…I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. John 10:18 (NKJV)
Sometimes the way Jesus is portrayed really bothers me. Because He was humble and He served others, many assume that He was a pushover. They portray Him as a weak, mild-mannered guy who put up with people that abused and took advantage of Him. That’s not the Jesus I see in the Bible.
Jesus is humble, but He knows who He is. He said, I am the light of the world (John 8:12) I am the Son of God (John 10:36), and no one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6, NKJV). Those don’t sound like words of someone with poor self-esteem.
Jesus doesn’t put up with abuse. He had no trouble telling off religious people using strong words like you are your father the devil (John 8:44, NKJV) and calling them a brood of snakes (Matthew 12:34, 23:33, NLT).
He was beaten and abused, but that was for purpose. No one took advantage of Him. In fact, in our verse today He said that no one took His life. He chose to lay it down and had the power to take it up again. Those don’t sound like the words of a victim to me.
Servant leaders like Jesus are not pushover, people-pleasing, weak leaders. It actually takes more strength to maintain high expectations on someone you lead while you simultaneously help them perform to the best of their ability. Let’s get a clear picture of who Jesus is and from there we will see who He has empowered us to be.