Saving Private Ryan

I was watching the critically acclaimed movie, "Saving Private Ryan", about an impossible mission where six soldiers are sent to rescue the last of four brothers who joined the service to fight in WWII. It seems that there were some reservations by the men sent to save him as to whether or not one man was worth the lives of six.

REIBEN: "Well, sir, in purely arithmetic terms, since when does six equal one? What's the sense in risking six guys to save one?"

During the course of the whole movie, the worth of this one man is questioned over and over. Those soldiers sure didn't see Private James Ryan as being worthy of their sacrifice, and demanded that he redeem it in exchange for a life that meant something. In the end, as Ryan is saved from death, the leader of the expedition to find and save Private Ryan, Captain Miller, with his dying breath begs him, "Earn this....earn...it..."

To the contrary, we often think along the lines of "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." (Spock, The Wrath of Khan) The question is, which one of us is it going to be? Which one of us is going to sacrifice themselves for the rest of us, and what are we going to require of the ones who might receive the benefit of the sacrifice? Are we going to require them to "earn it" in order to make sure that it wasn't "wasted"?

Previous Comments:

"The question is, which one of us is it going to be? Which one of us is going to sacrifice themselves for the rest of us, and what are we going to require of the ones who might receive the benefit of the sacrifice? Are we going to require them to "earn it" in order to make sure that it wasn't "wasted"?" -HarryTick

What could we possibly do to earn it? And it will be done by those who love. Makes me think of "The Measure of Man" song... because then we have to define measures life's success and that definition is different for everyone and subjective.

Likewise - we can't earn Jesus laying down His life for us - and we can't earn "worthiness" after we accept His sacrifice. We keep trying to measure Christ by His followers and too often judge His sacrifice was a waste when we measure the people by society's measurements. We fail to see the hearts as He does. IMHO it was Love that sought us and bought us and Love that keeps to that Day.

Posted by: at August 2, 2003 09:58 AM

Thanks for the good response. It's actually right up the alley of what I was getting at.

In the snippet you quoted, I was alluding to the fact that none of us are the One who is willing to sacrifice for "everyone else". Sure, we'll sacrifice for those we think are worth it, but the act of sacrificing for people regardless of their worth is the work of Christ. His sacrifice is totally independent of the worthiness of those he died for and their worth is determined not by what they did to deserve it, but by the One who sacrificed himself for them.

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - Paul (Romans 5:6-8)

Posted by: HarryTick at August 2, 2003 01:24 PM