Arizona Senator John McCain died last week. The former Presidential candidate was 81 years old. McCain was a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who flew bombing missions from aircraft carriers during the Vietnam War. In 1967 he was shot down, seriously injured and captured by the North Vietnamese.

John McCain was a prisoner of war for 5½ years and experienced episodes of horrendous torture. He courageously refused a repatriation offer to be released due to his dire physical condition, choosing instead to remain in captivity with his fellow prisoners of war. Regardless of your political persuasion, you have to respect a man who could endure brutal torture for that period of time and yet not break.

There are numerous inspirational stories of McCain’s heroism during his captivity in the “Hanoi Hilton.” But his account of an interchange with a young Vietnamese guard who was surprisingly a Christian is especially encouraging to me.

In his book, Character Is Destiny, Senator McCain told about a young Vietnamese guard who secretly loosened the ropes that so tightly bound his hands and feet, and for four hours during that soldier’s shift, he got relief. He was deeply grateful for that soldier and wondered what drove this man to be kind when everyone else was so ruthless.

Then on Christmas Day, the one day they were allowed to walk around in the yard, McCain spotted that guard across the yard, and the two made eye contact. The Vietnamese soldier quietly made his way to McCain and stood by him for a moment. In the dirt, with his toe, the guard drew a cross, then quickly wiped it away.

McCain wrote,

“For just that moment I forgot all my hatred for my enemies, and all the hatred most of them felt for me. I forgot about the jerk and the interrogators who persecuted my friends and me. I forgot about the war and the terrible things that war does to you. I was just one Christian venerating the cross with a fellow Christian on Christmas morning.”



“I saw him again occasionally. But he never looked at me or attempted to speak to me. We never worshiped together again. But I have never forgotten him or the kindness he showed me as a testament to the faith we shared. That experience helped to form my lasting appreciation for my own religious faith, and it took the faith of an enemy to reveal it to me, the faith that unites and never divides, the faith that bridges unbridgeable divisions in humanity, the faith that we are all, sinners and saints alike, children of God. I became a better man, a stronger man, a more faithful man, who, for at least a moment, could love his enemies.”

None of us is the ultimate judge of John McCain’s Christian faith or his political decisions. But the lesson he underscored from that experience as a prisoner of war is one we would all do well to embrace. The cross eradicates differences. Forgiveness overcomes bitterness. Love is stronger than hate. Jesus unites enemies.

Is there a fellow-believer you’re really angry with today? Is there someone you’re plotting to hurt or humiliate because they’ve wounded you in some way? Read the words of Jesus again, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:43-45).

Maybe it’s time to quietly approach that despised individual and find a way to draw a cross in the sand between you. Maybe it’s time for you both, together, to worship the Lord who was brutally tortured and executed that we might be reconciled to God…and to one another.

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