Rev. Brandt Hoffman
While walking home one day, a man witnessed a terrible car crash. Without thought, he dialed 911 and ran to the wreckage. There were injured persons in both vehicles. Amidst smoke, glass, and twisted metal, he managed to free the drivers and pull them to safety before one of the cars caught fire. It was a horrible sight to see. A burning wreckage and a trail of blood that stopped at two bodies. Two people lying unconscious on the side of the road.
When the paramedics arrived they took one look at the scene and said to the man, “We need to take care of this guy first!” The man, taken aback, said “Don’t worry about me, take care of those two. I think one or both of them is bleeding.” The paramedic said, “Sir, you need to sit down so we can take care of your injury.”
He looked down then and noticed that the trail of blood wasn’t from the accident victims. It was his own blood. While he rescued the people from the wreckage, he’d drug his arm across a jagged piece of metal. It had drawn a six-inch gash along his forearm, ending at his wrist. The injury, even he could see, could end his life. The paramedic didn’t talk anymore. He treated him. He saved the man’s life.
But what does this story have to do with anything of import for you, the reader? Well, as we are now in the season Lent–a season of repentance, of turning away from chasing that which is not God, to God–there are a couple of points in this story that may serve as a helpful example for you. As your pastor preaches, God will undoubtedly give him His Word of Law to preach to you. It is this Word of Law that says: “That blood there on the ground isn’t someone else’s. It’s your blood. Death is sniffing round for you. It’s got your scent. It’s on your trail.” Then God will give your pastor another Word. Like the paramedic, your pastor will no longer point out the nearness of death. Instead, God will give him the promise, the good news that heals your sin-riddled body–the sweet, wonderful, life-saving Word of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaking God’s wonderful Word of Gospel has always been the primary mission of Higher Things, too. It is founded on the life-saving good news of Jesus Christ. For all those souls who have learned of the mortal wound of deathly sin, Higher Things is here to be a salve: preachers who point us all to the hope we have received in Jesus Christ because we are all in desperate need of His life-saving grace. To this end, everyone is invited to take advantage of the many Higher Things® resources, to help you better understand this important Church season.
We pray that this Season of Lent is one that not only alerts you to the deathly reality of sin, but ultimately to the good news of Jesus Christ for you, which God gives to you as free gift in His Word and Sacraments.
Rev. Brandt Hoffman is the Pastor and principal at Christ Lutheran Church and School in Coos Bay, Oregon.
