The Kind of Men You Can Count On
A few days ago I listened to an interview with Admiral Bill McRaven. McRaven is a former Navy SEAL who, among other things, commanded the operation that resulted in Osama Bin Laden’s death. McRaven is well known for his 2014 commencement speech at the University of Texas that was turned into the book Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World.
In the interview McRaven talked about the SEALs who went on the mission to get Bin Laden. He said they were good men, the kind of men you’d like to have as neighbors, the kind of men you can count on when things go bad.
Last week I shared that I’ve been listening to the audiobook version of Dane Ortlund’s Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers. I noted that one of the things that Ortlund says repeatedly is that when believers mess up, whether that is a small mess up or a huge one, Jesus has one response. He moves towards them full of love and compassion.
Last week I was also reading R.C. Sproul’s book Surprised by Suffering: The Role of Pain and Death in the Christian Life. Sproul wrote, “When the criminal suffers for his crime, he may be distressed, but he has no reason to be perplexed. There is no surprise that punishment should be the consequence of crime. There is shame attached to this sort of suffering.” Perhaps I misunderstood him, but it seemed to me that Sproul agreed with the common view among many church people, “Prisoners? Why be concerned about them? They are just getting what they deserve.”
Finally, yesterday at our church one of our pastors preached on Hebrews 13. He said that one of the ways to put the great theology of Hebrews into practice is to “remember the prisoner” (verse 4).
These things have been bouncing around in my mind this week. Here’s how I put them together.
Jesus came for guilty sinners and sufferers. Of course he did, that’s the only kind there are. We’re all guilty, we’re all criminals. Too many church people err when they see the world as divided into good people and bad people, as innocents and shameful criminals. Many seem to not understand that Jesus meant it when he said, “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). Also that Paul meant it when he wrote everyone “falls short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Because so many Christians see the world as divided into good people and bad people, the Church often fails to “remember the prisoner.” But not you, not our mentors.
You are like Navy SEALs who can be counted on when things go bad. You don’t run away from criminals. You’re not okay with locking them up and forgetting them. Things have gone very badly. They have messed up in huge ways. They have committed crimes, some of them serious crimes. They are responsible for significant harm to others. But you don’t turn away. You mirror Jesus by moving toward criminals with love and compassion. You remember prisoners as though in prison with them.
As I’ve thought about these things this week my heart has filled with love and gratitude for you. I’ve thought about how in the military world SEAL’s are some of the best, good men you’d be glad to have as neighbors, men who can be counted on when things go bad. That’s what I think of you, of mentors who remember, love, and show compassion for prisoners. You’re some of the best. I’m glad to know you and to serve with you.
Much love, Barry