John 10:18

“Look, no one takes my life from me,” Jesus clarifies. “I lay it down myself because I have the authority and the power to lay down my life and to take it up again after I’ve laid it down.” John 10:18 EFP 

This is such an awesome text! The way I understand it, Jesus is basically saying that he is has been forced into any role for which he did not sign up. Furthermore, not only is he voluntarily laying down his life to save “sheep” like me, he is also able to raise himself up after he has tasted the death he has chosen to experience in my place.

In other words, just as the Father is intimately involved in reconciling the world back to himself through Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:19), he [Jesus] has chosen to enter humanity to save it, with the authority and power to sacrifice his own life and then to call himself back to life when his mission is consummated. This is total commitment in the salvation of humanity by all the members of the Godhead.

I, on the other hand, have neither the authority to end my own life, nor the ability to bring myself back to life if I end it. But the Good Shepherd, forfeited his divinity to share it with me and used the power and authority inherent in divinity to secure the life I had forfeited through my spiritual inheritance and personal propensities. This dim-witted and clueless ball of nappy wool is the object of the Good Shepherd’s boundless love and unending affection. Now, that’s awesome!