Last night, being on call for EMS, I responded to a "motorcycle accident" that came over my pager. I quickly responded to the Ambulance to be greeted by many other EMTs who were very concerned. These other EMTs were not just concerned because it was a motorcycle accident. They were concerned because they were fairly certain it involved a friend.
Prior to the page, our current EMS class was just registered to take their state tests. The man who helped was (I'm not certain of his exact title) a well known EMS teacher in south-west Kansas. He had just left the building 10 minutes earlier. As a teen age driver turned in front of him causing a collision, and life came to an end quickly.
I am constantly hearing about how the Gospel can change our lives, and it can. I am constantly hearing about how God wants to save your marriage or how the Gospel can help you get off of drugs or alcohol or how the gospel can help you with your job, school or homework. Yet all of this misses the real need of man.
Bad marriages, drugs and etc, are mere fruits of a far deeper problem. Sin & Death! Sin and Death have consumed the souls of men. As Sin infiltrates a man's life, it bears its evil fruit which leads to Death. As sin enters a man's marriage. Eventually, the marriage dies. Death consumes everything sin touches. As Sin begins to express itself in drugs and alcohol, Death follows. It reveals itself in forms of dying relationships. It reveals itself in abuse against God's image bearers till the image bearer lies down in the grave.
The Death that I witnessed last evening has, as I said, reminded me of our true need. We don't need heaven or a good job or a good morality or a nice home and good parents or whatever one may think of. We need something far greater.
This Holy Week, Christians around the world will be listening to sermons about the Cross. Where one man lived a Life, a Holy Life, a Perfect Life, a Righteous Life, a Life that was perfectly pleasing to God. But even more than that, we will hear about how this One Man performed what Luther called "The Great Exchange".
Nearly two-thousand years ago, the man, Jesus Christ, bore God's wrath in behalf of His church, a church that was yet to even be formed. The man, Jesus of Nazareth, was crucified in order that the punishment due to our sin would be taken in our behalf. He suffered the Death that I so much deserved.
On Sunday, we will celebrate the prize. We will glory in the one who has done something no one has yet to truly understand. We will celebrate the gift of Eternal Life. Death no longer has a hold of me or any true Christian. Life has entered our hearts because of a historical event, the Resurrection of this same Jesus..
As I think about that man's corpse lying on the highway, I am solemnly reminded of my true need. I am ever thankful that I possess the prize. One day I will hold that prize in all of its fullness. For today I only have that prize by faith. One day, as certainly as He was raised from the dead, I will possess Him face to face.
