Unknown Grace

I’ve gotten to watch a few more movies lately while having some down time. My oldest son has recently been into intense films that tell the story of true human drama, so I joined him in watching “Saving Private Ryan." I had forgotten the realism this movie portrays of the experience of war…the personal terror and blood of battle, the confusion of killing and compassion, the “seemingly” nonsensical fate attached to those who live and those who die. An intense film indeed!

Although the portrayal of the realities of war can be disturbing, what bothered me the most was the movies end. For those of you unfamiliar with the story it is a World War II depiction of a small platoon of soldiers given the task of saving Private Ryan, the sole remaining survivor of four brothers fighting in the war. This platoon of soldiers risk and ultimately sacrifice their lives so that this one man, Ryan, might be saved and returned to his home. At movies end the film is fast forwarded to our present day in which Ryan, now an old man, is accompanied by generations of his family to visit the grave sites of the soldiers who had fallen for him. Ryan’s words and expression at the tombstone of the platoon’s captain were haunting. A man appearing guilt ridden over his captain's sacrifice wrestles with the question of whether he lived a life worthy of others dying for him…unsure, he hopes that he “earned it.”

As I watched the movie end in discomfort, I realized the pain of a man who did not know grace. Did Private Ryan deserve to be saved? I suppose, but out of the myriad of soldier’s stories was he any more deserving? When weighed it seems Ryan’s saving was less an act of merit than it was the result of grace.

I’ve always liked the T.V. show “Extreme Home Makeover”…you know Ty and “move that bus!” When the show concludes I am almost always in tears, to which my wife and children tease and get a good laugh at me (hang with me here, I’ll tie it in). At first I use to think what is up with me and this major down pour of tears, until I realized what I was being moved by was an incredibly powerful act of grace. These families, not having any means to “save” themselves from their condition, are given an unbelievable gift. Their overwhelming response is one of gratitude, and I cry thankful tears right along with them.

It leads me to wonder how differently the portrayal of Private Ryan at the end of his life would have looked if he understood his saving was an act of grace. Perhaps burden and the weight of life would have been replaced by gratitude and freedom.

Kent

Ephesians 2:8 – “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”