Inspired by John
10:11-18
“For this reason the
Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of
my own accord. I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it up again.
I have received this command from my Father.” John 10:17-18
Jesus the Son said that the Father loved him
because he lay down his life so that he might be able to gain it back
again. The full impact of that statement
gets lost in the translation, but Jesus is talking about the resurrection. He willingly laid down his life, meaning he
willingly died, so that he might take possession of life once again.
And then he goes on to be perfectly clear that no one took
his life from him; it was his and his alone to give, and he gave it. And when he took possession of it again, it
was more fully his than when he’d just been born into humanity. When that had happened, he’d had life, just as each of us has
life. But when he took it up again, he
owned it in such a way that it was fully and utterly his, subject to his will.
As much as we all like to think we have that much control
over our own lives, the truth is we don’t.
We only have life, we don’t own it.
But Christ our Lord, the Lord who is our shepherd, does own it, and because of that, even when we walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, even when we succumb to death, our life does not
come to an end, because that is not God’s will.
The goodness and the mercy of the Lord shall follow us forever, and we
will live under the Lord’s guidance and protection, forever.
Let us pray. Living
God, you are the creator of all and the giver of life. Help us to embrace the life you have given us,
that we may recognize your authority and experience life as you mean for us to
experience it. Through Christ our Lord,
Amen.
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