Redeeming Love

P.O Box 1540, Albany Western Australia 6331
Phone: (08) 98 418 418
E-mail: abl-alb@omninet.net.au

Redeeming Love
Friend, we read in Charles Dickens Tale of Two Cities, where the prodigal young lawyer, Sydney Carton, has fallen under the spell of Lucie Manette, the doctor's daughter. He comes to the realization that he has wasted his life and though he knows she can never love him, he feels compelled to tell her how he feels about her and how she has changed him. So he says, "I am like one who died young. All my life might have been." Lucie then gently protests that better can be ahead for him, but Sydney Carton insists that it is too late. Then, assuring her that he will never again in all his life so much as hint at what he is now saying, he pours out his sad soul in helpless gratitude to the one who has come to mean so much more to him than his own life. Finally, as he leaves, assuring Lucie that he isn't worth her tears, he says to her, "For you, and any dear to you, I would do anything. . . . When you see your own bright beauty springing up anew at your feet, think now and then that there is a man who would give his life to keep a life you love beside you." Sometime later when Lucie's French aristocratic husband, Charles Darnay, is arrested in Paris and is to be executed by the revolutionaries, everyone is thrown into mad confusion except Sydney Carton. For the first time in his life his heart and mind agree on exactly what to do. So he makes the necessary arrangements and then spends the night walking through the streets reflecting on what he is about to do. Into his mind comes the Scripture that was read at his father's graveside. This passage of Scripture was from the gospel of John, chapter 11, verses 25 & 26, where Jesus is saying to Martha: "I am the one who raises the dead and gives them life again. Anyone who believes in Me, even though he dies like anyone else, shall live again. He is given eternal life for believing in Me and shall never perish." For Sydney Carton, the dying of the night and the coming of the sun seemed to drive home to him this truth he kept repeating as he wandered through the streets and down to the river. And so Carton, who looked remarkably like Lucie's husband, takes the place of Darnay and is executed in his stead. Reflecting on this event, it's obvious what Sydney Carton did, did not begin with him. It began with Lucie Manette. She caught hold of his life by her loveliness and redeemed him. It's a lovely thing to redeem those you care for, because there is such joy in the experience. So let me ask each of you a question: Which of you, having made some wise, major sacrifices on behalf of those you love---which of you, seeing their usefulness and peace---regrets the price you had to pay? Doesn't your joy obliterate all regret? In the story I have shared with you today, Sydney Carton saw the day when those he had given his life for would welcome the sound of his name. He saw their peace, their usefulness, and their prosperity and he knew that he would "hold a sanctuary in their hearts." Friend, there will come a day when all the redeemers of this world will be in the presence of the Great Redeemer, and their stories will be told. You know, it's a lovely thing to redeem those you love by dying for them. But perhaps living for them until we die is dying for them too. You see, there is more than one way to die for people. No-one is useless in the world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else. Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Redeeming Love

Friend, we read in Charles Dickens Tale of Two Cities, where the prodigal young lawyer, Sydney Carton, has fallen under the spell of Lucie Manette, the doctor's daughter. He comes to the realization that he has wasted his life and though he knows she can never love him, he feels compelled to tell her how he feels about her and how she has changed him. So he says, "I am like one who died young. All my life might have been."

Lucie then gently protests that better can be ahead for him, but Sydney Carton insists that it is too late. Then, assuring her that he will never again in all his life so much as hint at what he is now saying, he pours out his sad soul in helpless gratitude to the one who has come to mean so much more to him than his own life. Finally, as he leaves, assuring Lucie that he isn't worth her tears, he says to her, "For you, and any dear to you, I would do anything. . . . When you see your own bright beauty springing up anew at your feet, think now and then that there is a man who would give his life to keep a life you love beside you."

Sometime later when Lucie's French aristocratic husband, Charles Darnay, is arrested in Paris and is to be executed by the revolutionaries, everyone is thrown into mad confusion except Sydney Carton. For the first time in his life his heart and mind agree on exactly what to do.

So he makes the necessary arrangements and then spends the night walking through the streets reflecting on what he is about to do. Into his mind comes the Scripture that was read at his father's graveside. This passage of Scripture was from the gospel of John, chapter 11, verses 25 & 26, where Jesus is saying to Martha: "I am the one who raises the dead and gives them life again. Anyone who believes in Me, even though he dies like anyone else, shall live again. He is given eternal life for believing in Me and shall never perish."

For Sydney Carton, the dying of the night and the coming of the sun seemed to drive home to him this truth he kept repeating as he wandered through the streets and down to the river.

And so Carton, who looked remarkably like Lucie's husband, takes the place of Darnay and is executed in his stead. Reflecting on this event, it's obvious what Sydney Carton did, did not begin with him. It began with Lucie Manette. She caught hold of his life by her loveliness and redeemed him.

It's a lovely thing to redeem those you care for, because there is such joy in the experience. So let me ask each of you a question: Which of you, having made some wise, major sacrifices on behalf of those you love---which of you, seeing their usefulness and peace---regrets the price you had to pay? Doesn't your joy obliterate all regret?

In the story I have shared with you today, Sydney Carton saw the day when those he had given his life for would welcome the sound of his name. He saw their peace, their usefulness, and their prosperity and he knew that he would "hold a sanctuary in their hearts."

Friend, there will come a day when all the redeemers of this world will be in the presence of the Great Redeemer, and their stories will be told.

You know, it's a lovely thing to redeem those you love by dying for them. But perhaps living for them until we die is dying for them too. You see, there is more than one way to die for people.

No-one is useless in the world who lightens
the burden of it for anyone else.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870)