Semper Fidelis: Sacrifice

by Hernando Quandt

All of the obstacles on The Crucible (the four day test at the end of the Marine Corps boot camp) are named after Medal of Honor Recipients. A vast majority of those recipients received their Medals of Honor posthumously for jumping on a grenade to shield their brothers in arms. Consider how a grenade works. It contains a powerful explosive that launches dozens of pieces of shrapnel in all directions. The grenade is designed to kill or wound anyone within a specified radius. It is an indirect weapon designed to inflict mass damage. The reason I describe the grenade in such detail is because it is important to understand how this weapon works. Everyone who chooses to jump on a grenade is very much aware of how it works but jumps willingly. In some cases where someone jumps on a grenade, death is instant but in many cases it is not. A lot of the armor used by the military is designed to protect the wearer from shrapnel (usually from a distance) but for someone directly on top of a grenade when it explodes, the shrapnel penetrates the armor a lot less than it would an uncovered body, but because of the proximity of the jumper it still makes contact with his body. The person is injured, if not severely enough to die instantly, enough to kill the victim as he slowly succumbs to fatal wounds. It would be the equivalent of being shot several times. Death usually follows within a few minutes.

Imagine yourself as a member of a Marine unit in Iraq. Your fellow Marines are people that you have suffered sleepless nights with as well as homesickness and less than palatable food. Some of these guys might even have gone through boot camp with you. One of them may even have saved your life. You sleep together in the sand, endure the terrors of combat together, and even rejoice together when there is something to rejoice about. You are brothers. As you are entering an abandoned building you all spread out and clear the room (make sure there is no apparent danger). It appears as if the room is empty but as you prepare to go upstairs and clear the rooms above, you hear the distinctive thump of a grenade rolling down the stairs. Thump, thump, thump! It comes to rest at the foot of the stairs in the middle of all of you. Enough time has elapsed that the fuse is about to ignite the grenade, so there is no time to throw it back up. If nothing is done, all of you will die. What would you do?

Sacrifice is part of our daily lives. Many of us sacrifice sleep, time with family, and even our health for various endeavors. Most of us gladly sacrifice these things because they allow us to provide for our loved ones. Would you take on the ultimate sacrifice? What would it take for you to willingly lay down your life? For what or for whom would you be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice? John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Think about what Christ did. His love for us was so great that he chose to lay down His life for people who persecuted Him, people who were sinners, and people who were unsure of what to make of him. We must never forget that this is what we were to Him. His own people had chosen to crucify Him instead of a criminal! His dear apostles had abandoned him. Even in the midst of all of this solitude and suffering he graciously went to the cross. What greater love is there, then, than that of Christ, who lay down his life for those who weren’t even “friends?”

Not all of us a meant to be martyrs, or military and civil heroes, but if others lay down their lives, if Christ lay down his life – surely we can make other types of sacrifices for our fellow Christians, and those who are yet to hear the saving word.

For the past month I have compared Christianity to the military. My hope is that through these essays you have been inspired to see yourselves as soldiers for God. Training to know the word of God, living like a band of brothers, faithfully following our commander’s orders, and always remembering Christ’s sacrifice. The Marine Corps motto is Semper Fidelis, Latin for “always faithful.” It is important to remember God for his eternal faithfulness and strive to remain to faithful to Him.