Free-Falling

It was June of 1998, hot and humid in Fort Benning, Georgia, and I was getting ready to make my first jump at the Army Airborne School.  I had spent the previous two weeks meticulously learning and rehearsing the procedures for donning my parachute gear, jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, executing the controlled crash known as the parachute landing fall, then quickly climbing out of my gear without getting dragged across the drop zone by my parachute.  I was as ready as any first-time paratrooper could be.  I was confident and sure in my training, my physical ability, and in myself.  I had all the right qualifications, I thought, to become a paratrooper. 

And yet, as I ambled aboard the C-130 Hercules Aircraft, I began to feel anxious.  The pain and discomfort I felt from the tightness of my rig testified that my parachute and gear were securely fastened.  I knew our exit and landing procedures to a tee.  We had executed our drills hundreds of times so that they became embedded in our muscle memory.  I felt comfortable that I could exit the aircraft safely, and land in a way that properly distributed the shock so that I would not be injured.  Yet, the nervousness was still there. 

As I was fastened into the cotton webbing cargo seating in the back of the C-130, I realized what the problem was.  During our last day of training before performing our qualification jumps, we had viewed a training tape of all the things that could go wrong when you jump, as well as the actions to take if one of these “unlikely” events occurred.  This video provided all the various nightmare scenarios one could imagine.  In one scene we saw what would occur if someone had a hole in their chute or a blown section, providing a partial or total failure of lift capability.  In another scene, we saw a cigarette roll.  This occurs when the chute is improperly packed causing it to fuse together during deployment.  The worst scenario that kept running through my brain was the scene showing a hung jumper.  This occurs if your static line fails to rip open the pack-tray securing your parachute after you step out of the jump door.  The result is a man that is still connected to the aircraft by his static line, slapping up against the skin of the aircraft.  The only way to correct this parachute malfunction is for the jumpmaster to cut the static line and hope the jumper is still conscious to deploy his reserve parachute.  Our Airborne Instructors had taught us all the procedures for correcting these parachute malfunctions, cheerily joking that should one of these malfunctions occur, we had the rest of our Airborne lives to fix it. 

The pilot signaled to the jumpmasters that we were nearly over the drop zone.  The jumpmasters went through the ritual of inspecting the cargo area and jump doors to make sure conditions were safe to jump.

I sat there after our five-minute warning and realized that my ability to survive my jump didn’t come down to my own skill or knowledge.  My abilities played little into my success or failure as a first-time paratrooper.  All the drills and rehearsals in the world could prepare me to exit the aircraft in perfect form.  However, my life rested on the assurance that my parachute and/or reserve was properly packed and would deploy without failure when I stepped out of the aircraft. 

Suddenly I recognized my utter helplessness. 

The illusion of control had been ripped away.  I realized that my life was in the hands of an unknown, nameless Rigger.  Airborne Riggers are a specialty in the Army, trained to inspect and pack parachutes for use in Airborne operations.  Each parachute contained the ID number of the person who packed the parachute.  This made the parachute traceable to the individual Rigger who packed it.  I suddenly wanted to know this person’s name.  I wanted assurance that my life was in trustworthy hands. 

The jumpmasters began to scream the commands to prepare for jump operations, shaking me out of my thoughts.  We dutifully echoed each command.    

“Outboard personnel, Stand up!”

“OUTBOARD PERSONNEL, STAND UP!”

 “Inboard personnel, Stand up!”

“INBOARD PERSONNEL, STAND UP!”

We all ambled to our feet and formed a line along the aisles of the aircraft. 

“Hook Up!”

“HOOK UP!”

We hooked our static lines to the cargo cables spanning the rear of the aircraft keeping a bent arm’s distance between ourselves and the person in front of us.

“Check static lines!”

“CHECK STATIC LINES!”

We verified the static lines were properly hooked to the cargo cable and passed over rather than under our shoulders.

“Sound off for equipment check!”

“SOUND OFF FOR EQUIPMENT CHECK!”

Starting from the back of the aircraft to the front, each paratrooper inspected the parachute of the person in front of them, making sure there were no visible defects.  A wave of “OK,” as each soldier passed the results of the inspection up the line until the first paratrooper confirmed to the jumpmaster, “ALL OKAY JUMPMASTER!”

