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What’s In a Date?
By Scott Harrup | December 7, 2009
Today many have been thinking back to the events at Pearl Harbor in 1941. President Roosevelt summed up our nation’s horror over the resulting loss of life from Japan’s surprise attack when he called Dec. 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy.”
Other dates come to mind when I contemplate humanity’s traded cruelties. Two more recent candidates are April 19, 1995, and September 11, 2001. I was working in this office on an issue of the Pentecostal Evangel in 1995 when our staff heard of the Oklahoma City bombing. I was at a family reunion in Texas when 9/11 occurred. Both days were personally transforming.
What is the purpose behind commemorating such days? It is certainly not to immortalize evil. We focus instead on those heroes who lost their lives, but who continue to inspire us by their example.
The ultimate clash between good and evil will be acknowledged in just a few more days, although most people observing the day won’t realize it.
Whether or not Jesus Christ was born precisely on Dec. 25, Christmas Day commemorates His arrival as a baby in Bethlehem. His birth, as announced by angels to humble shepherds, signified God’s favor and peace toward all mankind (Luke 2:14). Just days later, when Joseph and Mary presented Baby Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem, elderly Simeon reminded the joyful couple that the Child’s mission would be attended by death (Luke 2:29-35). The balance of the Gospels’ narratives portray a Hero’s life that could never be snuffed out by evil. Jesus willingly gave His life in our behalf, then rose in victory from His grave.
The apostle Paul contrasted history’s two most significant dates — the fall of man in Eden and the redemption of man at Calvary — this way:
“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:17-19, NIV).
For me, today is another reminder that each of us has the opportunity to emulate history’s heroes. And to live for history’s ultimate Hero.
