O Captain! My Captain!

American poet Walt Whitman wrote O Captain! My Captain! in 1865 a tribute he paid to Abraham Lincoln. Here is a video narration of the same for you to enjoy.

O Captain!_My Captain by Walt Whitman from Sam on Vimeo.

Amazingly the words so apply to our savior the only difference being Yeshua's victory didn't stop at His death but was complete in His resurrection and ascension. Every great leader pays the ultimate price by the sacrifice of his life. They go through great perils and guide a nation or a group of people through amazing long arduous journey's, some even don't see victory but live a life that over arches their own personal purposes. This poem though about Lincoln does not fail to remind me that Yeshua came into the world in disguise, for a daring rescue and restoration. C.S. Lewis puts it appropriately in Mere Christianity in his argument of God becoming man for us:

"But supposing God became a man - suppose our human nature which can suffer and die was amalgamated with God's nature in one person - then that person could help us. He could surrender His will, and suffer and die, because He was man; and He could do it perfectly because He was God. You and I can go through this process only if God does it in us; but God can do it only if He becomes man. Our attempts at this dying will succeed only if we men share in God's dying, just as our thinking can succeed only because it is a drop out of the ocean of His intelligence: but we cannot share God's dying unless God dies; and He cannot die except by being a man. That is the sense in which He pays our debt, and suffers for us what He Himself need not suffer at all.

Isn't that amazing? I have purposefully related the poem to Lewis's argument not only to point out there was no way to save us and pay for our debt, redemption and restoration but for Yeshua to become man. And it was the only way we now can relate in our journey of dying to ourselves for living in Him.

Yeshua says:

"And he said the to them, If any man come after me let him deny himself , take up his cross and follow me (Luke 9:23)"

Denying here is daily dying, a resolute commitment to live in Him and that is the only way His life of abundance can flow in us. I am reminded of the scene in LOTR movie when Boromir is fighting the Orcs to save the hobbits, he lays down his life fighting. When Arragon finally comes to his aid, its too late but he is able to encourage Boromir that he fought bravely like a true son of Gondor at this Boromir replies, "I would have followed you till the end, My Brother, My Captain, My King".

In closing then let us resolve & renew our minds to transform our hearts on this journey calling our Lord "O Captain! My Captain! & My King!, I will follow you to the end in battles, wars and in the mundane's of life.

Shalom & Blessings,

Sam Kurien