Court Martialed

How much pain and suffering would you be willing to endure for a dear friend?
Oliver Cromwell sentenced a soldier to capital punishment. He was to be brought before the firing squad and shot at the evening curfew bell. The riflemen assembled as they were ordered to do and waited. They waited for the bell to ring, waited and waited but it didn’t ring. The soldier’s fiancé had climbed into the bell on the belfry and clung to the clapper so it couldn’t ring. The bell swung back and forth, causing the girl to be hammered against the bell’s wall repeatedly, but she endured it. Brought down to face the general she tearfully showed her bruises and bleeding hands to Cromwell. At that the general responded, “Your lover shall live because of your sacrifice. Curfew shall not ring tonight.”

We have Someone who did even more than that for you and me. This is the weekend in the calendar when we are urged to think about Jesus on the cross. He didn’t just cling to the cross for a while, He hung there for hours until He died. It was love, not the nails, that kept Him there.

Thank you, Lord,

Henry Wiebe