My Favorite Verses - Vol III (Aug 16 to Nov 16)

John 10:17-18 … To take Life UP again
(11/13/2016)
“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).
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