“I lay down my Life in order to take It up again. No one takes It from me, as I lay It down of my own accord. I have the power to lay It down, and I have the power to take It up again.” ~ Jesus (John 10:17-18)

 

This is yet another extremely important verse, with the vast majority of Christians & non-Christians alike still overlooking the greatest portions of its importance to this very day …

Please note first & foremost that Jesus makes it quite clear here that his death is not something imposed upon him by circumstance or fate – rather, that it is something that he willingly chose to experience.  And this Truth speaks both to the metaphorical “dying to ego” that he embraced every time he sacrificed personal comforts (e.g. living an extremely austere, home-free life – preaching repeatedly beyond the point of exhaustion – repetitively relaying the same message of selfless Love to others, disciples & strangers alike, who continually refused to comprehend the same) and every time he confronted personal fears (staring down the Jewish authorities in synagogues less than friendly – and weeping deeply in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before enduring his crucifixion) in order to more powerfully serve others.

 

More specifically (and more potently as well), it turns out that the Scriptures themselves show quite conclusively that Jesus literally effectuated his own crucifixion – something that is also referenced in the passage at hand.  For after having repeatedly shared his teachings with an audience that was astoundingly ignorant of his wisdom and disturbingly unwilling to hear his message, a deeply frustrated Jesus finally decided to show them all the profound power of willing self-sacrifice – by organizing and carrying out his own “execution” …

Indeed, this is why his crucifixion took place on the eve of the Passover (ensuring that he would be taken down after only a few hours on the cross, as opposed to the 3-4 days that this form of execution normally required), this is why he loudly proclaimed the first verse of Psalm 22 while hanging there (a Psalm that was well-known at the time; a Psalm that referenced many of the characteristics of Jesus’ own pre-arranged crucifixion – and a Psalm that spoke loudly to the very Jesus-friendly concept of being joyfully grateful to God despite any torments one might be enduring), this is why Jesus took a draught of drugged wine immediately before “giving up his Spirit” (a Greek term that implied a voluntary form of dying, not a form of murder or execution), this is why he was placed in a new & unused tomb that happened to be not far from Golgotha, this is why no guards were placed at the exit from that tomb until the following morning, and this why that tomb was sealed with a single stone that was easily set into place by a lone, elderly man (Joseph of Arimathea).

 

My Friends, self-sacrifice that is done Joy-fully for others is the only act that allows us to know the full Bliss of being fully Human.  This is what Jesus came to share, this is what Jesus ultimately demonstrated, and this is what he is referencing in this particular passage.

 

Filed under: My Favorite Verses by Scaughdt