Ruth Harvey reflects on the meaning of fullness of life for all.

IN John’s Gospel the disciples are confused. Perhaps this is not surprising given the riddles and parables in which Jesus speaks.

Having thoroughly confused them about whether he’s the shepherd or the gate, or both (see John 10: 7 and 11), in John 10: 7 he has another go at explaining the mystery of salvation:

“So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (NRSV)

The focus here is less on who plays which part, whether sheep, shepherd, gate or thief, and more on fullness of life being the route to salvation. Time and again Jesus compels us, his disciples, to use all means possible to ensure abundance, fullness of life for all.

There’s wonderful vintage footage doing the rounds of the Iona Community at the moment from a 1986 edition of Songs of Praise. In it, Iona islanders and Iona Community members choose hymns and songs that reflect their cares and passions. One such Member is Helen Steven, employed at the time as the Iona Community’s Peace and Justice Worker. A Quaker and an activist, Helen also had a rare gift for humour with a ribald song always up her sleeve.

“ Time and again Jesus compels us, his disciples, to use all means possible to ensure abundance, fullness of life for all.

In the 1986 footage, she speaks about her life’s passion for the fullness of which Jesus speaks, explaining that her role was “to raise consciousness and awareness of the issues of justice and peace, and Christian involvement ... This means getting involved directly with all the issues that are facing our world today that are life-threatening and that are denying full humanity to people.

“Jesus came to speak about life. Right through the Old and New Testaments, justice is spoken of continuously. Someone once said to me: ‘a Christian should be without fear, happy and always in trouble.’ I have felt I have had to break the law by confronting a nuclear base and that has taken me to prison. I’m not saying that would be everybody’s way. But I do say that people should find what their Christian conviction is, and then stand up and express it.”

The ninth commitment to justice and peace undertaken by Members of the Iona Community is ‘to work for a policy of renunciation, by our nations, of all weapons of mass destruction and for the encouragement of other nations, individually or collectively, to do the same.’ Helen was a living embodiment of that commitment.

We make this commitment because the Gospel compels us to. It’s not that Jesus has a lot to say about war or weapons. Rather it is because we are called by Jesus to follow the shepherd, to walk through the gate, to work and to pray for fullness of life for all. 

Ruth Harvey is Leader of the Iona Community. Find out more about, and join the Iona Community at www.iona.org.uk