Who Would Catch a Grenade For You?

They were nearing the end of one of the most violent deployments they could remember.

It was September of 2006 – right in the thick of the Iraq War. Navy SEAL Team 3 had been tasked with liberating the Iraqi city of Ramadi – which was under the control of Al Qaeda insurgents. One of the soldiers of SEAL Team 3 was Michael Monsoor. He was assigned to a mission called Operation Kentucky Jumper. Monsoor, along with two other soldiers on a nearby rooftop, was to provide sniper cover for a ground unit clearing an insurgent stronghold.

During an intense firefight later that afternoon, an Al Qaeda soldier lobs a single grenade at the SEAL’s sniper position on the roof. The grenade bounced off Michael’s chest and fell at his feet – easily within killing distance of all three soldiers. Michael shouts “Grenade!” drops to the ground, and shields and smothers the blast with his body. He died – diving on a grenade to save his friends.

Such stories of self-sacrifice are rare. That’s why they make the headlines. That’s why soldiers are posthumously given the Purple Heart or the Medal of Honor. It was no different at the time of the Apostle Paul. He writes in Romans 5, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die” (Romans 5:7).

So, what’s Paul getting at? So, stories like Michael Monsoor diving on a grenade to save his buddies are rare. But what does that have to do with me? How is the rarity of such self-sacrificial heroism remotely connected to our universal need for real hope, real peace, and real comfort when we are suffering in our lives? Isn’t that what Paul was talking about just a moment ago? Why we can (and should) rejoice in our sufferings? So, what’s the connection?

When we we’re told these courageous, rare stories of self-sacrifice, there are two questions that always come to mind: 1) Would I do that for someone else? and 2) Would someone else do that for me? And the answer to that second question – Would someone die for me? – is intimately connected to why we can (and why we should) rejoice – even when we, as Christians, are enduring tremendous suffering.

So, who in your life would catch a grenade for you?

Would I Die For Someone Else?

You don’t have to be a Navy SEAL to see such real, rare, inspiring stories of self-sacrifice for the sake of saving others. I think of the 33-year-old mother from Missouri who died pushing her daughter out of the way of an oncoming vehicle. I think of the teachers from Sandy Hook Elementary School who turned themselves into human shields to protect their students from gunfire.

These stories are incredibly inspiring, but incredibly rare.

But what if the details of those heroic stories were turned inside out?

What if – instead of dying to save her daughter – that Missouri mother died to save the person who nearly killed her daughter?

Or what if a teacher from Sandy Hook died to save the school shooter?

What if Michael Monsoor had dived on a grenade to save – not his friends – but his enemies?

That changes the story quite a bit, doesn’t it? I mean, if stories of self-sacrifice for the sake of loved ones or those you’re obligated to protect are rare, how much more incredibly rare are stories where the hero dies for someone they aren’t obligated to protect – someone who isn’t their friend, but their enemy! “Well, of course such stories would be extremely rare!” you might be thinking. “Why would anyone die for their enemy?”

Well, would you?

Maybe you’d be willing to lay down your life for a good person – someone upright and upstanding in the eyes of our community – someone society deems deserving of such self-sacrifice; chances are, you’re significantly more willing to lay down your life for someone who is of tremendous benefit and blessing to you – like your friends or family.

But what about for someone who hates you – someone you’d consider your enemy? Would you die to save them?

Maybe you don’t feel comfortable answering that question.

Or, maybe you have no problem saying “No, I wouldn’t.” The very thought of laying down your life for your enemy scandalizes you. “I would never die for them! Don’t you know what they’ve said to me? What they’ve done to me? They don’t deserve to be saved! They deserve to die!” 

But what if that enemy was you?

What if you were the one who didn’t deserve to be saved?

Would Someone Else Die For Me?

“Why wouldn’t I deserve to be saved? I’m a good person! I mow my neighbor’s lawn and shovel my neighbor’s walk! I drive an electric car and drink only out of paper straws! I’m generous! I volunteer! I try to go to church regularly! Why wouldn’t I be worth saving? Why wouldn’t I be worth dying for?”

And in the eyes of the world, maybe you are. But maybe you aren’t. Maybe you’ve done your fair share of not so good stuff – and your dirty laundry is well known to the world around you. Maybe your rearview mirror reflects road rage and burned bridges. Maybe far more people than you’d care to admit would call you their enemy. And when you hear stories where the good guy dies to save someone else, you wonder, “Is there anyone in my life who would do that for someone as broken and messed up as me?”

