When you think of courage, who do you think of? Tell us a story!
Myself, I think of Mark 10:32-34.
Let me set the scene: Jesus is walking down the road, heading for Jerusalem. Some way behind him come his followers, boggling at what’s happening in front of them. And behind his followers, a crowd, uneasy, anxious and fearful. They can tell there’s something going on, but they don’t know what.
Jesus does know what’s going on. He knows that when he gets to Jerusalem he will be betrayed, and the people will “mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip and kill him.”
But he’s going to Jerusalem all the same. His purpose is firm, he’s set his course, and he won’t be deflected. Every step he takes is bringing him closer to unearned pain, suffering and death, and he knows it. But on he goes, and the people follow, fearful and amazed.
I love the way you put that. Yet, on he goes….
For some reason, the first thing that popped into my head was the scene from Return of the King (the movie), when the remains of the army stand surrounded at the Black Gate. Volunteers all, having gone knowing they will most likely die, but making the choice to go anyway, to buy Frodo and Sam a better chance to free them all from Mordor’s looming darkness.
That scene (well, to be honest, pretty much the last third of the movie…) made me cry the first time I saw it. *Knowing* their chances, but stepping up anyway, for the sake of the families back home, for the two little hobbits most of them have never met, for taking a stand against the dark… that’s courage.
Yes… which reminds me, it’s been too long since I watched those films – and far too long since I read the books!