In the recent rescue of the youth
soccer team in northern Thailand, it was refreshing to see people actually work
together to fulfill this amazing mission. The rescuers were focused more upon
the mission than other issues that are often emphasized in our culture’s
response to human crises. One did not hear anyone criticize the trapped youth
and their coach for their actions. No labels were used saying their actions
were careless or foolish and therefore it was their own responsibility to get
themselves out of the mess they had gotten into. Neither did one hear that the
rescue was too risky to attempt. The danger was acknowledged as a fact, not as a
determinant.
The rescue was not measured in financial
outlay. One can only assume that millions of dollars were invested in the
rescue of 12 youth and their coach. Nor was there undue focus upon the
sacrifice that rescuers were making on behalf of those trapped – even possible
death for the divers. Their action was based upon the value of the lives of the
youth and the peril they faced.
The resources that were invested and the
personnel that gather from around the world came together rapidly. Nations cooperated
and looked beyond cultural, religious, and language differences that may have
been hindrances in other circumstances. Technology and human ingenuity were
coupled with millions of prayers for divine wisdom and intervention. There was
no hesitancy to become engaged in a mission that may have been labeled as foolhardy
or useless. Even without knowing all that they might face and setbacks they
would probably encounter, rescuers surged to that remote cave intent on rescue.
Difficulties and dangers became secondary
to the mission of releasing a small group of boys huddled in cold and darkness,
facing certain death. The expenditures were made and the result was an outcome
beyond what people could hardly imagine. Twelve boys and their coach emerged from
the cave of potential death to breathe air they had not experienced during their
18-day ordeal. Can you imagine the gratitude of these young boys? These young
eyes that had been shrouded in darkness were now able to see and walk in the
light above ground. Young lives were again able to connect to their families,
and to satisfy their insatiable teenage appetites. There was rejoicing outside
of that cave when that last person emerged. The New York Times headline read,
“The Watery Trap is Now Empty.” The only bitter element attached to the rescue
was the realization that former Thai navy SEAL, Saman Gunan, died as he
participated in the rescue. Attempts at recue always carry a cost.
What would happen in our world if people
would be united around other rescues that are needed? How many lives would be spared
if a similar spirit was present as our world addressed the various crises existing
around us? People so often cry out for solutions to injustices they see and
then fail to help people ensnared in them. Pick a crisis: drug abuse, human
trafficking, oppression of people, physical and sexual abuse, social
inequities, spiritual despair, suicide, bullying, etc. The list seems endless
because life in a sin-filled world is bursting with multitudes of dysfunctions.
This is a byproduct of humanity not living in a proper relationship with both
God and people. Pick a necessary rescue and respond as did these rescuers in
Thailand.
When Jesus was pressed by a critic about the
most important commandment in living successfully in this sin-scared world that
needed rescue, he responded, "'You are to love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and
first commandment. A second likewise is this, 'You are to love your neighbor as
yourself.' The whole Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments”
(Matthew 22:37-40). He essentially was saying one must be properly related to
God and then he can be properly related to needy humanity around them.
When one is properly related to God, he
looks at humans around them in a different way. People have value regardless of
their status, heritage, gender, or other features that cause people to make
distinctions. People all have the same problem – sin – and that can only be
rectified by a holy God who offers to all forgiveness by His grace (Ephesians
2:1-9). People are
to be served not used. People are therefore worth rescuing from their human
dilemma. That is exactly what Jesus did in coming to the darkness of our world
to bring humans out into the light.
Our
world needs people to engage in some serious rescue operations!
