As he said, “No one takes…(my life) from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father” (RSV, John 10:18).

He laid his life down on the Cross, he took it again at the Resurrection and thus he vanquished both evil and death: for only one who has conquered evil is unconquerable, only one who has passed through death unscathed is deathless.

Thus Our Lord’s parable of the strong man armed became a reality. “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace; but when one stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armour in which he trusted, and divides his spoil” (RSV, Luke 11:21,22). And the spoils are the souls of human beings.

As Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand” (RSV, John 10:27,28).