The best of our good and righteous acts might be enough for the world to see and award us the title of “good” or “righteous” – and thereby deserving of their deliverance. But what about in the eyes of God?

Paul answers that question for us.

He tells us that we were powerless to save ourselves. We can kid ourselves all we want – but we aren’t strong enough to undo death; we aren’t strong enough to solve the problem of evil; we aren’t strong enough to put this broken, sinful, dying world back together.

Apart from divine intervention, we are spiritually lifeless. Already at birth, we were sinners – and we still are sinners. We’ve all inherited a hostile sinful nature that doesn’t submit to God’s will – nor can it do so. It hungers to do the exact opposite of what God says is good and right. Bluntly put, we weren’t born God’s friends: we were born God’s enemies. And before a perfectly good and righteous God, I – by myself – could stand neither good nor righteous before him.

I don’t have to imagine “What if I was the enemy who didn’t deserve to be saved?”

That was me.

That was you, too.

And yet, in God’s loving eyes, you were worth saving – but not because of you: you were worth saving in spite of you! How is that not more inspiring?

Jesus Caught A Grenade For You

Isn’t that the whole premise of that one Bruno Mars song – coincidentally called Grenade?

In that song, Bruno Mars catalogues his relationship with a woman who clearly doesn’t love him back.

“Gave you all I had and you tossed it in the trash; You tossed it in the trash, yes you did; To give me all your love is all I ever ask; ‘Cause what you don’t understand is – I’d catch a grenade for you; Throw my hand on a blade for you; I’d jump in front of a train for you; You know I’d do anything for you.”

He would “go through all this pain and take a bullet straight to [his] brain”, he sings. And, at first listen, you’re thinking, “Man, Bruno, that girl is bad news for you! She’s not worth the trouble. She’s not worth your love. She’s not worth dying for.”

But isn’t that the whole point of the song? He’s underscoring his undying love and commitment to someone who operates like his enemy! He would go through hell to save her – even if she only hated him in return.

In his eyes, she was worth saving not because of her, but because of his love for her in spite of her!

How that song pitifully pales in comparison to the love your God has for you!

And he didn’t just sing about diving on a grenade for you: he actually did.

When God’s holy Law drew its crosshairs on us, Jesus stepped in the line of fire.

When the grenade of God’s wrath should have blown us to oblivion, our God and Savior Jesus dove on that grenade – shielding and smothering the blast with his blameless body!

On the cross, God demonstrates his real, personal love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

Jesus didn’t die for me because I was a “good person” or because I was his benefactor – as if he needed me. He didn’t! And yet, there, on Calvary, we see the glory of God’s amazing love shown in self-sacrifice! Your God literally went through hell to save you!

By his perfect blood shed on the cross, Jesus has objectively reconciled you to God! You, brothers and sisters in Christ, have peace right now with God forever!

Your God is Going to Get You Home

So, what’s the connection between the incredibly rare, incredibly inspirational self-sacrifice of Jesus for us and Paul’s encouragement that we, as Christians, can (and should) rejoice in our sufferings?

If you and I, in Christ, have peace with God right now – then I don’t need to wonder if God is punishing me when I’m suffering – because he’s not: Jesus has endured that punishment in our place. If the peace we have with God isn’t a peace that’s contingent on my performance or how peaceful I might feel, but a peace that’s anchored in the blood of Jesus – then of course the hope we have in God is unassailable! If our God, out of his amazing love for us, died for us while we were not his friends, how much more we can confidently expect him to continually and presently work all things for our eternal good – as his redeemed children? If Jesus went through suffering, death, and hell to win heaven for you, and that same Jesus – through his Word – created life in your heart and brought you to faith, we can be confident that he will bring that good work to completion – carrying us through our hurt and heartache – and take us home to be with him in heaven?

How is the rarity of such self-sacrificial heroism remotely connected to our universal need for real hope, real peace, and real comfort when we are suffering in our lives? Because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! God would work tremendous good from the tremendous evil of Good Friday – and not just for you and me, but for the entire world!

Would you expect God’s instrument of supremely expressing his love for us to be the cross? That he would bleed out and die to save you? No more than we would expect someone to die for the ungodly! And yet, that’s exactly what our loving God did!

And if your God and Savior loved you when you were his enemy, why would he stop loving you when you’re his child?

If your God would catch a grenade for you, you can bet he’s going to get you home.