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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