I am speaking, of course, about Abraham Lincoln, who heard the call to establish freedom for all in America, and did not draw back from it - even in the face of danger and fear and hatred. I am speaking about the countless names etched into the granite of the Vietnam Wall - each of which represents a person who, in some way, heard the call to defend and uphold freedom for all - and did not draw back, even in the face of danger and heartache and disagreement. I am speaking about the thousands upon thousands of graves at Arlington, which represent individual people who were awoken each day to a call to do their part to ensure freedom for all.
I imagine many of those did not want to fight, did not want to die, but they heard the call and, in the words of Isaiah, did not rebel, did not draw back. I am speaking of the many doctors and nurses who gave up their own work in their home towns, to help the cause of freedom elsewhere. I am speaking of the many veterans in this country and in this church today, who can give us countless stories of danger and fear and loss, but who did not draw back from the call to usher in freedom for all. And it is because of all these people, the known and the unknown, the many who have refused to draw back from the calling to ensure freedom for all, that America is free today.
One hero
to this cause was named William Owens. He was part of a team that took
the hill in Iwo Jima before the famous flag raising scene that we all have
seen. And a story he told to his son captures this radical love that I
am speaking of. William's two best friends, always by his side in this
war, were two NFL linemen, both pf whom were killed in the line of duty.
But one of the two men was taking a strategic hill with William Owens when
a shot fired from far off ripped through the NFL lineman’s side - cutting
him in two.
And as William Owens held him in
his arms - the former NFL lineman looked into his friends eyes and with
his last gasp of air spoke these words: “tell my wife that I love her.”
Love - yes for his wife and how he cared for her - yes, but not only for
his wife and their relationship - but for her freedom, for the freedom
of his children, for the freedom of the many wives, children, husbands
that this NFL lineman would never meet - but whose freedom he cared for
in some way - and was committed to preserving. That is why he fought. A
most radical love - that is often times hard to understand. And he fought
for this at the risk of losing the greatest love he had, his wife. This
is radical love - and it is hard to understand. And there was a day when
I would have disagreed with what I just said. I would not have understood
such a radical love - and because I did not understand it, I could not
feel how it applied to me.
But then
I learned about Jesus. The greatest example of radical love that there
ever was. For Jesus was willing to live his life, to give up his life,
for the sake of you and me. And the many people who have fought for America's
freedom were willing to do this as well. This is not to glorify death,
not at all. And it is not to glorify fighting. Not at all. It is simply
a fact of radical love - that it is lived out in service to another. And
I believe that such love is only understood when it is felt. And the way
we can feel it, is by allowing ourselves to feel how those who lived this
radical love in their own lives may have felt. It is easy, for example,
to see Jesus as some superhuman who could rise above feelings in ways that
we couldn’t. It is easy to see Jesus as so totally different from ourselves
that we can never get under his skin and feel what he must have felt. No,
not at all. Did Jesus want to fight those who were against him? No. Did
Jesus want to die? No. Did Jesus want to go through the agony of the cross?
No. Did Jesus want to risk his own life every day? No. And if you doubt
this, read in the Gospels where Jesus goes to the garden before he is to
die and asks God if he needs to die, if he needs to endure such pain? Jesus
feared what was to come his way, but like Isaiah has written, he did not
rebel, he did not draw back. Why? Because he loved - in a most radical
way - he loved. He loved His Father, he loved his enemies, and he loved
you and me.
When I let myself realize that...I
mean really feel the fact that Jesus loved me so much, that he loved you
so much, that he loved those who would love him back and those who would
never love him back so much, that he did not draw back in the face of all
the danger, of all the fear, because he wanted us, you and me, to know
that we are loved fully by God. When I think about it, it fills me with
an overwhelming sense of awe and gratitude. .
Or, take the NFL lineman. It is easy to think that a man like that was larger than life. It is easy to think that he was a man who could put his feelings for himself and his wife aside and fight for the good of the country. Not at all. I imagine the soldier was overcome with grief at having been hit. And I imagine his wife was overcome with grief at the loss of her husband, and angry with the war for having caused his death. And I imagine none of this was easy for his friend, William Owens, who held this man in his arms until he died and then had to tell the wife of her husband’s last words. And I imagine that some of us are thinking about how we would feel if that were us on that hill - and it even hurts a little bit just thinking about it. But that’s where we need to be this Memorial Day...right there on that hill with the NFL lineman. We need to be on the road with Jesus as he carried his cross and was mocked for saying that he brought God’s truth to this world.
We need to be with Jesus as he died on the cross - and hear the words of love he spoke about those who killed him. And when we are there, when we are with the soldier who loses his best friend and keeps on, we begin to feel the radical love they had and it begins to become real for us.
And only
then, when we feel this love, can we allow it to become real in our own
lives. It is only when we allow ourselves to feel what the NFL lineman
felt on top of that hill that we will uphold freedom in every corner of
this earth. It is only when we feel what William Owens felt in the loss
of his best friend that we will take what freedom we have and use it each
and every day.
It is only when we have stood with
Jesus Christ on top of Calvary, looking down on the many who mocked him,
and hear him utter the words of love for those very people as he died,
that we will begin to love everyone we meet - good and bad. It is only
when we have walked the long road with Jesus carrying the cross on his
back, that we will wake every day in great thanksgiving for the love that
God has for me, for you - for all of us.
It is only when we can be with those who have radically loved, that we can truly, in the words of Isaiah, hear them. And indeed, we need to hear every veteran, so that the freedom they fought for will always remain true in our lives. And we need to hear Jesus, so that the love God has made real for us will be taken up, accepted, and honored every day. So, let us on this Memorial Day feel the love that every veteran had for us, and never let go of the freedom they have given us. Let us on this day, and every day, hear the love that Jesus Christ had for us. Let us hear the invitation that God makes to each of us to be with Him, to love Him and to be loved by Him. May we never let go of that love, but in each day give thanks - give thanks for the radical love that allowed it all to be so.
A Memorial Day Tribute
Rev. Gordon McClellan
www.ChristianNetworks.org