No Greater Love

1993 Pat and Lionel at The Alamo

'Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.' John 15:13

The Ultimate Sacrifice and the Greatest Love.

The first time I understood Ultimate Sacrifice was when I watched the 1960 movie The Alamo. This blockbuster movie was produced and directed by John Wayne, who also acted as David Crockett and Richard Widmark played the role of Jim Bowie. I was most impressed by the embittered character Lieutenant-Colonel William Travis, played by Laurence Harvey, who was the commanding officer. He had a very difficult task to defend against an overwhelming force and against all odds; a difficult choice to make to stand his ground and not withdraw or surrender.  

At the Battle of the Alamo, 185 Texans, Tennesseans, Mexicans and others defended the Spanish Catholic Mission and Fortress at San Antonio against 5000 troops of the Mexican Army led by the dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna. After a 13 days siege, despite the brave defense put up by the Americans, the Mexican Army breached the wall and a brutal slaughter of all 185 men ensued. These men paid the ultimate sacrifice, they laid down their lives in the fight for the independence of Texas. 

 The Ballad of the Alamo extol their bravery and their ultimate sacrifice.

   

But the Battle of the Alamo was not a wasted carnage. It delayed the Mexican advance and bought sufficient time for General Sam Houston to raise an army, eventually to defeat Santa Anna and secured the independence of Texas. Under the rallying cry 'Remember the Alamo' the Texans recognised the sacrifice of these man to establish their State.

I was 10 years old when I watched the movie but two scenes made an indelible mark on me. Somehow each scene allowed me to draw lessons of values and virtues which I could apply when I became a Christian several years later. 

The first scene was when LTC Travis drew a line on the sand of the old fort with his sabre having realised the foregone conclusion of the battle. He asked any person wanting to withdraw, escape or surrender to Mexican army, to step across that line. Not one of the 185 men walked across. They all chose to stay at fight even though they knew it was going to be certain death for them.

Centuries earlier another commander, Joshua had thrown down the same challenge. Joshua challenged the Israelites,

 'But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.' Joshua 24:15

Like that line in the sand, it was a pivotal choice to make. The Israelites like the Texans made the right choice, they replied Joshua "Be it far from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods!" Joshua 24:16. 

This challenge is a fundamental choice all Christians need to make very early in their belief and conversion. There is no turning back.

The second scene was the closing sequence of the movie. Mrs Sue Dickinson, wife of the artillery officer, placed her daughter on a donkey and slowly out of the Alamo, one of the few survivors. As mother and daughter passed by the slain men strewn on the grounds of the Alamo, the soldiers of Santa Anna's army stood up and saluted. It was a very sad yet poignant moment. A lovely song the  'Green Leaves of Summer' sung by the Brothers Four played in the background recounting precious moments of life including the time to die.

A time to be reaping

A time to be sowing

A time just for living

A place for to die

Twas so good to be young then

To be close to the earth

Now the green leaves of summer

Are calling me home

It was the time of men laying down their lives so that others may live. Jesus Christ also spoke of this ultimate sacrifice,

'Greater love has no one more than this: to lay down his life for his brother.' John 15:13

The sacrifice at the Alamo is relevant but Jesus Christ was speaking about an even greater love, an even greater sacrifice - His sacrifice on the cross at Calvary. Because of His great love for all men, Jesus suffered a gruesome death to pay for the sins of men. Jesus laid down his life to save us from our sins - the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus died so that we can live - The Greatest Love.

'Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.     This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son (Jesus) as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.' 1 John 2:2 and 1 John 4:10

Christianity is born of the sacrifice and the blood of Jesus Christ.

In 1993, Pat and I visited The Alamo. We went not as tourists; it was more like a pilgrimage to honour the 185 men, to think of their sacrifice and to stand silently where they were slain. It was evening and the sun was setting as it was when Travis drew that line in the sand. 

In that serenity, we made a silent family prayer and rededicated our lives - 'As For Me And My House We Will Serve The Lord.'

Lionel

   

 

I Will Walk With God

'For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you,  Do not fear; I will help you' Isaiah 41:13

When I was in Pre-University Medicine class in Raffles Institution, we had an American Peace Corps volunteer who taught us literature. That was when I was introduced to the poetry of Robert Frost, one of whose famous poems is The Road Not Taken.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that made all the difference

This is a poem about options and choices. A traveler in a forest chanced upon a fork; a divergence and he had to make a choice. He chose the one less travelled. Years later he would reflect on this choice, which he said made all the difference. To be sure there was no indication in the poem whether the choice was better or worse, right or wrong, good or bad. If the fork presented a choice of life options, that decision shaped his life in one direction whereas the other path not chosen would have shaped it altogether differently.

The take home lesson I learnt from this poem is that we will be faced with a few life choices that will be game-changing. Around that time in school, I made my life-changing decision which was to ask Jesus to come into my life as my Saviour and Lord. I have not looked back ever since and have not travelled down another road.

All Christians would have made that choice. After the exodus from Egypt and just before they were to settle in the land of Canaan there was a decision for the people of Israel, a reckoning for them. For forty years they were migrating across the wilderness and now they were on the verge of nationhood and to take a vast territory that was promised to them. Joshua, their leader, forced a momentous decision as recorded in Joshua 24:15 'Choose you this day whom you will serve...But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.'

In the story of the Student Prince, there was another setting in which such a crossroads decision had to be made. The student prince pondered his options for the future as he ascended to the throne after the death of his father. He decided like Joshua of old that he will walk with God from that day forth, as he started his reign. There is a wonderful song sung by the great tenor-actor Mario Lanza entitled 'I'll walk with God'.  

I'll walk with God

From this day on

His helping hand, I'll lean upon

This is my prayer my humble plea

May the Lord be ever with me

There is no death though eyes grow dim

There is no fear when I'm near to him

I'll lean on Him forever

And He'll forsake me never

He will not fail me as long as my faith is strong

Whatever road I may walk along

I'll walk with God

I'll take His hand

I'll talk with God He'll understand

I'll pray to him

Each day to Him

And He'll hear the words that I say

His hand will guide my throne and rod

And I'll never walk alone

While I walk with God.

The traveler in the woods, the student prince and Joshua considered their choices carefully. The poem indicated that the traveler studied his options. Did he regret it? Did he find the going tough? Did he ever think of going back? 

It does not appear from the poem that the traveler ever changed his mind. In the same way, my whole extended family chose to convert to Christianity decades ago and since then not one of us - spouses, children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews ever looked back. 

We took the hand of the Lord and we have not and will never walk alone.

Lionel