John 10:11-18
11″I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14″I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me- 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father-and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life-only to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
Related Text:
John 15:13
John 19:28-30
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Close Your Eyes and Picture It
Have you ever sat down and really spent a solid amount of time to think about what the disciples must have been thinking when Jesus died. Most of them had to hear about it because they ran off after Jesus was arrested. Think about the moment these regular guys, these fishermen and tax collectors, heard that the man they had been following, the man that said He was God’s son and was ushering in a new lifestyle of faith, had died on a Roman cross. It must have been confusing and terrifying.
I wonder how long it took some of them to remember what Jesus said about giving up His life. I wonder if they were floored when the light went off in their heads and they realized that this, that His death, was what He had been talking about all along. I wonder how long it took verses like John 10:11-18 and John 15:13 to make complete sense. Remember too, that these words from Jesus weren’t in a Bible that they could read. They may have been written down as note or something by someone. But it’s not like they could go home after His death and pick up their New Testament and be encouraged by the words of Jesus. They had to remember. They had to rid their minds of fear and sadness and confusion and remember what He had told them.
They experienced something different than we have. Not that Jesus died more for them than for us. But we read about Jesus sacrificing His life for us, and they lived through it. Would we live differently if we physically experienced Jesus dying for us? Would we be less luke warm, and more devoted to our faith if we could remember the sights and the smells of witnessing Jesus giving up His life for us? Would we be different Christians if we could remember the heartbreak from when we first Heard that He had died?
Take some time, really make it a goal, to be still and ask God to make it unbelievably real to, the fact that Jesus died, that He gave up His life, His breath, His blood for you.
Hebrews 12:3
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
