Abundant life
One day a farmer’s donkey fell down a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway, so it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realised what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off so the dirt was beneath him, and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off!
It’s always good to have a story with a happy ending !
Through the Church calendar now there are a huge number of Saints Days and days allocated to all kinds of different causes – there is Sea Sunday, Education Sunday, Homelessness Sunday and literally loads more. There can be far too many supposedly special days in the Church calendar, but sometimes the number of Saints days provides a very useful theme for sermons.
Today in the calendar a lady called Edith Stein is to be remembered – many, perhaps all of you, will never have heard of her, and then on Friday there is a day set for remembering the work of Maximillian Kolbe, rather better known.
The two were linked by a couple of things – firstly they were both Christians, and secondly both died in Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Edith Stein was born a Jew, but later became an atheist. When she was 30, she converted to Christianity. As the war became more intense and the persecution of the Jews began to get worse, she fled to Holland, but even there she didn’t find safety and she was arrested as a Jew and sent to Auschwitz where, at the age of 50, she was killed.
The Germans didn’t recognise her conversion – once a Jew, always a Jew was their firm belief. The Jews were a race beyond redemption as far as they were concerned.
Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Priest, arrested by the Germans for sheltering Jews he was also sent to Auschwitz. While he was there a man from his barracks disappeared, presumably he had escaped. To try and deter further escape attempts, the Deputy Camp Commandant, ordered 10 men to be chosen to starve to death. When one of the chosen men cried out worrying about his family and what would become of them Kolbe offered to take his place.
During his time in the death cell he led the men in songs and prayers much to the amazement of guards outside. After 3 weeks the 47 year old Priest was killed by a lethal injection – guards have reported that to the end he remained calm and prayerful.
Another similarity between Edith Stein and Maximilian Kolbe is that both well understood the passage from the gospel that we heard this evening (John 10:1-10). Jesus was addressing his disciples and created this picture of him being the good shepherd of the sheep, of a flock who understood their need to follow and to trust, knowing that the shepherd, however it might appear at certain times, would lead them to ultimate safety.
Life can be hard at times, interspersed with hopefully many times of joy, there will inevitably be some bad times, but at times like that we must never forget the promise of Jesus to give life, and not just the ability to cope with life, but to give us abundant life.
Edith Stein and Maximilian Kolbe sacrificed their earthly lives, knowing that it was not the end for them. Called into God’s great glory they would enjoy their eternal heavenly rest. Of course today should have been the 4th day of the Ashes Test Match at Headingley – as those who follow cricket or have just watched the news you will know that it ended soon after lunch yesterday with Australia claiming a huge victory, but even yesterday as the Australians began the day confident that the game would soon be won, and with no real doubt about the final result, there were some irritations – 2 of the England batsman held them up for a while – it was a problem to get them out, and even though the Australians knew the game was won, there must have been some frustration for a while.
Life will throw at each of us much greater frustrations at times, but the ultimate victory has already been won – in the words of Paul in his letter to the Romans, ‘there is nothing that can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.’
Yesterday morning when I was in Church for the 8 o’clock service, I commented to one of the people there that it was a lovely morning. I did this a while ago as well, and yesterday I had the same response from the man – ‘Every morning is lovely, it’s just the weather that changes’ !
And how true that is of a life lived with Jesus – there will be times when life seems hard, when it seems we have nowhere to turn, but like Edith Stein and Maximilian Kolbe we can, even then, continue to celebrate a victory that has already been won for us – living our lives in a relationship with God allows us to celebrate the joys of eternal life, but it also enables us to have hope today, and tomorrow and the next day !
In this passage from John’s gospel that we heard this evening, Jesus didn’t promise eternal life – he promised abundant life, something which is much more immediate, much more for the here and now, and it’s up to us to claim that abundant life, and we can do that safe in the knowledge that the great shepherd surrounds us, his sheep, with an unbreakable love which knows no limits, and upon which we can rely at all times. AMEN
It’s always good to have a story with a happy ending !
Through the Church calendar now there are a huge number of Saints Days and days allocated to all kinds of different causes – there is Sea Sunday, Education Sunday, Homelessness Sunday and literally loads more. There can be far too many supposedly special days in the Church calendar, but sometimes the number of Saints days provides a very useful theme for sermons.
Today in the calendar a lady called Edith Stein is to be remembered – many, perhaps all of you, will never have heard of her, and then on Friday there is a day set for remembering the work of Maximillian Kolbe, rather better known.
The two were linked by a couple of things – firstly they were both Christians, and secondly both died in Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Edith Stein was born a Jew, but later became an atheist. When she was 30, she converted to Christianity. As the war became more intense and the persecution of the Jews began to get worse, she fled to Holland, but even there she didn’t find safety and she was arrested as a Jew and sent to Auschwitz where, at the age of 50, she was killed.
The Germans didn’t recognise her conversion – once a Jew, always a Jew was their firm belief. The Jews were a race beyond redemption as far as they were concerned.
Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Priest, arrested by the Germans for sheltering Jews he was also sent to Auschwitz. While he was there a man from his barracks disappeared, presumably he had escaped. To try and deter further escape attempts, the Deputy Camp Commandant, ordered 10 men to be chosen to starve to death. When one of the chosen men cried out worrying about his family and what would become of them Kolbe offered to take his place.
During his time in the death cell he led the men in songs and prayers much to the amazement of guards outside. After 3 weeks the 47 year old Priest was killed by a lethal injection – guards have reported that to the end he remained calm and prayerful.
Another similarity between Edith Stein and Maximilian Kolbe is that both well understood the passage from the gospel that we heard this evening (John 10:1-10). Jesus was addressing his disciples and created this picture of him being the good shepherd of the sheep, of a flock who understood their need to follow and to trust, knowing that the shepherd, however it might appear at certain times, would lead them to ultimate safety.
Life can be hard at times, interspersed with hopefully many times of joy, there will inevitably be some bad times, but at times like that we must never forget the promise of Jesus to give life, and not just the ability to cope with life, but to give us abundant life.
Edith Stein and Maximilian Kolbe sacrificed their earthly lives, knowing that it was not the end for them. Called into God’s great glory they would enjoy their eternal heavenly rest. Of course today should have been the 4th day of the Ashes Test Match at Headingley – as those who follow cricket or have just watched the news you will know that it ended soon after lunch yesterday with Australia claiming a huge victory, but even yesterday as the Australians began the day confident that the game would soon be won, and with no real doubt about the final result, there were some irritations – 2 of the England batsman held them up for a while – it was a problem to get them out, and even though the Australians knew the game was won, there must have been some frustration for a while.
Life will throw at each of us much greater frustrations at times, but the ultimate victory has already been won – in the words of Paul in his letter to the Romans, ‘there is nothing that can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.’
Yesterday morning when I was in Church for the 8 o’clock service, I commented to one of the people there that it was a lovely morning. I did this a while ago as well, and yesterday I had the same response from the man – ‘Every morning is lovely, it’s just the weather that changes’ !
And how true that is of a life lived with Jesus – there will be times when life seems hard, when it seems we have nowhere to turn, but like Edith Stein and Maximilian Kolbe we can, even then, continue to celebrate a victory that has already been won for us – living our lives in a relationship with God allows us to celebrate the joys of eternal life, but it also enables us to have hope today, and tomorrow and the next day !
In this passage from John’s gospel that we heard this evening, Jesus didn’t promise eternal life – he promised abundant life, something which is much more immediate, much more for the here and now, and it’s up to us to claim that abundant life, and we can do that safe in the knowledge that the great shepherd surrounds us, his sheep, with an unbreakable love which knows no limits, and upon which we can rely at all times. AMEN
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