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A man with authority is a man with the freedom and the power to make decisions and do what he wants. The greater his authority, the wider his options both for personal choices and for making other persons serve his choices. You can tell a lot about a man by how he uses his authority.

Ultimate authority belongs to God. He has the freedom and the power to do what He wants. All authority was His before Genesis 1:1 by virtue of Him being the only being and all authority is His after Genesis 1:1 by virtue of His creating all things and giving life to all beings. God and God alone has absolute authority.

What did and what does God do with His authority? How does He wield His authority, His position, His sovereignty, and His wants? With unlimited freedom and power, how does God use His wants?

How we answer that question means everything. How we answer that question casts the shape of our worship and our view of self and our connection (or lack) with others. It pokes at (or leaves alone) our tiny hearts and it increases (or lets us off the hook for) our responsibilities. Knowing how absolute authority works tell us who God is and who we are to be as His image-bearers.

Doug Wilson wrote in his book, For a Glory and a Covering, that “Authority is the principle of union, not the principle of separation” (32). Don’t we usually think differently than that? We think authority is a principle of privilege, helicopter rides and private chefs, access to luxury and indulgence. Authority is a principle of enforcement, bodyguards and making laws and gun-carrying enforcers of those laws. Authority is a principle of isolation, it’s lonely at the top when you have to make the decisions. Authority is a principle of receiving, receiving respect and submission and service. Those with authority get from those under authority.

God’s authority gives for those under Him. God engages and unifies with His free power. God does make commands and punish disobedience, but He also sent His own Son to take the penalty for His disobedient sheep so that they could have His abundant life. Jesus “emptied himself” and “humbled himself” (Philippians 2:5-11), He gave up the glory He had before the foundation of the world (John 17:5, 24) in order to save His sheep.

In John 10:11-21 Jesus addressed the religious authorities. He had given a blind man sight (referenced in verse 21) and the authorities questioned and bulldozed and then railroaded the man out of the synagogue because he would not deny Jesus. Jesus found the man, finished opening his soul-eyes, and then addressed the Pharisees standing by who believed themselves to be the authorities.

Jesus told them that they were the thieves, robbers, strangers, hired hands, and wolves. They were nothing like Him, the Good Shepherd. Their only interest in the sheep related to what they could get from the sheep. They were willing to hurt the sheep, or at least abandon them, if they couldn’t get what they wanted. Jesus came to give His sheep life by laying down His life for them. That’s why He is the Good Shepherd.

Last Lord’s day we saw the contrast of His sacrifice (verses 11-13) and began to consider the cause of His sacrifice (verses 14-18). The shepherd’s motivation for sacrifice comes from his care for the sheep, a Trinitarian type care with global scope. The shepherd’s care for His sheep is also eternal, authoritative, and deliberate. The so-called authorities conclude that He’s crazy (19-21).

A Deliberate Sacrifice (17-18)

Jesus compared the mutual knowledge of the shepherd and sheep with the mutual knowledge of Father and Son. He also explained that His sheep are gathered from all over the world, extending beyond Israel’s borders. Now He picks up from verse 15 by stating both His authority to lay down and take up His life.

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. (John 10:17–18, ESV)

He mentions take [my life] up again for the first time in the second half of verse 17. This upgrades the illustration since the death of a shepherd usually means bad news for the sheep. Jesus didn’t lay down His life as the final act. He said, I lay down my life that I may take it up again . He put on grave clothes in order to take them off.

Jesus describes more about His power in verse 18, but why does He say, For this reason the Father loves me ? Was the Father’s love for the Son conditional? Was love based on obedience? “I can only love you, Son, if You do this.” Was the Son uncertain about the Father’s love until He went to the cross?

No. The Father declared His love for His Son when John baptized Him. “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” (Jesus, as Wisdom personified, “was daily [the Father’s] delight” Proverbs 8:30.)

Some commentators have gone so far as to “fix” the verse by turning it around. They suggest that we should read, “I lay down and take up my life because the Father loves me.” While that is true, that is not what John recorded. It also misses a way for us to know God better.

To say that the Father loves the Son because He lays down His life and takes it up again is not to say that His sacrifice was the only cause of love. But why couldn’t the Son’s willing sacrifice be part of the cause? He was obeying the Father’s “charge” (verse 18). His mission was to seek and save the lost. His mission was to call and lead and protect and provide for the sheep. Those things required Him to lay down His life and the Father loved Him for it. Why?

