Seeing Jesus in Timothy McCarthy

At 2:27 PM on March 30, 1981 John Hinckley, Jr. attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. The president had just finished speaking at a meeting of the AFL-CIO at the Washington Hilton. He left the building and made his way toward his limousine, just a short walk across the pavement. Before he could reach the car, however, Hinckley fired six shots at the president. The president and three others were wounded. The wounds were serious. All four people nearly died. But, it is the actions of one of the wounded, before he was shot, that have always fascinated me. Those actions always make me think of Jesus.

When the gunfire started the people on that sidewalk did what most people do when confronted with a source of danger. If they can’t run, then they try to hide. You see the people watching the president all turn away from the sound of the gunfire or get down on the ground. They drew up into themselves. They tried to make themselves as small as possible. Which is a normal, even rational, response in the face of danger. They all did that. Except for one person.

Secret Service Special Agent Timothy McCarthy did something different, something completely counter-intuitive. He did not turn away from the source of danger. He did not make himself as small as possible. He turned toward the gunman and made himself as big as he could. He rose up to his full height. He stretched out his arms. Why? He was putting his own body between the president and the source of danger. He made himself into a human shield. And he was shot in the abdomen, almost losing his life. He risked his life, nearly giving his life, to save the life of the president.

This has always fascinated me. McCarthy’s actions were so contrary to human nature. But more, this seems to me like a picture of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Jesus spread out his arms and made himself a human shield between us and a source of great danger – the wrath of God.

We deserve God’s wrath. And God’s wrath is a far greatest danger to us than an assassin’s bullet. The threat from God’s wrath is greater than any other menace we might face from another person. Jesus said, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

The wrath of God is a terrible, fearful thing. The wrath of God destroys soul and body, in hell, forever. And, it is what we deserve. Every one of us. It is what we deserve.

What would it be like for the wrath of God to be poured out on us? Did you ever see the news coverage of civil rights protests when local officials used fire hoses against the protesters? The powerful water from the fire hoses knocks people off their feet. They try to stand up, but can’t. The force of the water is too great. It knocks them down again and again. They are powerless before it. Take that and multiple it many times over and that’s what I imagine the wrath of God to be like. It knocks you down and you can’t stand up. It overwhelms. There is no hope before it.

But, Jesus put his own body between the wrath of God and you, and me, and all those who believe. When he was on the cross, part of his payment for our sin meant absorbing into himself all of the wrath of God that should justly be poured onto us. He made himself a human shield. Like Timothy McCarthy did for President Reagan, Jesus used his own body to protect us. But he not only risked his life, he gave his life, so that we could live.

I want to think more about that, about Jesus’s love for me, a love so great that he was compelled to use his own body to shield me. I want to let the knowledge of his love for me saturate my whole being. And I want that knowledge to move me to greater love for him.

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