Service and Sacrifice.
At Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula there is a small Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery called Beach Cemetery. There lie the remains of a very small portion of the allied troops who died during the Gallipoli campaign. When reading the epitaphs of those 285 gravestones, you will come across one that says, “He gave his life that others may live.” This gravestone belongs to Australian Army Medical Corps 202 Private J. Simpson, full name John Simpson Kirkpatrick, aged 22. Along with a donkey named "Duffy," Private Simpson is one soldier amongst so many whose memory lives on because, “He gave his life that others may live.”
In service and sacrifice, and for the true and full freedom of all people Jesus Christ laid down his life that others may live. Jesus said "The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord" (Jn. 10:17-18). Dare we compare Private Simpson with Jesus Christ? Probably not. The better comparison to be made is the one between Simpson and yourself. Every Christian is called into service and self-sacrifice to the glory, not of a nation, but to the glory of God. Australians and New Zealanders alike, love the "Simpsons" of this world – those whom give of themselves for the sake of others. Service and self-sacrifice can fall victim to romanticism, but the testimonies of those diggers saved by 'The man and his donkey' gave witness to the service and sacrifice of Private Simpson. And for the greatest good, Jesus laid down his life for you, that you may have true freedom in him and testify to his goodness that extends on into all eternity.