The Father loved His sacrificing Son because He saw Himself in His Son. Remember, the nature of sacrifice is the nature of God. Jesus told the Pharisees earlier, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me” (John 8:28). Jesus said, “I always do the things that are pleasing to [the Father]” (8:29) in reference to His death. This is because God gives Himself for the good of others. He sacrifices so that others may have life. He uses His authority to bring sheep into union with Him just as He has union with the Father.

His dying was deliberate. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again . We hear a few distinct notes in this chord.

First, God declares in His Word that the death of His Son was His design, His decision, His doing. From the perspective of the world, from the Pharisees and the Romans and Pilate, men took Jesus’ life. They tried Him, convicted Him, and crucified Him. It seems as if Jesus’ death was decided and imposed by others. But, as Jesus told Pilate, no man could do anything that the Father didn’t give authority to do (John 19:10-11). We sing “Jesus Lord at Thy birth” in “Silent Night” and we can sing no less “Jesus Lord at Thy death.” He laid down His life at the hour He determined, not according to anyone else’s timetable.

This note pushes to the second striking reality. The Lord did not lay down His life because He had to but because He wanted to. It was His want to die, be buried, and rise again. He wanted to give life to His sheep. John Calvin put it this way,

Our salvation is dearer to [God’s Son] than his own life.

That’s not new but it is unheard of.

Isn’t His willing sacrifice more humbling and more glorious than if His sacrifice were forced? Would we value the sacrifice of a servant for his master like we would the sacrifice of a master for his servant? The one with authority used His authority to bring His sheep into one flock. This is the divine character.

The third note is that This charge I have received from my Father . They were in it together. And, this means that the Father’s heart is giving and sacrificing, too. There is no conflict between Persons. The Son is not correcting His Father’s failure or going past His Father’s intentions. Jesus acts for the Father and from the Father. They act together and with the same love for the same end. They love the sheep to death.

A Divided Crowd (19-21)

It’s very little surprise that the crowd couldn’t agree about who Jesus was.

There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” (John 10:19–21, ESV)

Jesus caused division. He did in 7:12 (before He even arrived in Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths), 43 (after He talked about rivers of living water), and 9:16 (when the Pharisees first questioned the man who received his sight). The Jews is a summary for all the people but especially the religious authorities who disagreed.

One part of the crowd said, He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him? It’s not the first time anyone accused Jesus of having a demon. Think and 7:20 (when they mocked Him for exposing their murderous intentions) and 8:48 (when Jesus told them that their father was the devil). Having a demon is more than being wrong, it’s being “raving mad” (NIV). “This guy is so crazy. He is out of His mind. He’s such a lunatic that it must be a demon making Him talk this way.” We might say that He must have a brain tumor or a hormone imbalance.

They wanted to discredit Him. They wanted to create the impression—as before—that to listen to Jesus was stupid. “Who would be so gullible to listen to such a crazy man?” They are trying to turn everyone away from Jesus.

What did Jesus say that they called crazy? Could it be that He called God His Father? Could it be His claim to take up His life just as He laid it down? Could it be that He would lay down His life for sheep? All of the above?

Another part of the crowd argued, These are not the words of one who is opposed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? These words tie 9:1 to 10:21 together. The now-seeing man had raised a similar point in 9:32 that Jesus must be from God.

Conclusion

What are the uses of such a passage? How is it useful for us?

Such a passage distinguishes the eternal Triune God as both sovereign and sacrificial. The Father and Son and Spirit is unlike any other god and it is His love that makes Him most unique. There is no other God like Him.

Such a passage also provides the only hope of eternal life. Jesus is not a death-defying Shepherd, He is a death-defeating Shepherd. Jesus Christ the Lord conquered death. By His own authority He died and took up His life so that all who believe may have life in Him. There is no other Savior like Him.

Such a passage makes plain the path to life. Life comes by death. It may be too obvious, but resurrection follows death. We are tempted to find shortcuts. There must be a more efficient way to resurrection or at least one that is less painful. No pain no abundant life. Unless we lose our life we will lose our life. Unless we die we cannot bring life. There is no other way to resurrection than death.

Such a passage demonstrates the loving sacrifice of authority. No wonder we have such a disdain for authority: we’ve seen it done so un-godlike. Our dads, our husbands, our elders, our governors, our military generals TAKE TAKE TAKE like leaches. The only reason we willingly follow those who keep taking is because they’ll take even more if we don’t.

The Good Shepherd is not grabby with His sheep. That doesn’t mean that He has no expectations or that He never makes rules or enforces them. It means that He does those things for our good not His convenience. He expects us to follow Him, yes, for food and protection and life, not so that He can get out of work. We are to imitate Him. There is no other expression of true authority like sacrifice.

He calls His sheep to follow Him, to know His love and to love like Him as we willingly lay down our lives for others.