President Honors Navy Hero

It was the kind of story that movies are made of. Only this time it was for real. And it was an act of bravery that brought the nation’s highest military honor, but at the expense of the ultimate sacrifice.

In an East Room ceremony, President Bush presented the Medal of Honor to the grieving, but proud, parents of Michael Monsoor. The Navy SEAL gave his life in Iraq when he made a quick decision to use his own body to shield his fellow soldiers when a live grenade landed in their midst. Knowing there was no time to get rid of the explosive, Monsoor simply threw himself on the explosive thereby saving those around him from certain death. In May, Monsoor had run through heavy enemy fire to pull a wounded SEAL to safety earning a Silver Star, the third-highest award for combat valor.

We may fully never know what goes through the mind of someone who acts instinctively as did this gallant American hero. His reaction was decisive and his calculations acted upon instantly. But in another epic life and death struggle there was a decision made and implemented from eternity past that would effect far more than just a few precious lives. This one would impact every living soul in every single age.

The Bible reveals that the all-knowing Creator God calculated, even before the creation, how He would save a sinful race doomed to physical and spiritual death. His stunning and ingenious rescue would come through the loving and selfless sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. It was then, and may well always be, something far beyond mortal man’s ability to grasp.

Matthew’s gospel summarizes the main thrust of Christ’s main ministry of dying in man’s place in chapter 20. In verse 28 the apostle records, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

The concept of a ransom is not a difficult one. But to further realize the extent of the Savior’s redemptive actions requires the additional light shed on the issue as offered in Philippians 2:11. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

The actions of a brave Navy SEAL are inspiring and should be highly valued by any thinking person. But they should also remind the thinking Christian of the Redeemer who willingly gave His life in exchange for theirs. His heroism not only saved them from sin’s power and penalty, but miraculously defeated the enemy of death itself as noted in 1 Corinthians 15:54-55.

“So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"

Bill Breckenridge