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GETTING A BRAIN TRANSPLANT #1
A CALVARY MOMENT IN THE CAPITOL
I suppose the story had died down by the time this
program aired, but here in the radio studio as we wrap up our final recording
session, the country and even the world are stunned by the tragic shooting
in the Capitol building, Washington, D.C. A young man named Russell Eugene
Weston, Jr., suddenly had a gun, a .38 Smith & Wesson, and began firing
shots right there in the crowded House wing of the building. This unbalanced
criminal was convinced the government was out to get him, that President
Clinton had been following him, that power lines and TV cables on his
property contained wiretaps. And so now he had to take his revenge.
Well, most of you know the story already. But we want to focus this Monday
on the two special agents, the police guards who gave their lives that
day. Jacob "J. J." Chestnut, age 58, had been a member of the
Capitol Hill police force for 18 years, and on this Friday he was at the
metal detector when Weston confronted him. When the officer told him to
get back in line, the man pulled out his gun and just shot Chestnut dead.
And there's John Gibson, a big, sandy-haired man just 42 years old. Father
of three. Always helpful. A congressional aide, April Lassiter, remembered
later how when she was mugged there in D.C. a few years ago, Agent Gibson
took special care of her, giving her his card and offering any kind of
assistance. Every now and then he'd come by and ask: "Are you okay?
Anything I can do?" He was almost like a godfather to her.
And now as the shots rang out at 3:40 in the afternoon, John Gibson had
been guarding the door of his boss's office, Majority Whip Tom DeLay.
Republican congressmen were in there celebrating the passage of a bill
on managed health, and there were lots of staff members too. "Stay
back!" Gibson shouted at them. "Get down!" And then, knowing
he was a police agent, Gibson stood up to confront the enemy, to try to
stop Weston. They exchanged shots and the police bodyguard went down,
fatally hit.
Well, there are certainly Bible verses which come to a person's mind at
a time like this and I imagine we all remember the words Jesus said
in His revolutionary sermon found in John chapters 14-17. These words
in particular:
"Greater love hath no man than this, that
a man lay down his life for his friends."
Those words were certainly fulfilled on July 24, 1998.
Congressman DeLay was very clear about that, telling reporters:
"John gave his life to protect me and the
members of my staff. There is no doubt that if John had not acted quickly
and with great bravery as he did, others would have been killed. I cannot
express the depth of my sorrow for this loss."
One of DeLay's aides who survived the attack conjectured
that the gunman was fully intent on coming into that office with 50 people
in it and just mowing down innocent victims one at a time. "This
whole office believes that Gibson saved our lives," he said.
But there is another verse of Scripture too, which is so significant as
we think about how this man, Special Agent John Gibson, stood up to face
the enemy. And the passage we want to consider for the next five days
is found in the book of First Corinthians chapter two, the last verse:
"For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct Him?' And then these seven words: "But we have
the mind of Christ."
Now think about that. "But we have the mind of
Christ." Is there anyone among us who can honestly say that? "I
think the way Jesus thinks. My mind operates as His does. I have those
kinds of attitudes, those divine impulses."
Well, friend, we got a glimpse of that in this horrible Washington, D.C.
tragedy. For one shining moment here was a man who had the mind of Christ.
Think about it with me. You hear the echo of gunfire. Bullets richocheting
on the marble floors. Fifteen shots, maybe even 20 or 30. People screaming.
And normally speaking, you don't have to be told twice to get down! The
instincts planted in your brain, the desire for self-preservation, get
you down under a desk or behind a pillar or dashing out an exit door.
That's what the mind tells the body to do: pump adrenaline and get down.
But here was a man whose mind said: "Do your duty. Sacrifice self.
Confront evil. Take a bullet for someone else." His mind told him
to do the uncommon thing, the different thing, the heroic thing.
