Heroes?

A commentator remarked that the person who should be best remembered over the incident that developed in London that terrible day Wednesday last week is not the infamous Khalid Mahmood who perpetrated the appalling crime. He should be forgotten. The one remembered should be Tobias Ellwood, who battled for many minutes, that must have seemed like an eternity, to revive the dying policeman, Keith Palmer, with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He failed; but the point is that he was there and he tried.

It is these two actors in the drama whose names should live on while all else is forgotten. I don't think that will happen, because it is human nature to sensationalise crime and to speculate endlessly over the motivation of those who committed it. It becomes an absorbing fascination, the subject of ghoulish documentaries for decades to come.

Not that either of the other two men I have mentioned would seek to be remembered as heroes. As in the best traditions of service, they would claim that they were only doing their duty.

The Bible tells us that that is indeed all that God's servants should think about themselves when they had have done their Master's wishes.

“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” Luke 17:7-12 ESV

Servants should not expect appreciation, but reckon that they have only done what they were supposed to do. As always, our example is our Master and Saviour. In fact the word “duty” falls short of describing the devotion of our Saviour to serving. It is more accurate to say that He was on mission. He fulfilled His heavenly Father’s commission to Him. It took Him all the way to the cross, but He did not flinch. In fact it was a joy to Him to play His supreme part in the Father’s plan to save the lost.

May we gladden His heart as we receive the salvation He came to give and then go on to serve others without looking for reward.

O Son of Man, our hero strong and tender,
Whose servants are the brave in all the earth,
Our living sacrifice to Thee we render,
Who sharest all our sorrows, all our mirth.

O feet so strong to climb the path of duty,
O lips divine that taught the word of truth,
Kind eyes that marked the lilies in their beauty,
And heart that kindled at the zeal of youth.

Frank Fletcher, 1870-1954

The famous parable of the sheep and the goats tells us that people will actually be surprised to learn that they have done their duty: fed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick and visit prisoners. "When did we do that?" they will protest. But the Master will simply reply,

"Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me" (Matthew 25:40).