By: Dale Weckbacher
Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded
you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be
dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
(ESV)
June 6, 1944 is an important day in not only U.S. history,
but history for many other nations of the world for it is the day when more
than 160,000 allied troops landed along a 50 mile stretch of heavily-fortified
French coastline to fight Nazi Germany.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which,
“we will accept nothing less than full victory.” (1) While the cost of life during this campaign
was high with 9,000 allied soldiers being killed or wounded, their sacrifice
paved the way for more than 100,000 soldiers to begin the slow, hard slog
across Europe, leading to the defeat of Adolf Hitler.
Most of the men who landed on the beaches of Normandy were
young men barely out of high school. As
such they had their entire lives in front of them and instead of risking, and
for some sacrificing their lives at Normandy, one would think these young men
would have been thinking of their future and their careers. We must ask ourselves what caused these young
men to put all of that aside to risk, and sacrifice as was the case for the
9000 that paid the ultimate price of their lives for their fellow men and women
at home.
In his discourse during the Last Supper, Jesus told his
disciples that there is no greater love someone can show to another then to lay
down his or her life for them (John 15:13).
These words of Christ were not just empty words for the very next day
Jesus would put action behind His words by laying down his life for not only
his disciples, but for all humanity past, present, and future. Truly Jesus demonstrated a level of love no
other human being has ever demonstrated, or ever will.
I want everyone reading this to take a moment to reflect on
the fact that God, the creator of all that we see, including us became one of
us. By becoming one of us he experienced
all that we experience. During his time
on earth Jesus suffered
1)
Temptation (Matthew 4:1-11) – One of the things
we face daily is temptation. We are
inundated with advertisements in the form of commercials, billboards, banner
ads on the internet all in an effort to entice us to buy someone’s
product. There is a saying in marketing
that sex sells and according to an article from June 7, 2012, sex is still powerful
in advertising. (2) Because of this, we should not expect the use
of sex in advertising to slow any time soon.
While Jesus did not experience the bombardment of sex through mass media
as we do today, there were prostitutes in the time of Christ. The woman at the well comes to mind (John4:1-45) along with the sinful woman, most likely a prostitute, who washed Jesus
feet with her tears (Luke 7:36-40).
Interestingly the religious leaders of the time of Christ would have
nothing to do with prostitutes, perhaps fearing they may give in to temptation
but Jesus had no problem with them for he knew how to resist temptation showing
us the way.
2)
Rejection (Matthew 26:47-56) – Jesus was not
only betrayed and rejected by Judas, all his disciples left him and fled when
the going got tough. In fact, Peter, one
of Jesus closest disciples, rejected him three times (Matthew 26:69-75). This rejection led to Jesus crucifixion on
the cross. However, what Satan intended
for bad, became the greatest blessing for humanity for by Jesus death, and
resurrection three days later, we can all experience salvation and
reconciliation with our creator. Perhaps
the greatest rejection experienced by Jesus was his rejection by God the Father
(Matthew 27:46).
3)
Pain – Crucifixion is an excruciating painful
way for one to be executed. It is
believed the main cause of death from crucifixion is asphyxiation but
contributing factors could also be physical shock, dehydration, and exhaustion.
(3)
However, whatever the cause of death,
Jesus crucifixion, preceded by a severe beating would have been extremely painful. In fact, in the Garden Jesus, knowing what he
was about to experience asked the Father if there was another way
(Matthew 26:49).
God did not need to come to earth and redeem fallen man but
only did it because of His immeasurable love for us. Driven by this love for humanity, God sent
His Only Son to suffer for us, not to condemn us, but to save us (John3:16-17). It is this type of resolve
that those storming the beaches of Normandy demonstrated.
Once again, we find ourselves in a dangerous world facing
dangerous people but this time the face of evil does not have a name like Adolf
Hitler and instead comes at us from among people that live among us who have
been radicalized by some violent religious philosophy or heated political rhetoric. Most recently we have witnessed the bombing
of a concert in Manchester (4) ,
the attack on London Bridge (5) ,
and the attempted assignation of members of Congress at a baseball field in
Virginia. (6) What all three of these attacks have in
common is that they occurred in locations where individual’s guard was down
because they were engaged in what they believed to be non-threatening
activities. The attacks were also
carried out by attackers appearing like ordinary people.
Back in the time of World War II, leaders and citizens were
swift to volunteer and begin dealing with the enemy to save lives. Unfortunately, in our politically correct and
self-centered culture today, people and leaders seem to adopt a laze fare
attitude towards these attacks. Attempts
by the President of the United States to limit people coming into the country
in an effort to prevent more acts of terrorism is just one example of allowing
political correctness in the guise of compassion to endanger citizens. (7) Then there is the London mayor who has told
his citizens to become accustomed to acts of terrorism. (8)
Instead of politically self-serving leaders hiding behind
the shield of political correctness we need leaders with the resolve of a
Winston Churchill or FDR who in the face of their nations coming under attack,
responded by fighting back and defeating the enemies of their nations. Their strong leadership is what inspired
young people to abandon their selfish self-serving life agenda and rally behind
their leaders resolve to defeat the enemies of their citizens. Their resolve to be willing to lay down their
lives in the defense of their fellow citizens and friends stands as a
demonstration of the true love Jesus spoke about in John 15:13. If you agree
that we need leaders and people with such resolve today or if you are such a
person, please feel free to comment to this post.
May God bless everyone reading this.
1. army.mil. D-Day June 6, 1944. www.army.mil.
[Online] [Cited: June 8, 2017.] https://www.army.mil/d-day/.
2. Mulvey, Jeanette.
Why Sex sells ... More Than Ever. www.businessnewsdaily.com. [Online]
Business News Daily, June 7, 2012. [Cited: June 17, 2017.]
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2649-sex-sells-more.html.
3. The Nazarene Way.
Details and History of Crucifixion. www.thenazareneway.com. [Online] The
Nazarene Way of Essenic Studies. [Cited: February 26, 2017.]
http://www.thenazareneway.com/details_history_of_crucifixion.htm.
4. BBC News.
Manchester attack: What we know so far. www.bbc.com. [Online] BBC News,
June 12, 2017. [Cited: June 17, 2017.] http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-40008389.
5. Alexander,
Harriet. London Bridge attack - everything we know. www.telegraph.co.uk.
[Online] The Telegraph, June 6, 2017. [Cited: June 17, 2017.]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/03/london-bridge-everything-know-far/.
6. Pete Williams,
Alex Moe, Erik Ortiz. Congressman Steve Scalise, Three Others Shot at
Alexandria, Virginia, Baseball Field. www.nbcnews.com. [Online] NBC
News, June 14, 2017. [Cited: June 17, 2017.]
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/congressman-steve-scalise-shot-alexandria-virginia-park-n772111.
7. Fox News.
Trump travel ban blocked again: Timeline of a legal journey. www.foxnews.com.
[Online] Fox News, May 25, 2017. [Cited: June 17, 2017.]
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05/25/trump-travel-ban-blocked-again-timeline-legal-journey.html.
8. Oazvini, Michael.
FLASHBACK: Muslim Mayor Of London Tells Citizens To Get Used To Terrorism. www.dailywire.com.
[Online] The Daily Wire, May 23, 2017. [Cited: June 18, 2017.]
http://www.dailywire.com/news/16770/flashback-muslim-mayor-london-told-citizens-get-michael-qazvini.
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