Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Jesus, John 15:13

Every Memorial Day weekend, my wife and I travel to Jersey Shore to care for the graves of her parents and grandparents. We take along the tools we need to cut back the encroaching sod and clean off a year’s worth of dust, dried-on grass clippings, and stains. We also take flowers to decorate each grave marker. As we do our work, we share memories of our loved ones. It is a precious time.

My wife’s grandfather was a veteran of World War I. Her dad was a veteran of World War II. He suffered severe burns on his face and arms while serving as a Navy ensign in the South Pacific. The cemetery places flags at the graves of all veterans. It is a big task – there are flags everywhere. Though I have seen the display many times over the past forty years, I am always taken aback by the sight — soldiers who were willing to lay down their lives for me.

As a minister, I am often called upon to hold services in cemeteries. As I walk through the tombstones, I sometimes come across the markers of soldiers killed in action. Their ages usually range from seventeen to twenty-five — young people cut down in the prime of life. The inscriptions on the grave markers often include the places of their final selfless and heroic stand: Marne and Gallipoli, Normandy and Iwo Jima, Korea and Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. My heart wells up with grief, gratitude, pride, and humility.

We are not at all surprised by Jesus’ statement about the greatest expression of love. As a man with no children, he offered the supreme sacrifice: his own life. Paul commented on the rarity of such love as he wrote to the church in Rome. He includes a clarifying statement that further amplifies the love Jesus demonstrated on the cross:

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 person, though for a good person, 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. Romans 5:6-8

We can grasp the noble act of someone giving their life to save a friend and fellow citizen. That’s what soldiers do. Can you imagine, however, the kind of love it would require for someone to sacrifice their life to save their enemy? Consider this: Would you be willing to be imprisoned for the rest of your life so a man convicted of murder and rape could be set free?

Paul personally understood the significance of Jesus dying for ungodly sinners. Once known as Saul of Tarsus, Paul had been a violent man, a persecutor of Christians, and the murderer of Stephen. Jesus didn’t die for his friend, later known as Paul the Apostle; he died for his enemy, Saul of Tarsus.

Paul said it plainly to his young protégé, Timothy:

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” I Timothy 1:15

Jesus died to save sinners like us. He did this even though he knew many of us would reject and even ridicule his death while others would deny he ever existed. Love always requires risk. Jesus was willing to take that risk for you and me.

Think of the most evil men of history, men like Adolph Hitler (perpetrator of the Holocaust), Joseph Stalin (Soviet despot who killed 20 million of his fellow countrymen), Jeffrey Dahmer (murderer who abused, dismembered and cannibalized 17 young men), Jim Jones (cult leader who drove over 900 of his followers into mass suicide, resulting in the phrase, “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid”), the terrorists of September 11th (murderers of 2,977 Americans). Jesus died for them, too. Paul was right: such an act of selfless love is rare indeed.

Now, think about yourself. I’m not referring to your public self. We all know how to clean ourselves up and dress properly when we go out. (Well, most of us do.) I’m referring to your private self – the part of you no one knows about or has ever seen – the angry murderer and lustful adulterer Jesus spoke about in Matthew 5:21-30. If you believe you’re not guilty of those sins, then you need to read that passage. Be aware: God sees our secret activities and knows fully our deepest and darkest thoughts. Paul knew himself and the rest of mankind, and it inspired him to write Romans 3:9-20 as he reflected on passages from the Psalms:

There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Jesus, the innocent and pure Lamb of God, gave his life for the people Paul was describing. In other words, he died for you and me and every sinner who has ever walked the face of the Earth, forever cementing his legacy of love as the greatest of all time.