At what point is a sacrifice worth the trade? It does involve a trade, after all. In a story of a boy diagnosed with bone cancer, his parents gave their time, love, and financial resources in trade for providing their son the best opportunity possible to live a fruitful, satisfactory life. He was their son, bone and blood, part of them. Their connection was inseparable, one of the heart.
How about the trades we’re willing to make for those connected to us in other ways? According to Army.mil, in 1970, in Cambodia with Company B, Sgt. Leslie Sabo was riddled with shrapnel from enemy fire, and refusing to give in, charged an enemy bunker to throw a grenade inside. He was determined to stop the enemy fire from decimating his company, and he sacrificed his life to give his comrades a chance for success.
The war history website cherrieswriter.com talks about four Army chaplains who, in 1943, knowingly sacrificed their lives to aid the 904 men on the troop transport S.S. Dorchester when it was hit by a U-boat near Greenland. The chaplains—two Protestants, one Catholic, and one Jewish—assisted in building life rafts and even gave away their own lifejackets as the transport disappeared beneath them.
So, back to our question … at what point is a sacrifice worth the risk? Records reveal that Chaplain First Lt. Clark V. Poling, one of the four aboard the Dorchester, wrote his father to request that he ask God to not simply keep him safe but to make him adequate for what would be required of him.
Adequacy. This word suggests competency … the ability to fulfill the task … and perhaps we need to include the willingness to fulfill the task. Not only was Poling’s father willing to let his son step into the melee to perform what was required of him as a U.S. soldier, Poling desired that same willingness of himself. His request for prayer suggests that he wasn’t sure he had it but that it was his greatest desire.
What did Jesus give up for us? What did God his Father sacrifice? Read about it in John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Before Jesus came to the earth to die on the cross, I imagine the conversation between God, the Father, and Jesus, the Son, going something like this:
“Jesus, have you been paying attention to what’s going on down there?”
“Down where, Father?”
“Son, haven’t you been paying attention?”
“Well, yeah, Father, but there’s a lot to do in and about Heaven, and I’ve been very busy. What have I missed?”
“Come sit beside me and I’ll show you.”
Jesus joins God, and as God expects, Jesus is as distressed as God at the wreckage of morals and human connectivity that’s degraded the human condition. Soon, their conversation turns to possible options to correct the situation before it goes too far.
God says, “I might need to send someone down to survey the situation. Things are looking pretty explosive about now. Those Romans, especially. They are really mucking up things with my Children.”
“Yes, I can see that. The suffering must be immense. Do you think if I … maybe?” Jesus points to himself and then down towards the earth.
“You, Jesus?” God frowns before continuing. “I don’t know if you realize what you’re suggesting. Did you catch the pretty explosive part? And all those crosses … the Roman are putting all manner of people on those, and it looks really gruesome. It isn’t safe down there for you to go alone.”
“I can do this, Father.”
God thinks a moment before saying, “Perhaps if I send ten thousand angels as guards—”
“Father,” and Jesus chuckles. “You know better. I must become one of them for this to work. That’s not likely if I constantly have security guards all around me. And regardless of the risk, I can do this. You’ve made me adequate for this, and I’m willing.”
“Even if you wind up on one of those crosses?” God shakes his head in disbelief.
“Especially if I wind up on one of those crosses.”
There’s no record of this conversation in the Bible, but it’s clear in the Word that Jesus and God agreed on Jesus taking human form and spending 33 years bonding with the human race and dying on one of the Roman crosses. And here’s the vital part of this: God was willing to let Jesus go, and Jesus was willing to take up the challenge … even when he knew it would culminate in his death on the cross.
What prompted God to begin this chain of events? “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
That’s the heart of our God. He was willing to sacrifice his most prized possession—his Son—for us to have salvation. He still loves us that much today.
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