In his book entitled Miracle on the River Kwai, Ernest Gordon tells the story of British soldiers, prisoners of war, who their captors forced to work on a jungle railroad. Suffering drove the prisoners to hate their captors. Even their behavior toward one another degenerated into division and bitterness.
One day, a shovel was missing. The officer in charge was enraged and demanded that it be returned. Not one of the prisoners budged. The officer raised his gun and threatened to begin killing them on the spot if the guilty one did not come forth. It was apparent he meant what he said.
Then, one of the prisoners stepped forward, trembling with his head bowed. The officer immediately killed him. After this, he ordered a recount of all the tools to be sure nothing else was missing. At the second count, it was discovered that none of the shovels were missing. There had been a miscount the first time. Every tool was there.
Word spread like wildfire throughout the whole camp. An innocent man laid down his life to save them! His sacrifice had a profound effect. Prisoners began treating each other like brothers. And not only each other.
When the victorious Allies swept in, the surviving soldiers, who were hardly more than human skeletons, stood between their captors and the Allies. Instead of attacking, they protected the captors, saying, "No more hatred, no more killing. Now we want forgiveness!" One man's sacrificing love transformed them.
The image of God's love for us, Jesus dying on the Cross, transforms us. When we see the image of Jesus on the Cross, we are reminded that whenever one of His members suffers, Jesus suffers, for we are His body. When our bodies are in pain, our heads suffer as well.
Eight days after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to the Apostles. He stretched out His hands before them and said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands; and bring your hand and put it into my side."
Jesus could have said, "Look at my hands, look at my side. See the wounds." Instead, He tells Thomas to enter His wounds, "Put your hand into my side." In other words, “Let your flesh become one with my flesh, your sufferings with my sufferings.” Jesus suffered because we, His body, suffer many things.
The sacrifice of one soldier inspired the others by his example of love for them. The inspiration Jesus gives is infinitely greater. He breathes His Spirit into us: inspiration. He enters us and takes our wounds upon Himself to bear our sufferings. The image of Jesus will be on the Cross until the last member of His body shares in His Resurrection and ascends with Him into the kingdom of heaven.
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