It happened in January 1982. It was before any of my kids were born, but I remember it clearly. I watched it on TV and the pictures are still in my head. It was a story of real life tragedy and heroism, the kind that stays with you. Twenty seconds after an Air Florida flight took off from National Airport in Washington DC, it crashed into the ice-covered Potomac River. The news media is always on hand in Washington to cover the events of the movers and shakers, and that day was no different. Immediately, camera crews were dispatched to the Rochambeau Bridge on Fourteenth Street, the site of the crash. A live television audience watched as one passenger, later identified as Arland Williams, reached the rope that a police helicopter dropped to victims in the icy waters of that river. Instead of taking the lifeline himself, he passed it to another survivor nearby. Five times he held the rope in his hand and five times he passed it to other survivors so that they could be taken out of the water. Before the sixth attempt to save his life could be made, he disappeared beneath the water’s surface. That Rochambeau Bridge was later renamed the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge.

It took nearly six months to positively identify the man the news media called “the unknown hero.” Our entire nation had been moved by his self-sacrifice. For a short period of time even the cynical news media knew they had seen something extraordinary, something they could not understand. Self-sacrifice is a powerful thing!

The world is amazed by an event like that, but they don’t get it. Self-sacrifice is something they equate with those they consider to be “radical religious kooks.” The world does not understand that self-sacrifice can be a good and powerful thing, so for the most part they overlook it.

Those of us in the church, however, are more understanding of this kind of attitude, a willingness to practice self-sacrifice. This is true whether it is actually giving up your life or giving up a part of your rights for the sake of others.

Those who are believers, those who are disciples of Christ, those who understand who Jesus is and the self-sacrifice He made for us are more likely to be willing to make self-sacrifices themselves. The key is understanding that you are saved because of the self-sacrifice of Jesus. He understood the value of sacrificing yourself for the benefit of others. In fact, Jesus is the one who told us and proved to us by His own actions, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) He went to the cross bearing the sins of the entire world, knowing that His self-sacrifice was the only way to make payment for the sin of all people. His self-sacrifice accomplished your forgiveness, your life, and your salvation. Self-sacrifice, especially that of Jesus, is a powerful thing.

How do you respond to the love of God in Christ?

Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God– this is your spiritual act of worship. 

I’ll share some more thoughts on this tomorrow.