A GOOD NEWS STORY
Tears rolled down my cheeks this morning as I watched the CNN coverage of the rescue of the first of the miners who have been trapped in the copper mine in Chile for 68 days. Seven hundred meters below ground, they stepped one by one into the rescue capsule for the journey to the surface. About fifteen minutes later they stepped out of the capsule into the sunlight, and into the arms of waiting family, friends, and dignitaries. There was what one CNN commentator called “an explosion of happiness and joy.” There were tears, hugs, high-fives, applause, and shouts of delight. Another commentator aptly said, “This is like a rebirth. Life for them will never be the same again.”
As I watched I couldn’t help but see the parallels between this “good news story” and the greatest good news story of all time—Jesus’ rescue mission to save us from darkness, hopelessness, and eternal death. Like the miners, we were trapped in sin and helpless to save ourselves. Help had to come from above—from heaven! And it did—at great cost. “Christ Jesus . . . who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death–even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8) Through his down-coming into the darkness of this world, and by his death and resurrection, Jesus made a way for us to escape darkness and death, to experience rebirth, and to enjoy new life.
As I watched each miner step into the capsule that would take him to the surface, I thought – that’s a picture of faith! All he had to do to be rescued was step into the capsule. All he had to do to experience new life was take advantage of what others had provided for his rescue. And all we have to do if we want to be rescued is to ‘step into’ Jesus by faith.
We would consider a miner who chose to stay below the biggest fool, yet Jesus said that there would be people who “love darkness rather than light” (John 3:19) and who refuse his offer of rescue. Don’t you be one of them; trust Jesus now!
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10).
