Love takes many forms. Can you imagine this grandpa the head of a multi-billion-dollar corporation? Or maybe he is a four-star general at the Pentagon? No, of course not! If he held either of those positions, he would have more self-respect and he wouldn’t put on that silly hat. Love takes many forms.
My Grandfather was a serious man, yet I have a picture of him with a silly birthday hat on. Some of us who are grandparents know that we would do anything for our grandchildren, the silly hat and not taking ourselves seriously doesn’t come close to the limit of lack of discretion. We would do anything for our grandchildren. True love is like that. We will do anything for the ones we love. We would even die for them. Whether it is our parents, our spouse, our children, or our grandchildren, or a friend, when we love, truly love, there are no limits to what we will do.
Jesus is making that point as he says, “I am the Good Shepherd.” I am the one who will lay down my life to make sure the little sheep are safe. I am not a hired hand, I am invested. If something happens to the sheep, it happens to me.
As we are Post-Easter people, we understand that Jesus laid down his life for us, but people in Jesus day had no idea what was going to happen. They were unfamiliar or didn’t know the breath of God’s love. Other cultures of the time worshiped gods that explained creation of humans as entertainment or slave labor. But the true God and his son Jesus love all of their creation — especially the people.
Jesus doesn’t mince words. Jesus died for us and he would die again out of sheer love for us—to have us know the love of God and to have us feel safe and experience true safety even in a world that being safe is never a sure thing.