THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE

As a former Army Ranger, Seattle pastor Tom Allen described a special connection he felt to the characters in the World War II movie "Saving Private Ryan":

I was extremely proud -- until the last minute of the movie. I was proud watching the Rangers take Omaha Beach. Then they receive a mission to go deep into enemy territory to save Private Ryan. They hit skirmish after skirmish, and some of them are killed along the way. They finally get to where Private Ryan is holed up, and they say, "Come with us. We've come to save you."

He says, "I'm not going. I have to stay here because there's a big battle coming up, and if I leave my men they're all going to die."

What do the Rangers say? "We'll stay here and fight with you." They stay and fight, and it's gory and hard, and almost everyone dies except Private Ryan. At the end, one of the main characters -- played by Tom Hanks -- is sitting on the ground. He's been shot and he's dying. The battle has been won.

Private Ryan leans over to him, and Hanks whispers something to him. Everyone in the theater is crying because Tom Hanks was shot; I was crying because of what he said -- it was so terrible. Ryan bent down and Hanks said, "Earn this."

The reason that made me angry is no Ranger would ever say, "Earn this." Why? Because the Ranger motto for the past 200 years has not been "earn this." The Ranger motto for the past 200 years has been Sua sponte, "I chose this." I volunteered for this.

If Hanks was really a Ranger he would have said, "Sua sponte." In other words, "This is free. You don't pay anything for this. I give up my life for you. That's my job."

And so when you look at the cross and see Jesus hanging there and hear Him say, "I thirst," you do not hear "earn this." You never hear Jesus say, "Earn this." He doesn't say, "I've given up everything for you. Now you need to gut it out for Me." What He says is "I thirst." He says, "Sua sponte. I volunteered for this. You don't have to pay anything for it." 


-- Tom Allen, Seattle, Washington in a sermon from Preaching Today


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