Jesus Christ: The Ultimate First Responder

Firefighters, Police, EMT’s, paramedics, 911 dispatchers, chaplains, and other trained medical professionals daily are the first to respond to life-and-death emergency scenes and scenarios. They are confronted with moment-by-moment seconds that count when trying to save a life. They are faced with the reality of the mangled and grotesque. They are immersed in the reality of death; and they are frequently engulfed by the extreme emotions and trauma-reactions of a decedent’s loved ones on the absolute worst day of their lives. First responders run toward the very thing others run from. They risk their own lives to save strangers, or to remove danger; and many…sacrifice their lives for that cause.

To be a first responder is a unique calling, unlike any other. But with that calling, comes other unseen sacrifices as well. There is a grappling with darkness, with questions on meaning and purpose; there is a wrestling with the existence of a good God. There is sadness. There is anger. There is grief. There is a wondering on how to cope… and how to hope. Sometimes there is emotional and relational retreat. Sometimes depression, sometimes anxiety. Sometimes there’s nightmares; sometimes it’s flashbacks. Sometimes it’s the mistakes and failures to “save” that repeatedly torment the mind. But if you or someone you love are a first responder, please know there IS someone who understands. There IS someone who gets it; and there IS someone who can provide you the “hope” and the “cope” you are looking for. And that person is Jesus Christ.

According to the New Testament, Jesus was daily immersed in life-and-death scenarios; He was frequently the one everyone called on…on the worst day of their lives. He saw the mangled and grotesque as they approached Him for healing. They came to him bleeding… infected with leprosy… they reached for his clothes and pulled on Him. They even broke apart a roof to lower their paralyzed friend down into the room where Jesus taught. He was brought into the room of the feverish, dying mother of his dear friend. He was brought into the room of a dead child. He held his dear friends as they wept and wailed over their dead brother, and He absorbed their accusatory statements that He had been “too late” to save him. And Jesus faced grief. In that moment, the shortest verse in the Bible tells us… “Jesus wept.” And then he got angry. Isaiah says that Jesus “was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” And while He was the Son of God, He was still human. He battled an anxiety and psychological torment so unbelievably intense, He literally sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane. But through it all, Jesus ran toward the thing everyone else was running from. As the majority of His closest friends abandoned Him and fled for their lives, Jesus walked toward the cross. He endured one of the most horrific and vile trauma-experiences of all time (Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19). He was stripped naked. He was beaten with a whip and then with a cat-of-nine-tails; He was beaten so badly, scripture says He was no longer recognizable. He had a crown of thorns violently shoved onto His head. He was cursed at, spit on, and then forced to carry His own instrument of death up a hill to be publicly slaughtered upon. Nails…were hammered into his hands and feet. But He didn’t lose resolve. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t even open His mouth to complain or shout back. He pushed forward. And with His dying breath, He begged His Father in Heaven…to forgive them. You see, Jesus wasn’t just an ancient version of a First Responder… He was THE ULTIMATE FIRST RESPONDER…because He responded to the curse of sin and of death by giving His own life to save us from the worst form of absolute pain and torture; which is an eternity apart from God. His death, His sacrifice PAID for the sins of the world. And His resurrection was the RECEIPT. His shed innocent blood reversed the curse; and it did this because the payment for SIN is death; but Jesus never sinned… so His death rattled a universal code designed to punish the guilty, not the innocent; and He turned everything upside-down!

So… if you, or someone you love are wrestling with questions on life, meaning, purpose, pain, suffering, good, evil, or the inevitability of death, Jesus is the key! He wants to unlock the answers to your deepest questions. He wants to show you there is goodness, and light, and hope- regardless of the evil, the dark, and the despair currently residing in our world. He wants to reveal to you that death is not actually the end, but rather a gateway, or a change station with an eternal destination. He wants you to know that you exist for a reason; there is purpose and intention in your design… so your life and your choices matter. And ultimately, Jesus wants you to know that evil and death do not win in the end. They may wage daily battles right now; but they have already lost the war. So please consider reaching out to Him! Jesus promises to answer you if you call to Him (Jeremiah 33:3) and that if you “draw near to Him, He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). There ARE answers to your questions. Seek Jesus, and your life will never be the same.