true love demonstrated

"Here we commemorate

the greatest and deepest

demonstration of

true love

the world has ever known. 

 For God

looked down upon

sorrowing,

suffering,

struggling,

sinning humanity

 and was moved to compassion

 for the contrary,

sheep-like creatures

He had made.

In spite of

the tremendous personal cost

it would entail to Himself to deliver them from their dilemma,

 He chose deliberately

to descend and live amonst them

that He might deliever them.

This meant laying aside His splendor,

His position,

His preogatives as the perfect and faultless One.

It entailed losing His reputation.

It would involve physical suffering,

mental anguish,

and spiritual agony.

In short,

His coming to earth as the Christ,

was a straightforward case of

utter self-sacrifice

that culminated in the cross of Calvary. 

The laid down life,

the poured out blood,

 were the supreme symbols of total selflessness. 

This was love.

This was God.

This was divinity in action,

delivering men (and women) from

 their own utter selfishness,

 their own stupidity,

their own suicidal instincts

as lost sheep unable to help themselves." 

Phillip Keller

A Shepherd looks at Psalm 23