Jump Start # 81

John 10:15 “even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”

    The death of Jesus was a shock to the disciples. They seem stunned and confused and uncertain what to do next. But to Jesus, it was totally different. He knew that He had an appointment with Calvary. It is interesting that Jesus never used the word “cross” in respect to His own death. Romans executing Jews on crosses was a sad and common scene around Jerusalem. Jesus most likely would have witnessed the torture. His thoughts throughout the Gospels are not upon the instrument of His death, or how He would die, but rather the reason and purpose of His death. His death was part of the divine plan of God to save mankind. Jesus came “to seek and save.”

  Here in John 10, the wonderful section about the good shepherd, where Jesus contrasts what He is doing to what Satan and the Pharisees were doing, we find repeated three times this expression, “I lay down my life.” He said it in verse 15 and then again in 17 and 18. Each time, He adds more to the statement. In verse 18 Jesus says, “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” This revelation helps us to understand the Gospels more. On one occasion the angry crowd tried to stone Jesus. They were not successful. Another time, they rushed Him and tried to throw Him off a cliff. Again, Jesus got away. A very old debate argued just who killed Jesus. Was it the Jewish courts? The Pharisees? The Romans? This passage tells us that it was none of those. Jesus wasn’t killed against His wishes nor His time table. When the time was right, He laid His life down. He volunteered His life. He was a willing sacrifice.

  This understanding helps us grasp the Lord’s behavior on the Cross. He is not kicking and screaming and begging for someone to help him. That is the way most died. He is not cursing the Roman empire. That was a common way Jews died on the cross. No, instead, Jesus gave up His life by choice. It was an act of love, sacrifice and obedience to His Father. Paul would say in Philippians, “…He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (2:7).

  By saying, “I have the authority to lay it down and I have the authority to take it up” reveals that Jesus was in control of the situation. It also shows that His choice to lay down His life was indeed a gift. His life wasn’t taken from Him, He gave it for us. The angry Jewish mob thought they were triumphant that day. The Romans felt that they had succeeded. Even Satan thought that he had gained a victory. None had. Jesus chose to die and He chose to die that day and that way. One of our hymns sums this up, “I gave My life for thee…” Jesus gave His life for you! This is the greatest gift you have ever received. It is a gift that changes your past (forgiveness). It changes your present (purpose) and it changes your future (direction). This is why Paul would proclaim, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”

  And why did Jesus do this? The answer is simply because God loves us. Amazing! Once we have taken hold of this, it changes our motives, attitudes and thinking. We don’t find Jesus saying, “Do I have to die for those people…”, instead, “I lay my life down for the sheep.” Choice. Wanting to. Willing. A gift. Love. Those are the words we find around the cross. Is your service to God out of “have to” and guilt, or choice, wanting to, willing, love?

Roger