The thieves spotted what appeared to be a really sweet deal.
In
front of their eyes was an unguarded 2007 Volkswagen cargo vehicle with
a moveable platform and crane. Along with that, the vehicle seemed to be
easy pickings: the driver was asleep and the vehicle was unguarded.
Quickly, they overpowered the driver, tied him up, dropped him in a
vacant parking lot, and drove away.
They drove for about 24 miles
and then decided to investigate the vehicle's cargo. What can it hurt?
They thought to themselves. We've made a score, and we need to see what
we've got here. In short order they unloaded the containers, broke them
open, scattered the contents, and found nothing of interest.
They
may have found nothing of interest, but that doesn't mean they found
nothing.
What the crooks had opened up were containers of
radioactive cobalt-60 pellets. Those pellets had been taken from
hospitals in Tijuana and were headed for a nuclear holding plant located
outside of Mexico City. There's one other thing those crooks found in
those pellets.
They found death.
Those cobalt-60 pellets
were small things, but they were deadly. They carried enough radioactive
punch to kill anyone who came into close contact with them. Death would
come in two or three days. Although the crooks didn't know it, when they
looked into those containers they became walking dead men.
Their
story isn't so much different than that of Adam and Eve who thought the
forbidden fruit wasn't such a bad thing ... or King David who believed a
little look at Bathsheba couldn't hurt ... or Achan who thought a few
bars of silver and gold taken from Jericho wouldn't cause any problem or
... the rest of us.
Indeed, because of sin, all of us were
walking dead. Big sins, little sins, every sin separated us from God and
condemned.
This is precisely why humankind's walking dead need
and have been given a Savior.
In this respect, we are in much
better shape than the thieves who came into contact with the cobalt-60.
There is no cure for their condition, but in God's Son we have received
the antidote and treatment for our lost condition.
Through His
life, by His suffering, death, and in His glorious resurrection from the
dead, Jesus has become the heaven-sent healing, which can cleanse
sinners of all that had contaminated and condemned.
With Holy
Spirit-given faith we are no longer walking dead, we are eternally saved
souls.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, today we ask for two things. First,
may we be kept from thinking we can play around with sin and escape
punishment. Second, may we confess our transgressions and rejoice in the
blood Jesus shed to forgive and cleanse us. In the Savior's Name. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
Lutheran Hour Ministries All rights reserved;
not to be duplicated without permission.
