Creekbank Stories Curt Iles, Storyteller
The Lone Hostage
“He to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood”
–Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing Robert Robinson
It’s only appropriate to write about Captain Richard Phillips on Good Friday.
Phillips is the captain of the Maersk Alabama, an American cargo ship hijacked two days ago by armed pirates from Somalia.
As the pirates attacked the ship, Phillips told his crew of twenty to lock themselves inside a secure room.
When the pirates came aboard, Capt Phillips apparently volunteered to get in the lifeboat with the pirates to act as a hostage to secure the safety of the crew members, who managed to regain control of their ship.
The Captain interposed himself between the pirates and his crew. He was willing to give his life to save his crew and ship. It reminds me of another story of a lone hostage.
I love the line from “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”
“Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God.
He to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood”
Webster’s Dictionary gives two definitions of the verb interpose:
a. to place in an intervening position
b. to put (oneself) between
Good Friday is all about how Jesus interposed himself between our sin and God.
God cannot allow sin in his presence. That means there was no way for us to get to God.
However, Jesus willingly came to earth and put himself in our place.
The “Captain” offered himself up as the lone hostage so the lowly crew members could go free.
Hallelujah, what a Savior.
However, that’s not all. To prove He was who he said—the Son of God—Jesus was resurrected on the third day.
That’s why we celebrate this Sunday as Easter.
He arose—No grave could hold the Son of God.
And his resurrection proves another thing—the ransom was paid in full.
The lone hostage—in fact the only one who could do it—paid the ransom.
He did it for you.
He did it for me.
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. -II Corinthians 5:21 NIV
Curt Iles
http://www.creekbank.net
curtiles@aol.com
Please pray for Captain Phillip’s safe return. As of this writing, he is in the lifeboat with four pirates. A few hours ago, he attempted to escape by jumping out of the boat and swimming toward a nearby US Navy ship.
However, he was quickly captured and returned, apparently unharmed, to the lifeboat.
I’ll be following with other blogs this weekend. Included will be details and pictures of our upcoming trip to Congo Africa trip, on which we leave this Sunday.
