Sermon Central
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Man Gives His Life Rescuing Airplane ...
Contributed by Sermon Central on May 26, 2010 (message contributor)
Man Gives His Life Rescuing Airplane Passengers
But what do we see if we look at the cross from another angle—from God’s perspective? What if we have in our minds, as Jesus says, “the things of God”? Then we can see the cross as part of God’s rescue plan. We can see that Jesus chooses to be separated from God so that we don’t have to be, paying the terrible price for our sin, being executed—in our place—for crimes he never committed.
From God’s perspective, and from ours if we have in mind the things of God, this is not weakness. In fact, there has never been a more powerful moment in history.
On January 13, 1982, millions of television viewers watched as a balding, middle-aged man swam in the icy cold water of a river in Washington DC. Seven inches of snow had fallen that day. The water was so cold that life expectancy was no more than a few minutes. A helicopter quickly reached the scene, and let down a rope to haul the man to safety. The viewers at home were amazed as the man twice grabbed hold of the rope, then quite deliberately let it go. Each time the rope was lowered to him, he had a chance of survival, but he chose to let it go. And—in front of millions of avidly watching viewers—the man eventually died.
It seems like a futile and pointless death. But we need to see the broader picture.
You see, five minutes earlier, a Boeing 737 jetliner carrying eighty-three passengers and crew had departed from National Airport’s main runway. However, the ice that had built up on the wings as it waited for take-off prevented it from gaining sufficient altitude, it hit a bridge heavy with commuters and then plunged nose-first into the frozen Potomac River. The survivors struggled in the freezing river amid ice chunks, debris, luggage, seat cushions and jet fuel. Thankfully, a rescue helicopter arrived and let down its rope. The television cameras then picked out a balding, middle-aged man. He grabbed the rope, and deliberately gave it to somebody else, who was then pulled to safety. The man did this twice, before—exhausted—he drowned.
When we have all the details in front of us, an apparently futile death is shown to be purposeful, daring and amazingly loving.
And Jesus’ death is all of those things. He also died as part of a rescue mission. In his amazing love he came to earth and died in our place, taking the punishment that we deserved, so that we could enter into a relationship with God. He was forsaken so that we need never be.
There are two ways of seeing the cross. We can see it from a human perspective, as a pathetic and needless death. Or we can see it from God’s perspective, as our only means of rescue.
From a sermon by Freddy Fritz, What Is a Christian? 3/4/2010
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