A powerful tribute appeared in newspapers two days later, written by Smith
Hempstone, former U.S. ambassador to Kenya. It had just this perfect,
one-word title: "Courage." And Ambassador Hempstone points out
that these two men, Jacob "J. J." Chestnut and John Gibson,
were not trained in the Marines or the Rangers or the Seals. They weren't
some elite commandos who had been taught to throw themselves on a grenade
or to take a bullet. These were ordinary guys, "(quote) middle-aged
men with mortgages and credit card bills, wives to love and children to
cherish." Hempstone concludes: "At the end, they showed that
honor is not just a word, that they were of the stuff of heroes."
But where did they get it? How does a man or woman get "the mind
of Christ"?
And we think of this sick, twisted man, Russell Weston. He needed a different
mind too, didn't he? He used to walk around muttering, fantasizing, seeing
all sorts of emotional bogeymen out there. He wouldn't take a shower because
he was sure the federal government was trying to poison him with special
gas. His neighbor's satellite dish, he swore again and again, was being
used to spy on him. He had a mind filled with paranoid jealousies . .
. instead of the mind of Christ.
This same Saturday edition of the L.A. Times tells about a $37.8 million
judgment against the Ku Klux Klan in South Carolina, where racists have
repeatedly desecrated and destroyed a little black Baptist Church. There
was a huge story just a few weeks ago, chronicling the endless cycles
of violence, broken windows, cross burnings, stained glass destroyed,
pews torn up. Over and over and over, and neighbors just kept rebuilding
through their tears. "How long, oh Lord?" Friend, some wicked
sinners desperately needed this miracle, this prescription by the Apostle
Paul, where people can learn to have the mind of Christ.
And then there are those of us in the middle the regular people who
were milling around in that Capitol building. Not the heroes, and not
the demented gunman either. We're not shooting bullets on offense OR on
defense. We don't deface churches, but we're also not the ones who endlessly
sacrifice to rebuild them. We're just in the middle. And I would suggest
that we, just as much as anyone, need this spiritual prescription: to
have the mind of Christ. We need to have a brain transplant.
And of course, we have to ask: HOW? How can this be? People stood in the
Rotunda of the Capitol building for the memorial service where those two
flag-draped caskets were a silent witness to bravery, sacrifice, "the
mind of Christ." But this is a miracle. How can it happen for the
rest of us?
I find a hint right here in this very verse: I Corinthians 2:16. But let
me read this from the Living Bible paraphrase:
"Strange as it seems," Paul writes
and yes, to the world, this IS strange "we Christians actually
do have within us a PORTION of the very thoughts and mind of Christ."
A "portion." A man or woman who studies the
Christian message, who examines its teachings, and then is converted into
the faith . . . will obviously have some of Christ's teachings enter his
or her consciousness. As a pastor, I've never once baptized someone without
making sure they had done at least some studying. They had considered
the claims of Christ, the lifestyle of Christ, the doctrines of His church,
before we ever got down into the water for baptism.
Furthermore, I believe that those who surrender their hearts to God and
accept His Son do have, almost in a miraculous kind of way, an infusion
of the mind of Christ. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, to enter into
us and dwell within us. Maybe you've sung that contemporary Christian
song:
"Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, Pure
and holy, tried and true. And with thanksgiving, I'll be a living Sanctuary
for You."
But friend, in our last moment let me share my conviction
that God wants us to have much more than just a portion, a one-day supply
of the mind of Christ. This same Bible writer, Paul, encourages us just
a few pages over with this advice to the Colossians:
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you RICHLY
as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing
psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your heart to God."
So we can have a "portion" of the mind
of Christ. And certainly, a portion is all we can ever have. Ten million
years from now we'll still be sitting at the feet of Jesus, learning of
Him. But wouldn't you like to have a larger and larger portion? Wouldn't
you like to have the mind of Jesus dwelling in you richly rather than
. . . well, "poorly"?
People standing at the cross saw the mind of Christ. Congressman DeLay
and others who are still alive here on May 14, 2001 saw a rare flash of
it at 3:40 in the afternoon. Will those who watch today see more and more
of it in me and in you?
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