In the days of the Soviet Union’s power, when Joseph Stalin’s regime oppressed millions under the false promise of prosperity, an elderly woman walked to the front of her church and bowed before the statue of the crucified Christ, kissing the statue’s feet. A soldier who observed this asked her if she was willing to bend and kiss the feet of Stalin in the same way. As the story goes, the woman unhesitatingly responded, “Yes. If he gets crucified for me.”
What better shepherd could we possibly have? It’s one thing to love someone enough to work to care for them, even to make sacrifices for their good—as long as it’s not too big of a sacrifice. Any other shepherd would most likely only go as far as big sacrifices if they got something in return, or at least some recognition. But what other shepherd loves us so much that he would descend from the holy throne of Heaven to the lowest point of suffering and death for the sake of his sheep? What other shepherd could ever love us as much as Christ has loved us?
What’s incredible is the fact that Jesus planned for his own death ahead of time, so that he could then resurrect and bring his sheep into new life with him. He was no mere tragic martyr; his whole point was to offer his own life. The face that Jesus laid down and revived his life by his own authority means that it was the greatest show of love for us, and the greatest show of obedience to God, that the world has ever seen.
Christ’s obedience to the Father is a thing to be celebrated—and then mimicked. His humility in loving the Father and desiring the Father’s will over his own is the picture of how we ought to do the same, and in fact the empowerment we need to do so. Christ is the good shepherd—good enough to lay down his life for us—and so if we truly follow him, we follow an example of dying and entering new life in full, loving obedience to God our Father!