The jumpmaster eyed the jump light as it turned green.  We were over the drop zone. 

“Go!” 

“GO!”

We began ambling forward, the paratroopers in front of me disappearing out of the jump door one by one.  I approached the jumpmaster handing him my static line and made a crisp 45-degree turn. I took my final two steps snapping my feet together with my body in an L-shaped posture as I began freefalling from the side of the aircraft. 

And there I was, falling through the sky, completely dependent upon the work of another.  I remember seeing my boots and beyond them the ground blurrily approaching.  I began counting down as I prayed for my chute to open, “ONE THOUSAND!  TWO THOUSAND! THREE THOUSAND!  FOUR THOUSAND!” 

A sharp jerk on my groin and shoulders as my parachute opened and my descent slowed.  My hands went to the risers of my chute and I looked up.  No blown sections, no holes, no cigarette rolls, or hung jumpers.  My chute had deployed.  I would be okay.  My Rigger had proven faithful.   

Scripture makes clear the helplessness of man in his sin. 

In Deuteronomy, Moses recounts in detail the salvation of Israel and the gift of the Law which they have received from the hand of the Lord.  And at the end of this recounting, he leaves them with this warning. 

“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.” 

And yet, just paragraphs later, the Lord predicts to Moses that Israel will fall away, just as we do today.  Though they possess the revelation of God’s law, we and they fail to follow it and are in bondage to sin.  God presented us with life and grace, and we willingly choose death.  This is not from our created nature, but from our rebelliousness. 

David makes clear that he, and by extension we, are steeped in sin from birth. 

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” 

 The apostle Paul in addressing the Church at Rome, strings together the witness of the Psalmists and Prophets on the matter of sin.

 “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.  Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known.  There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 

 If somehow we dare to think that we can of our own effort, skill, holiness, or works stand before God as righteous, he shoots this down as well. 

 “Because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” 

When we peer into the scorching mirror of the law, we see that we are unrighteous, unholy, wicked, and condemned people before the Lord.

In Paul’s words, we find that we are “dead in the trespasses and sins in which we once walked.” 

 We find ourselves free-falling, daring to hope that there is yet someone faithful by whom we might be saved. 

 Today I find the promise that there is one who is faithful in Paul’s epistle to the Philippians. 

 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

 In this passage, Paul describes the pre-incarnate Christ purposefully and willingly taking upon himself the role of redeemer.  This is the same pre-incarnate Christ, whom John calls the Logos, who created all things and apart from Him nothing that has its existence was created. 

 It is this pre-incarnate Christ who held the same glory, majesty, and honor that is due to the Father, who set aside the privilege and power due his divinity so that he might condescend to us and take into himself humanity. 

 The God who created and gave life to all flesh, now became flesh.  Though Christ was equal to his Father with regard to the nature of his divinity, he set this aside and was obedient to the will of his Father with regard to all things.  It was this Jesus who came to us in weakness as a baby.  He experienced all the temptations and sufferings that we suffer yet without sin.  Is anyone tempted?  So was he.  Is anyone hungry, or cold, or without a home?  So was he.  Is anyone persecuted or facing opposition or betrayal?  So was he.  He experienced all of these things on our behalf.

Not only was he obedient to his Father in these things, but he was obedient even to the point of death.  He was obedient not just to death, but the horrible death of the cross.  Though he was sinless, Christ bore the sin of us all, and the curse that the law prescribes for sin upon himself.  He was mocked, beaten, scourged, crucified, and pierced through with nails and spear for our sake.  He took our sin, and credited to us his own righteousness obtained thru obedience to the Father.

 The author of Hebrews describes the work of Christ in this way:

 “For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering…Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery…Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.  For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” 

 Through the cross, we see that Christ is the faithful one whose work it is to save us from our sins.  He has fully and completely arrested us from our freefall through his suffering and death.  And it is through the resurrection that this was made publicly manifest to us, that we might have confidence that in Christ, we too will land safely in God’s grace and mercy. 

 He has ascended to the right hand of the Father where he has taken up the glory that he had before the world was created. 

 My hope is that through the Holy Spirit, you too will recognize the hopelessness of your sin and the faithfulness of the Son of God who became our servant-savior, and that you also will gladly bow the knee and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Amen.