There is a story of a young man named Victor and a fireman who came to his rescue. Victor is in his early thirties. He’s a young, attractive, and outgoing young man. He had been away living in North Carolina working side jobs, partying on the beach, and he didn’t have much focus in his life. One day he received a call that his father died unexpectedly. He returned to his home town to pick up the pieces, celebrate the funeral mass, go through his father’s belongings and try to make sense of his life now.
He ended up staying in his father’s apartment and waitressing at a restaurant. He would go to work, come home, and keep going through his father’s possessions. Victor felt isolated, alone and lost. He was seeking direction for his life but coming up empty. His nights were restless. He was grieving the loss of his father without really understanding it. One night as he was drifting off to sleep there was a short in one of the kitchen appliances. A tiny spark caught fire and after a couple of flicks the wall behind the refrigerator began to burn. The flames moved fast and traveled up the wall. What was once a tiny spark had become a raging fire. It spread through the kitchen and then the living room. The smoke began to roll and kreep under the doors and into his bedroom. As the oxygen was pulled from the air Victor fell into the deepest sleep he’d had in a long time. The fire raged on.
Meanwhile, the fire had spread from his apartment to other rooms. Someone had called 911 and a lone firetruck arrived at the scene. The fireman raced into the building trying to find the source and came to Victor’s apartment. He kicked down the door screaming loudly asking if anyone were there. He ran through the living room and found the fire was burning up the side of the bedroom door. He opened and shined his flashlight through the smoke to find Victor unconscious in his bed. He picked him up and threw his limp body over his shoulders carried him down three flights of stairs and out of the building. He laid victor down gently in the parking lot and then ran back into the building. He carried person after person out of the now flaming building.
Finally Victor came to consciousness. He rubbed his eyes as he began to wake up and realized he was outside of his apartment. He slightly remembered being carried but didn’t know what was going on. He was confused and became afraid. The fireman approached him once more and said: “Listen, I know that you are weak, and I know that you barely made it out of there, but there are more people in that building and unless we get them out of there fast the fire is going to kill them. I need someone else to help me carry them out. Will you help me save them?” Victor trembled with the realization that he would have to go back into the fire that he was just saved from the. He saw the sincerity in the fireman’s eyes, he knew that others were in there, and without hesitation he followed the firman back into the flaming building.
The truth is that many people are dying and they don’t even know it. Many people in our world are spiritually unconscious while the flames of hell and the smoke of sin is surrounding them. If you have been baptized you have been saved. If you are reading this, you have probably been pulled out of that fire.
But the reality is there are other people that are being consumed by the fire right now. The fireman represents Christ the king.
He is the head of the body, the church.
that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him,
making peace by the blood of his cross
through him, whether those on earth or those in heaven.(Colossians 1:12-20)
Jesus is the fireman, he is the head, he is the Savior. He came into the fire of sin. He has descended into our hell. He has saved us and rescued us. But there are many out there who are in the midst of the fire and they are spiritually dead. He’s asking you who have been saved to help him. He is asking you, even if you are weak in your faith, even if you are afraid, even if you feel like you don’t have it all together to go back into the fire with him and to carry the spiritually unconscious out. God chooses the weak to make them strong.
Try and think of the people who are trapped in the fire. Recall those who are spiritually unconscious, those who are away from the faith or have never really come to know and love God. He needs you to go into their hell, to go into the fire and to pick them up and carry them back to safety. He needs you to introduce them to Jesus, the fireman, Christ the King, the savior. They may not be even able to help themselves. They may not even realize that they need rescuing. They may not even respond. So you may have to pick them up and carry them away from sin and into the Sacraments of the Church.
Jesus says to you: “I know that you are weak, but I choose the weak and make them strong. I know you are afraid, but I hold all things together, I will not fail you. I know you are unsure but I am your surety. I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.”
Christ the King, the Fireman, asks you today: “Will you help me save them?”
