Selflessness

They watched Jesus dying on the cross. They could see Him suffering but could not understand His actions. They expected that He would want to do anything to escape the pain and agony.

These observers assumed that Jesus was like other people. Like themselves. Only interested in His own personal pleasures and well-being. That, if He could, He would have escaped the cross and saved Himself from certain death. To them, the fact that He hung on a cross proved that He was a fraud and failure, precisely because, from their perspective, He could not save Himself.

How wrong they were! He could have saved Himself. Before going to the cross, He had asked the Father to “remove this cup from Me” (knowing that all things were possible for Him). But, in the end, He knew that the cross was the Father’s will (Mark 14:35-36).

So, hanging there, totally vulnerable, dying, Jesus was demonstrating why He came to earth. He was showing us that He was totally selfless, willing to obey the Father, regardless of the consequences or cost. He was not motivated by self-interest, pride, or self-preservation. He came to give His life, not to save it. To serve, not to be served. To die.

He achieved victory and success because He died for each of us that we might be forgiven of our sins. He represented something totally new: Total selflessness, total sacrifice and service. Completely seeking first the Kingdom of God, even to the point of death.

His accusers represented the opposite: Pure self-interest. By their standards, He could only be successful by saving Himself. That was all they could understand.

In the world today, many are like those accusers. Living for self. Focusing on their personal interests and pleasures. But God calls us to be like Jesus. To surrender our lives to Him. To die to self and serve Him. Totally committed.