Jesus’ Abundant Life in Context

Jesus talked about the abundant life in context. It is not a random saying. It happens as part of a broader story. So if we want to understand what Jesus meant, we have to consider that story. That is the goal of these posts.

What did Jesus really mean when he said:

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

John 10:10, NRSV

Abundance vs. Prosperity

It is easy to not take Jesus’ offer of abundant life in context. We take 21st Century understandings of abundance and apply them to Jesus’ words. When this is done, we end up with the Prosperity Gospel, a quintessentially American theology. Essentially, it teaches that prosperity is a result of faithfulness. Joel Osteen, pastor of American’s largest church, tells Oprah from his Texas mansion, this is the meaning of abundant life.

But what does it mean for those who are not prosperous? For those who do not live in a mansion? Have you ever had Oprah come to you?

Even if we widen the definition of prosperity to comfortable provision and health, there are issues. This is the subject Prosperity Gospel researcher Dr. Kate Bowler, explores in her article, Death, the Prosperity Gospel and Me.

Ultimately, this teaching is rooted in the idea of meritocracy. Meritocracy is fundamentally unbiblical. To read meritocracy into the Bible fails to take the text seriously. I will take this up in depth two posts from now.

By taking something said in an ancient society as part of a larger teaching and striping its context, the Prosperity Gospel changes the meaning of the text. It claims something the Bible does not say as divine truth. At best, it is a casual use of the text. More often than not, it is a dangerous one.

Making the Bible Dangerous

Why is it dangerous? Think about everyone who does not experience prosperity. They are left with four options:

• Live desperately in anticipation of a false hope.
• Pretend prosperity exists where it does not.
• Assume that they lack the necessary faith.
• Conclude that divine love is not for them.

I cannot tell you how many people have come to me over the years bringing one of these conclusion. There are those desperately waiting and afraid to ask what is wrong with them. Others who are exhausted by the facade. Still more asking what else they can do. Then there are those who disappear because God is not for them.

This danger is best expressed by my dear friend and author K. J. Ramsey in her book, This Too Shall Last: Finding Grace When Suffering Lingers:

“Already exhausted, we sink under the weight of existing as an aberration of the abundant life our Christian friends and families want us to project.”

While you wait for her May 2020 book release, check out her podcast.

The Abundant Life In Context

As an alternative to being casual or dangerous I suggest we start by recognizing the saying’s context. The remainder of this post will explore three levels of context should we consider when seeking to understand Jesus’ abundant life.

• The whole of John’s Gospel
• The Feast of Booths (John 7:1-10:21)
• The account of the man born blind (John 9:1-10:21)

The Gospel According to John

The Bible shares four accounts of the life of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Because we often think of the Bible first as a history book, it is natural to conflate them. Something happens in Mark that confuses us, so we look to Matthew or John for clarification.

However, when we do this, we risk losing the nuance that each author brings to the writing process. Even when the Synoptic (or “same eye”) Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) use the exact same Greek sentences, they use those words to convey a certain perspective. In order to understand each author’s nuanced perspective, we need to read each account individually. In other words, we need to honor the context of that particular account. The reality and value of these variations are central in my ebook, Connecting the Dots of the Bible. You can get a copy by signing up for my email list.

So, at the broadest level, to read the abundant life in context, we should start with John’s Gospel. We need at least a general understanding of what John is up to.

From a 10,000 foot perspective, John uses symbols, sayings, images, and events to tell the story of Jesus. My Greek professor described John as, “Shallow enough for a child to swim in, but deep enough for an elephant to drown in.”

The John a Child Swims In

I would say the parts were we find the child swimming includes the most memorable stories:

• the wedding at Cana (2:1-12)
• healing on the Sabbath (5:1-18)
• the feeding of the five thousand (6:1-15)

It also includes the most iconic verses:

• “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” – John 3:16, NRSV
• “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.‘“ – John 6:35, NSRV
• “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’” – John 8:12, NSRV

These are only three examples from each category in a book filled with memorable moments that capture our imagination. Because of these parts, John is often recommended as the first book of the Bible to read.

The John an Elephant Drowns In

So where does the drowning elephant come in? Everything surrounding those memorable bits where the author sets out to explain what those memorable events and phrases mean.

The challenge of John is simple. Take something a child can swim in like, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” And learning to hear it through the parts an elephant can drown in. My favorite commentary on John honors this dynamic. It expounds upon the various people, symbols, and images rather than moving through John in the traditional verse-by-verse format.

For a briefer and more linear overview of John, here’s an 8-minute summary video:

The Feast of Booths (John 7:1-8:1)

As the video above identifies, there are smaller units of context within the larger context of John.

One of the ways John self-organizes is around Jesus’ trips to Jerusalem for Jewish feasts. There are three feasts (Passover, Weeks, and Booths) which require every adult male to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

In John, Jesus’ miracles and teachings during a feast correlate to the themes of the feast. While the Feast of Booths officially ends with John 8:1, the text implies that in John 10:10 Jesus has yet to leave Jerusalem. This means the significance of the feast is still hanging in the air and coursing through the minds of people.

To help understand this context, learn Religions offers a readable overview of a feast that focuses on divine provision. It retells the story of Israel’s journey from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. As a bit of foreshadowing, we will see movement from the void to the abundance of presence. In this context, Jesus words declare, “You are now living in the land flowing with milk and honey!” It is hard to get more abundant than that.

The Local Story (John 9:1-10:21)

We can narrow the local context even further. There is a clear break between John 8:58 and 9:1. In one moment, Jesus hides himself as he leaves the temple. Next thing we know, he is walking and encounters the man born blind. Narratively, everything connects until John 10:21. There is the healing of the blind man, the response from the crowds and religious leaders, and further teaching from Jesus. In John 10:22, it is three months later and Jesus going back to Jerusalem for Hanukkah. Therefore the local textual context of John 10:10 begins in John 9:1 and extends to John 10:21.

That leaves us with sixty-two verses loaded with nuance and imagery. What comes next is a series of posts unpacking those verses. As I originally post this, I have the first six largely written. I have not made it past John 9:5.