Mission Accomplished
On 5 August 2010, at 2.00pm in the afternoon, there was a catastrophic cave-in deep underground at the San Jose copper gold mine in Atacam desert in northern Chile.
There were two groups of miners working that day. One group was trapped 700 meters (2,300 ft) underground.
Miners there were paid more because this mine was known to be dangerous. No one expected them to survive. But after an earthquake and tsunami in Chile earlier that year there was a popular outpouring of sympathy. The government moved in and took over the mine. Eight exploratory boreholes were hastily drilled.
Astonishingly, 17 days after the accident, a note written in bold red letters appeared taped to a drill bit. It read Estamos bien en el refugio, los 33 ("We are well in the shelter, the 33").
The rescuers implemented a comprehensive rescue plan. It included deployment of three large drilling rig teams, nearly every government ministry, the expertise of NASA, more than a dozen international corporations and a cost of $20m.
After 69 days underground, all 33 men were brought to the surface on 13 October. After winching the last trapped miner to the surface, the rescue workers, all still underground, held up a sign Misión cumplida Chile (Mission accomplished Chile), which was seen by more than 1 billion viewers around the world watching the rescue live. Did you see it?
Can you imagine what it must have been like for the miners? Darkness, no way out, few supplies, no communication, silence. Can we ever get out? Can they do anything? Is anyone looking? Does anyone care? Whatever it costs … am I worth it?
THE BIG STORY IN THE BIBLE IS THE STORY OF GOD’S RESCUE MISSION.
Genesis 3:9
The Lord God called to them, “where are you?”
Exodus 2:24,25
God heard their groaning, he looked on them and was concerned.
Hosea 11:1
When Israel was a child I loved him
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son … to save the world
It’s a story of a loving God who comes looking for us, who finds us in deep trouble and who drops everything to launch a rescue bid… pushes out the lifeboat, dispatches the SAS rescue squad, pays the bail to spring us from jail.
He is the God who shines his torch into every dark corner until he can bring us into the light. The searcher who drills as many boreholes as it takes to find us.
Our God is not a hidden God leaving us to panic in quiet lonely desperation and darkness. He is a very present loving God, coming for us, searching for us, doing everything to rescue us.
I doubt anyone here has ever been trapped like those miners – or ever will be.
But here’s the thing. Without God, every one of us is trapped in a spiritual darkness. Everyone one of us needs rescuing from a meaningless separation from our loving creator.
Rescue stories
I know the recue stories of many people here but I can only guess at others.
Some here are trapped in loneliness, illness, debt, addiction, shame, worry, you are an anxious person.
- Jesus has rescued me from a life with no purpose, direction or real meaning into a life with purpose, significance and hope for the future.
- Once imprisoned in a world of self-harming acts and suicidal tendencies, Jesus delivered my mind from it's torment and set me free to think clearly and to be able to receive His words of life to me. He brought me out of the darkest place and into the light where I found the hope to live life to the full and delight in it.
- Jesus rescued me from a deep fear: fear of the future for my family and fear for my brother. I started to have a pain in my chest which completely went after I had surrendered the fear to Jesus.
- Jesus has rescued me from hopelessness. He is not just a nice little bible story. Even when at the time, I wasn't aware of His presence, He was with me as a 15 year old and could heal the hurts I had back then, now! He is mighty and very much alive!
Maybe you are just trapped knowing that God isn’t in your life, feeling abandoned. It is all rather dark and getting desperate.
Almost all of us feel trapped in some way. Oh how you would love to be rescued. How you would love to be hoisted to the surface into light and safety. But is it possible? How could I possibly get rescued?
The Rescue Mission
Our prison, what keeps us from knowing the freedom of life with God, is sin. It’s what happens when we decide to do our own thing, walk away from him. Sin separates us from him, from the one who loves us and seeks us out.
How do we get rid of the sin, the blockage? We can’t, just as the miners couldn’t dig themselves out. But He can. And He has.
Easter is about remembering that 2000 years ago, Jesus, the most free man ever to walk the face of the earth, is God’s Son and that He sacrificed His life to clear the blockage that is sin. The price has been paid, the hole has been dug, you can be forgiven and rescued.
Jesus has taken our place, He allowed Himself to be imprisoned, cut off from the land of the living and from His heavenly Father.
And then, against all expectations, astonishingly, 3 days later, God smashed the power of death and destroyed the deadly suffocation of our 3 dimensional, ordinary world by bringing Jesus back to a new life.
God loves you enough, to come looking for you, to launch a rescue mission, to sacrifice his own Son and then, through the power of the resurrection, to explode new life into your world.
Mission accomplished.
How must the miners have felt?
Expecting to end their lives in buried night-time. No future, no way out.
Then sounds of drilling!
Someone is looking for us! There is a rescue mission!!!
Can you imagine the celebration, shouting and jumping about, waving of hands!
Can you hear the drilling? Someone is looking for you. Someone is doing everything it takes to rescue you. There is a mission underway for you. So you can shout, celebrate, even jump about and wave your hands!
Jesus’ hands are stretched out for you. Welcome his rescue mission. Climb into the capsule. Don’t be too proud or too sure of yourself to consign yourself to hopeless darkness. Take the offer of forgiveness, of new life and a fresh start.
RESPONSE
On this day, when we celebrate Mission Accomplished I want to encourage you to capture the moment. Connect with what is going on inside you and do something.
I want to give you the opportunity to respond, practically, now, to that invitation. I want to give the opportunity to celebrate your rescue.
There are many here today who have been on a journey. You have been asking questions, finding out about Jesus, wondering if you want to choose to follow him too. I think that He is speaking to you today and inviting you to make a decision on this Easter Sunday. If He is speaking to you, here is how you can respond:
Jesus, I am sorry for the sin in my life that comes between me and you;
I want to choose a different path, to repent and follow you;
Thank you for your rescue mission, for saving and forgiving me;
Please come into my life and help me to follow you forever.
If you already follow Jesus, think about what you have been rescued from.
Here are some notes which say “I have been rescued, mission accomplished.”
So everyone, grab a pen, write your name, draw a picture of yourself, write a word or two in big letters to describe what you have been rescued from.
Then during the songs we are about to sing, go and peg your statement on the line. Use these words and the words of the songs to celebrate and say thank you for what God has done in Jesus to rescue you.
So let us celebrate and respond to the Mission Accomplished.
David Flowers, 29/04/2011