Sacrifices are Messy

Walking through the American Veteran's Cemetery at Maastricht on Easter, I once again considered the blood and carnage of war and the thousands of bodies that lay in honor in the land they had fought to liberate from evil.  Their deaths were not in vain, but  Maastricht was the first town in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe was freed from the oppression and savagery that Hitler had devised.  Though over 17,000 Americans were once buried here, around half were repatriated to America for their "final" resting place.  Christ's victory over death also provides hope for the fallen.  Not to be forgotten were many thousands of British soldiers as well that Operation Market Garden on September 17, 1944 cost.  


Books, movies and personal witness have over and over told of the suffering, the blood shed, the loss of life and limb for the purchase of freedom.  Mel Gibson's life is a shambles; few would argue with that statement, but the film, The Passion of Christ, was spot on of the messiness of the sacrifice of Christ's humanity.  But The Passion, or any other medium, can not express the divine dimension that went on during that Passover weekend that culminated in the resurrection of Jesus.  Jesus' call to His Father to "let this cup pass from me" was not His inability to endure the human dimension, but the divine one; the gathering of ALL SIN, past, present and future were placed on Him and He would be separated from His Father; that was His sole purpose.  His purpose was being about the Father's business and doing exactly what He was told to do.  Jesus did not want to face that separation even for a short-time.  The sin Jesus took on Himself for you and for me is enticing, but in the end, demands a payment.  Jesus changed all that; He paid the price.


Hundreds of soldiers' bodies have yet to be known even 60 years later, but they will still rise in the end.  Wars are filled with sacrifices that are messy and the war between good and evil is no exception.  There was a price to pay and a willing Man of God to pay it.


Christ's redemption gift reminds us that we have been bought with a price and we are no longer our own.  The soldiers' crosses remind us that good people gave of themselves the ultimate sacrifice, messy and permanent for freedom and redemption; may we not forget either sacrifice.  Our obligation is not just of a human perspective but also a divine one.