[1] Walter Brueggemann, On Scripture: Dr. Walter Brueggemann on Ezekiel 34 – Reign of Christ Sunday. Day1, 16 November 2011.
[2] Ezekiel 34; Psalm 23.
[3] Matthew 9.36
[4] Paul Nuechterlein, Girardian Lectionary: Reflections, Year A, Easter 4A.
[5] Paul Nuechterlein, Girardian Lectionary: Reflections, Year A, Easter 4A.
[6] Acts 2.42-47.
[7] Wikipedia: Taize Community, L’Arche.
[8] Valeria Graziano, Marcell Mars and Tomislav Medak, Pirate Care: Acts Against the Criminalization of Solidarity.
