UCA SA - Reflection of the Week

“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

by Clive Conway

The fourth Sunday after Easter is often called Good Shepherd Sunday, and in John’s Gospel, Jesus offers a vision of shepherding that is not about control or hierarchy, but about relationship. When he says, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”, Jesus doesn’t refer to sometime in the future, or life after death, but abundant life here and now.

Abundant life is not portrayed as a privilege for a few. In a world dominated by a scarcity mentality; in which money, time, love are limited; we are often driven to fear, anxiety and competition. But here Jesus reframes what abundance looks like. It is belonging. It is dignity. It is safety without walls and freedom without fear. The shepherd image is intimate and grounded: someone who knows each sheep by name, who listens, who stays.

Christians often find themselves wrestling with examples of authority that have been misused or weaponised, and so we should, because Jesus’s vision of leadership is radically different. The “thieves and bandits” of this passage represent systems – religious, political, economic – that take life rather than nurture it. Against these forces, Jesus stands not as a gatekeeper who controls access, but as a gate that opens into a space where we can flourish.

What might this abundant life look like today? For me it looks like communities that refuse to leave anyone behind – in which everyone is fully affirmed, First Nations voices are heard, refugees are welcomed, those living with disability are not treated differently. Abundance is collective, not private. If my life is full while my neighbour’s is diminished, then something of the Gospel has been lost.

Jesus challenges us to ask hard questions: Where do our churches unintentionally restrict life? Whose voices are silenced for the sake of order or comfort? And how might we, as Easter people, become shepherding communities – listening deeply, acting courageously, and trusting that, not only is there enough love to go around, but that love might actually multiply when it is shared?