William Robert Caddy was born on August 8 in Quincy
Massachusetts. Quincy is about 8 miles
south of Boston, and has always been a working man’s town. He attended Quincy High School where he was a
standout player on the varsity baseball team.
But life was tough for Bill and his family, and he had to drop out of
school to help pay the bills. He worked
as a helper on a milkman’s truck, making the princely sum of $25 a week. Those of you who don’t know what a milkman
is, please ask your parents. But Bill was destined for other things, and that
manifested itself when he was drafted into the United States Marine Corps. You see, Bill was born in 1925 and came of
age when the world was engulfed in the latest war to end all wars.
On March 3, 1945, the young man who was just 5 foot seven
and weighed only 139 pounds found himself climbing down the cargo netting to
board a landing craft bound for an insignificant little island that he had never
heard of called Iwo Jima.
For 12 days Bill and his comrades fought a constant
battle. On what was to be the last day
of Bill’s young life, he and his platoon mates were advancing against machine
gun and small arms fire in an isolated sector.
Seeking temporary refuge from the murderous fire, the three marines
dropped into a shell hole where they were immediately pinned down by sniper
fire. After several unsuccessful
attempts to move, a hand grenade landed at their feet. 1 – 2
– 3. Three seconds is about the time it
takes for a hand grenade to explode. Not
exactly a great deal of time to think.
PFC Caddy didn’t need to stop and think. He threw himself down on the grenade,
absorbing the explosion with his body to save the other marines. In the process, Bill Caddy never lived to
return to Quincy Mass. Brave men like
Bill Caddy react and sacrifice themselves to save others. They are heroes, and are honored as
such. PFC Caddy was awarded the Medal
of Honor for his heroism on Iwo Jima; one of thirteen Marines who threw
themselves on grenades to save others.
There is a park named after him in his hometown, a fitting honor for one
who gave his life to save others.
It is often said that we are an Easter people, and that is a
true statement. Throughout the season of
Lent we have been impatient to get to Easter, sometimes treating Lent as
something to be endured on our journey to a more comfortable place. In the process we tend to turn Lent into a
speedbump in our haste to get to the more comfortable setting of Easter. But before we leave Lent in the rear-view
mirror, I think it wise for us to pause one last time for reflection.
While we are an Easter people, the resurrection could never
have been achieved if it was not preceded by the crucifixion. And there is where my problem has always
been. You see, for many years I was
confused. As a youngster I understood
that Jesus had died for us, in order to redeem our sins and bring us back to
God. John eloquently told us that “God
so loved the world that he gave his only son, to the end that all who believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” I was confused however about the
crucifixion. Most specifically, why was
what Jesus did so much different from Bill Caddy? Both didn’t stop and think of themselves, but
surrendered their lives to save others.
There had to be a difference, but what was it?
Let me tell you about another young man who came of age
around the same time as Bill Caddy.
Dietrich Bonheoffer was born in Breslau Germany in 1906. A dedicated believer in Christ, he was
ordained to the ministry in 1925 and became a pastor and preacher. Bonheoffer strongly opposed the Nazi party,
and was an outspoken critic. He was one
of the only voices in the German church to speak out against the persecution of
German Jews. In 1943 he was arrested and
put in Tegel prison where he was held for two years before he was finally executed. During this time he wrote many letters and
sermons which were smuggled out of prison by sympathetic guards and remain to
this day.
In his writings, Bonheoffer speaks of another trinity, that
of the incarnation, the crucifixion and the resurrection. Each is an essential part of Christianity, and
is not divisible from the other. If
Bonheoffer is right, and I believe that he is, here is where I find the answer
I had been seeking. Indeed, there are
many answers.
Think back to the garden at Gethsemane. How did the soldiers and Pharisees come to
find and arrest Jesus? Mark tells us it was Judas, one of the twelve. Judas, one of the twelve. The son of man was
betrayed, not by some unknown informant, but by one of the twelve. You see, the disciples were more than just a
bunch of guys who followed Jesus around.
They were his friends, his brothers.
He had hand-picked each one. He
trusted, and loved them all. To be
betrayed by one so close was surely a cruel blow.
Jesus was deserted.
These same disciples, who had only an hour earlier pledged their undying
love and faithfulness, turned and ran when Jesus was arrested. When the going got tough, the disciples got
going. Gone was their pledge of
faithfulness, replaced by an all-too-human desire to save their own skins. Only John and Peter followed Jesus to the
Chief Priest’s house. And we all know
what happened there. Peter denied the
Lord, not once, but three times.
Betrayal, desertion and denial. I
am starting to see a picture emerge. But
there is still more to come.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday he was hailed by
the crowd with loud Hosannas. After all,
he had performed miracles; he had raised Lazarus from the dead. Jesus preached a new teaching of love and called
out the Priests and the Pharisees for being hypocrites. Everyone seemed to know and love Jesus. And yet this same crowd that had loved him on
Sunday, turned against him by Friday.
When Pilate offered to release a prisoner, the crowd shouted for Barabbas,
a known murderer. Jesus, who had harmed
no one in his entire life, was destined for death. The same crowd who shouted Hosanna on Sunday
was shouting Crucify Him on Friday.
Truly he was despised.
And still there was more.
When Pilate could find no reason to condemn him, he had Jesus flogged in
an effort to appease the crowd. They
beat him with a leather whip that tore the flesh off of his body. Then they dressed him in robes and mocked and
spit on him. They forced him to carry
his own cross to Golgotha. There they
nailed his arms and legs to the cross and hung him on it to die. Even one of the other condemned men,
crucified next to him, mocked him as he hung on the cross.
Betrayed by one he loved, deserted by his friends, denied by
his brother, despised and mocked by the crowd, he endured suffering that no one
should ever have to bear. But there is
one more difference, and this is the one that proves without a doubt the
divinity of Jesus Christ. He could have
stopped it.
He could have stopped it.
Through the incarnation, Jesus was fully human, but he was also fully
God. He had power over all and could
have exercised that power to stop his suffering and end his persecution. But that was not his way. In all of the gospels, Jesus never uses his
power to his own benefit but only to the benefit of others. No, Jesus endured all of these things
willingly, even though he didn’t have to.
Why would he do that?
Why would he endure all of these unbearable things when he didn’t have
to do it? Because he loves us. Jesus
knew that the pain and suffering he endured were the path to salvation for all
of us. Indeed, that was the reason that
he became human. He knew from his first
breath that he was destined to die in this way.
His death was the death of sin and it was only through his death that
the resurrection would come to pass. I
think at last, that I have the answers I seek.
Bill Caddy, and all men who give up their life for another, are heroes
and are truly exceptional people. But their
sacrifice, while heroic, is not even in the same league as Jesus.
And so, we end Lent and move on to the Glory of Easter, for
we are indeed people of the resurrection.
Paul tells us that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory
of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life and be united with him in a
resurrection like his. But as we claim
our share of that resurrection, let us also claim our share of the suffering
that Jesus endured for us. For it was
the act of incarnation that led to the crucifixion and that act led to the
resurrection, and all three are integral parts of our inheritance in the faith.
