“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38 NIV)
Jesus Christ mentions two wills—his will and the Heavenly Father’s will. The incarnate Jesus Christ has a will of a normal human being. He has the urge for food to satisfy hunger, and the preference not to suffer pain when it comes. The thought of not wanting to suffer pain is neither wrong nor it is sinful. Jesus refused to accept pain at first in a very
human way, but eventually he relented, aligning his will with the will of God the Father.
Jesus Christ has done everything in accordance with the will of God and fulfilled the law. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus Christ says: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Jesus Christ had indeed overcome all temptations to transgress the law. He responds to the Father in John 17:4: “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” When Christ says, "It is finished" (John 19:30), he means that he has accomplished the will of the Father. In the midst of his suffering, Jesus offers himself as the atonement for all of us, securing the grace for our salvation.
Jesus Christ, who came down from heaven, does not place his own will ahead of His Father’s will. Brothers and sisters, undoubtedly Jesus Christ is the only one who is completely obedient to the will of God. John 6:38 also motivates us to follow Jesus’ example to obey the will of God. The life of Jesus clearly proves that he could not fail to do the will of God or else we would have lost our only intercessor before our Holy God.
The apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 2:21: "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”
In other words, we are "called" to follow in Christ's footsteps of obedience to God. Peter once was more preoccupied with a human’s natural tendency and advised the Lord Jesus not to go to Jerusalem to suffer (Matthew 16:22). In this particular scripture passage, the Apostle Paul encourages us to “follow in his steps” to imitate Jesus Christ’s obedience to God because we were called to do this.
Father God, please remind us not to place any importance in our own will but in yours; and in this new year, help us follow the steps of obedience that Jesus Christ has exemplified. Amen!