Search and Rescue

"World Trade Center" is a well made and important movie. Oliver Stone wisely chose to focus his movie on two men, John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno. McLoughlin was a 21 year veteran sergeant of the Port Authority Police Department. Jimeno was a rookie. When 9/11 struck they were as surprised and out of their element as the rest of us... but they stepped up. If you saw the trailer for the movie you saw a brilliantly done scene (which was true -- to the word -- to life). McLoughlin stands in front of his small group of men. They see buildings breaking around them, people leaping and falling 80 floors, their bodies exploding like bombs. Everywhere is terror and fear is on their own faces. John McLoughlin asks if any will join him to clear the building. The first one to respond is the rookie -- short, pudgy Jimeno, the man with a young daughter and a pregnant wife.

"I got it, Sarge."

I've listened to many interviews given by these men, their families, and other Port Authority Police Officers who were there. That phrase, "I got it, Sarge," has more bravery, courage, and heroism in it than all the pretend Hollywood poseurs and professional sports crybabies will ever have in their entire lifetimes.

Where do we get men like John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno? We honor, love, and respect the firefighters, nurses, doctors, EMU guys, soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and police who stand in harm's way for people who will never even know their names. No wonder we give them special privileges, license plates, and discounts. They deserve it -- and much more.

The Bible can be read as a search and rescue mission mounted by God for the benefit of fallen man. The same day of the Fall, God enters the garden and searches for the lost couple. He comes to Cain after the murder of Abel. He sends Noah with a search and rescue mission even though the world rejects the hundred years of preaching and drowns anyway. He sends judges, prophets, kings, and priests. And then He sends His Son. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only son..."

Remember the day the question went out in heaven? "Who shall we send? Who will go for us?" Isaiah stepped up and said, "Here am I, send me."

In other words: "I got it, Sarge."

In Revelation 5 the scroll sits unopened and John weeps. In that scroll is the fate of all mankind. Without it being opened, the world will crash in darkness. No one could open it. No one dared. And then... the Lamb came and opened it as all heaven fell to its knees in awe and wonder and worship.

"I got it, Sarge."

And Jesus kept searching and rescuing the lost and broken. The Samaritan woman (John 4), Zaccheus (Luke 19), Matthew (Matthew 9), the widow at the gates (Luke 7:12), the woman with a bleeding disease (Mark 5), and the Christian-hunter, Paul (Acts 9). While we honor him for his teaching and for the purity of his life, it is the cross that brings us to our knees. It is the fact that he saw the world burning and every person in it lost, without hope. He saw that the only way out was through a cross....

"I got it, Sarge."

There was a time in US history when it wasn't safe to travel to Europe and back. Muslims often struck and killed those innocent travelers, forcing the women to become their wives, enslaving the men. For nearly 300 years, the Barbary pirates operated out of North Africa. They were a plague on innocent people everywhere. In its early years, the new nation of America didn't have an Army that could help them. Their Army was overstretched, worn out, and scattered after the Revolution. The Navy was down to less than a dozen serviceable ships, none of which were powerful enough to go against the pirates. The US paid bribe money -- $60,000 a year -- to the pirates in an attempt to get them to leave American ships alone... and it failed.

Something more had to be done. The President looked to the populace for help. He wrote a letter and sent it via messengers who entered taverns (the first was in Philadelphia) and read the President's words; words that became a motto and slogan that still rings today.

"We are looking for a few good men..." And the United States Marine Corps was born. Eight marines, leading a force of 200-300 mercenaries from Turkey they had trained, landed in the desert and force marched to Dema, attacking and taking the town. The backs of the Barbary pirates were broken by eight marines, led by Lieutenant O'Bannon. The Turks were so amazed as their toughness and skill they presented the Lieutenant with their finest sword -- the Mameluke sword, still worn by Marines to this day. Earned. Never given.

In "World Trade Center," the scene cuts to a standard office where people are watching the news and cringing as they see the buildings fall. One does more than cringe. He goes to his closet and gets out his uniform. He makes his way to Ground Zero, walks past all the barriers placed there to keep everyone out. He is Staff Sergeant Karns, US Marines. When everyone else goes home for the night, he crawls about in the rubble shouting, "United States Marines! If you can hear me, shout or tap!" He finds one other soul in that night, also searching on his own, also a marine. They join forces and they are the ones who found McLoughlin and Jimeno. Afterwards, Staff Sergeant Karns reenlists in the Marine Corps and serves two tours in Iraq.

"I got it, Sarge."

What if Jesus stood before you, playing the McLoughlin role, and said to you: "This world is on fire. I need to know: who is going in with me? Who will go everywhere there is a lost soul and bring them out safely? Who will risk everything and lay down everything right here, right now, and get these people out safely?"

He did. He said that. It's Matthew 28:18-20. He even assures us, "I'm with you to the end. You will not be alone."

Note how He is not asking us to be comfortable, to establish nice, clean churches, or to keep the traditions of our elders. He is asking us to do the hard thing, the brave thing, the unspeakably brave thing.

Who will cross the line and join Him? Who will enter the burning world and bring out His children? Say it with me...

"I got it, Sarge."