For modern day Christians, much as it must have been for the original Disciples, the Easter weekend is a deliriously emotional rollercoaster. After 40 days of privation and introspection, what begins as the celebration of Palm Sunday with the triumphant welcome of Jesus into Jerusalem, green palms laid at his feet, ends but a week later with his brutal scourging, crucifixion and death.

As we now know, the Resurrection follows but three days later, however the wait can be excruciating even when we know with certainty that it is coming. How much more difficult must it have been for the Disciples, who simply did not know.

Easter can be a difficult time for Christians as we try somehow to truly absorb the complex and myriad lessons that we are supposed to take from the death and Resurrection of Jesus.

As Easter passes, I have found myself dwelling on one perhaps not so small thought that continues to stick in my head; that being what Jesus himself was quoted as having said;

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

John 10: 11-15

When I was younger, this was a very basic and easy lesson to understand. I was the sheep and Jesus the son of God had laid his life down for me. In no way do I minimize that incredible gift, but from the somewhat unholy and slippery perspective of human entitlement, I had no problem whatsoever conceptualizing my inherent worth, and extrapolating thereof why I and my fellow man were worthy of that sacrifice. The danger, however, lies in accepting the sacrifice without embracing the reality of being a sheep.

For an analogy to be true, however, it needs to be true not only as an analogy, but also in the figurative reality, and therein lies the rub because how many of us could truly see ourselves laying down our lives to save a sheep.

Like Peter, I have no problem conceptualizing my desire and ability to lay down my life for Jesus, but when the time comes can I truly take it to the next step and sacrifice myself for those that I may deem lesser than myself.

At this point in my life, I know that as a Husband and father I would die for my wife and children, and as an American, I can say that would die for my Country, but how far beyond that does it go?

As an American, is my life worth sacrificing for that of an Iraqi?

As a Christian, is my life worth sacrificing for a Jew, a Muslim or a nonbeliever?

As a Republican, would I die for a Democrat?

As a man, would I die for a Sheep?

Or like many, do I believe that I am too important to die.

Fortunately, American History is filled with those who knew what they would die for, and those are the people who made America great.

As the media constantly reminds us day by day, however, there are all too many in this Country, who either having found themselves tragically burdened with personal loss, or who merely contemplating the 3,000 American lives lost in Iraq are all to willing to see it all as not having been worthy of the sacrifice. What then is worth the price?

If you search the phrase “To die for” in Google, you come up with over 2.2 Million results, with most, if not all of them, represented by the phrase “Those shoes are to die for”

Unfortunately, this casual thought is one that all too often summarizes the way many people in America seem to be living their lives; or as policymakers, are trying to order our laws and National priorities.

In the end, unfortunately, if you are never able to decide what is worth dying for, then you can never know what is worth living for, and what life itself is worth.