The end of the discourse and its effect: V. 17. Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. V. 18. No man taketh 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. This commandment have I received of My Father. V. 19. There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. V. 20. And many of them said, He hath a devil, I and is mad; why hear ye Him? V. 21. Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
The chief proof and manifestation of the love of the Good Shepherd consists in this, that He lays down His life, His soul, as a ransom. The self-sacrifice of Jesus was altogether free and in no way forced upon Him. For that reason also did His Father love Him, because the Son was in such thorough accord with Him that He understood His will so completely and acted upon it so cheerfully.
And in laying down His life, Jesus has a second object, namely, to take it again. To remain in death and So leave His sheep defenseless would render His entire ministry void. It was necessary for Christ to die, but just as necessary also for Him to arise again. As His sacrifice was free and voluntary, so His return to life must be a matter of His own power, of the deliberate use of His strength. The laying down of His life was not due to His yielding to His foes and their cunning; it was an act of His will. He had the power to give His life, to lay it down in death; but He had the power also to take it again.
No other man could dream of having such power; every other person succumbs to death, but Jesus differs from all other men in this respect, because He is Himself true God. The fact of His voluntary death gave to His sacrifice its real worth and value; without such free will His sacrifice would have been in vain. And herein He agrees with His Father, whose command He has received and now carries out for the salvation of mankind.
The immediate effect of the entire discourse was that it caused a division among the Jews that were present. Many thought He was talking insane foolishness and that He was possessed of an evil spirit. That is the meanness, the devilish mind of the unbelievers, that they have nothing but mockery and blasphemy for the consoling, precious words of Christ concerning His shepherd's love.
But others took a more sensible view. The calm discourse of Jesus could hardly be put into the same category with the ravings of demoniacs. The devil is also able to perform seeming miracles, but never such as will benefit any person in body or soul. The miracle performed upon the blind man was of a nature to admit of only one explanation: divine interference. Thus there are always some people whose hearts accept the glorious truths of the Gospel and learn to trust in Jesus as their Savior.