Rescuer, Redeemer, Savior
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Acts 10:25–26, 34–35, 44–48 / Psalm 98:2b / 1 John 4:7–10 / John 15:9–17
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Reflecting on the Word
By Dr. Karla J. Bellinger
The trucker swung down the exit ramp and braked at the stop sign. The interchange was empty—no gas station, no house lights, nothing but darkness. My hitchhiker’s instincts kicked in. This was not good.
“Where are you going?” I glared at him from the passenger seat. He hungrily eyed me, an eighteen-year-old female. Then he grunted “You got a knife?”
I didn’t. But I growled as gruffly as I could, “Yeah, you bet.” “Get out then!”
I jumped down to the gravel into the bitter winter. By the time I had hiked halfway up the ramp toward the interstate, he had turned his semi around and roared past me, back onto the highway. He hadn’t been going anywhere but after me. I shook from much more than the cold.
I held out my thumb by the side of the interstate, in a silent plea for a ride. Nobody stopped. The wind blew through my thin jacket. The tear ducts in my eyes began to freeze. My mind grew muddled on that dark plain of North Dakota in the middle of January. I stopped shaking and thought, “I’ll just lie down here.” The only other thing in my head was, “Oh, Someone . . . help.”
An ancient Oldsmobile pulled over. The back door opened. A grandma slid a three-year-old onto her lap to make space for me. “¡Hace frío!” she exclaimed. She held up a piece of her blanket and covered my legs with its warmth. “Sorry, heater no work,” the dad said as he shifted into gear. As we drove, I began to thaw with the five warm bodies huddled together in the back seat.
“Where you going?” the dad asked. “Michigan,” I said. He shook his head. They were going to Fargo. “I take you to bus. No more hitchhike,” he said. I couldn’t have agreed more.
Consider/Discuss
- Dozens of warm cars and trucks had no space for me that night many years ago. But if you are one of the (now grown up) members of that Mexican family who squeezed together in the back seat of your unheated car to make room for me, I have always wanted to thank you. You saved my life. And in the warmth of your family for those many miles, you surrounded me with what love looks like. For those of you who are not a member of that family, is there someone who has rescued you in a moment of need whom you too have always wanted to thank?
- Whether it is by our own foolishness or from the malice of another, sometimes life drops us by the side of the road. Yet there is one who knows our predicament and picks us up. In this season of the warmth of the Resurrection, we believe that Jesus is our Rescuer, our Redeemer, and our Savior. How has God lifted the blanket to make space for us, to let us in, even when we have been headed for ruin?
Living and Praying with the Word
Jesus, you ask us to love as you love, giving ourselves for others. Love is not a warm mushy feeling, but a willingness to work for the good of the other. Thank you for those who have laid down their lives for us. Thank you for the fruit they have borne, fruit that has transformed us. Your compassion sometimes works through unlikely people, unseen people, big-hearted people who give without counting the cost. Bless all of your friends who imitate you. Grant them great joy in their lives of generosity.