“The thief comes only to steal, sacrifice, and destroy. I’ve come that they might have life, a life overflowing” (John 10.10).
Summer is at its end. Time to pack up, leave the beach and its life of luxury. Time for one last job to fund the cold, dark months ahead. If, that is, you’re the ex-Presidents in 1991’s Point Break.
Released 12 July, Point Break starred Keanu Reeves as an FBI agent investigating a string of bank robberies by a group who wore the masks of past presidents. With his partner, he’s looking for a group of surfers who strike only during the summer, and with the season fading he’s only got a couple of chances before they disappear until next year. But while undercover as part of the investigation, Reeves’ Special Agent Utah meets Patrick Swayze’s Bodhi.
Today’s passage comes from the longer analogy of Jesus as both gate and shepherd—the one charged with the safety and preservation of the flock. But he takes it a step beyond the pastoral image that we so often see in paintings of these verses. This is about more than just survival. Jesus’ work and intent goes beyond just providing food, shelter, and safety. No, Jesus’ desire for his flock is that they can live a life that is about more than immediate needs. A life, through the security of a reckless love, that inspires a fearlessness to experience the joy and beauty within each day.
Bohdi seems to inspire something similar to those who come to know him. Think of him as an evangelist for a different kind of life, one that stands in stark contrast to the success-chasing one that Utah has been living. He has built his own little community that rejects the survival-mode of the people who drive to and fro on the freeway each day and, instead, celebrates the human spirit. He seems to have reached that place of living, really living. Unfortunately, we learn that this freedom and lifestyle is possible only because he’s a thief.
Jesus’ barbed words about the thieves who are willing to sacrifice and destroy others are pointed at some of the religious leadership. And while they were not literal thieves like Bohdi, there is a parallel. Both appear to have good intentions, and are sincere in what they teach, but they are mired in the instincts of survival. They may not scrounge for food or shelter, but their egos need and crave the sustenance that come from those that follow them. And they are willing to do anything—steal, destroy—to sustain themselves.
It’s a stark contrast that Jesus is drawing here and a passionate one. Because, there are people like Bohdi who offer a promise of something that sounds a lot like what Jesus taught. But they lack the love Jesus shared. They want the praise, the adoration, the good life, and they will ultimately steal and sacrifice whatever and whomever will gain them those things. Jesus’ words are a warning to be careful, discerning of those we choose to follow.
Because the ride they take you on may come to an abrupt end.
Jesus, as the days shorten, the nights grow longer, and the days of summer become memories, help us live lives that are more than just survival and striving for success. But keep us alert for the wolves that tempt us with a life that looks like yours but lack the love you give freely.