by Don Hooton
I just read about five young men who went on mission to preach the good news of Jesus to the unreached Huaorani people in 1956. On Tuesday, January 3, 1956 Jim Elliot and four other missionaries (Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and Nate Saint) landed on a small strip of land in the jungles of Ecuador. On Friday, January 6th, three Aucas—one man and two women—approached them with whom they exchanged greetings. The men showed the natives rubber bands, yo-yos, and balloons, and they even took the man up in the plane. On Sunday, January 8th, however, they were due to radio in at 4:30 p.m. but all there was – was silence. When no message came, a plane was sent and then a rescue party. Four of their bodies were recovered—all lanced to death in what seemed an ambush. The fifth was never found. Their martyrdom shocked the world. And in 1956, TIME ran a ten-page story.
The men’s wives, all in their twenties, followed their husbands’ passion and went to Ecuador. With extraordinary bravery they returned to the very people who had killed their husbands and showed forgiveness and love. The Huaorani were amazed. And in response, one of them said, ‘We acted badly, badly…’ ‘until they brought us God’s carvings. Now we walk His trail.’ (as quoted in “Through the Gates of Splendor,” written by Jim Elliot’s widow, Elizabeth).
Yet, it is Jim Elliot’s words that have long been quoted and echoed in lessons about commitment and sacrifice. At just 22-years-old on October 28, 1949, six years before the fated day in Ecuador, Jim Elliot wrote: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” And in less than just 7 years, he would show himself – no fool.
When Jim Elliot’s diary was found by the rescue party, these were his last written words as he waited for the Aucas Indians to come:
“I walked out to the hill just now. It is exalting, delicious, to stand embraced by the shadows of a friendly tree with the wind tugging at your coattail and the heavens hailing your heart, to gaze and glory and give oneself again to God—what more could a man ask? Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on earth! I care not if I never raise my voice again for him, if only I may love him, please him. Perhaps in mercy he shall give me a host of children [i.e., converts] that I may lead them through the vast star fields to explore his delicacies whose finger ends set them to burning. But if not, if only I may see him, touch his garments, and smile into his eyes—ah then, not stars nor children shall matter, only himself” (Elisabeth Elliot, Through Gates of Splendour. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1957, 256).
Such people inspire me.
Are we inspired by American soldiers who sacrificed their lives on foreign soil to defend the defenseless or to uphold a pursuit for freedom? Do the heart strings of our souls vibrate with the rhythm of our allegiance when the national anthem is played – even at gravesides of veterans – or police? Do we stand amazed by the lengths to which people have gone in their lives to reach extreme after extreme of difficulty and still tread onward uphill and through every shadowed valley? Should you not honor those to whom belong honor?
Yet, how does our heart feel when men and women fly to foreign lands to share the gospel of Jesus? Do we shout our “Hallelujah!”s or do we coil into despair?
First-Century Christians were relentlessly gentle in their bravery and fierce in their love. They preached the gospel even when they were flogged and beaten only to “rejoic[e] that they were counted worthy to be treated shamefully on behalf of the Name. Every day in the temple, and in various homes, they continued teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah” (Acts 2:41-42).
They learned love and sacrifice from their Savior and King. He inspired the good in the news they shared: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1John 3:16).
What can we give in 2023? “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”