From the boyhood incident when Jesus told his parents that he must be about his Father's affairs, right through to his execution, there emerged an unswerving sense of purpose. His intensity burned like a laser beam. Once, on a hot and dusty day, he had a lengthy conversation with a seeking woman. Afterward, his disciples urged him to eat, but he told them that he had food to eat which they know nothing about (Jn 4:32). Had somebody else brought him food, they wondered? He said, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work (Jn 4:34).

On another occasion he said, "Night is coming, when no one can work" (Jn 9:4). He set his face to go to Jerusalem, in spite of the efforts of the disciples to deter him from danger;for he knew his destination. "I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day," he responded when the Pharisees warned that Herod wanted to kill him (Lk 13:33). The cross that was his death was also his goal. Even though he prayed on his last evening that "this cup" might pass from him if there were any other way, he still did not flinch from the cross until in his final breath he could say, "It is finished" (Jn 19:30), and hang his head and die."

Why are we so different from Jesus? Why is weakness as characteristic of us as power was of him?" asks Stephen Neill. And he answers that Jesus was strong "because he lived every moment with the full intensity of all that he was." Occasionally we read in the newspapers of someone who under pressure achieves a superhuman feat, like a woman who single-handedly lifts a car under which her child has fallen. I am sometimes conscious of moments when I seem to be speaking or writing or playing a game at my very best. Far more often I know my brain and body are operating at far less than full capacity. So often, we ordinary humans are held back by the checks of our own fears or scars, our failures or pride, our laziness, uncertainties and conflicts. But Jesus seemed to have none of that. At every moment he was free to be the best he could be, and that freedom was the primary reason his power was so uniquely focused and evident.

from Transforming Leadership: Jesus' Way of Creating Vision, Shaping Values and Empowering Change by Leighton Ford