Jesus’ March to Bondage, Death, Liberation

In 1914 just after the beginning of WWI the famous British author H.G. Wells wrote a book, The War That Will End All Wars.

Many thought at the time it would be, but of course that bubble was soon burst.  Just 25 years later the world was at war again and we are again tMattoday.

On the same day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor they also carried out a major attack on the Philippines.  We had a large military presence there under the command of General MacArthur.  That became the first major land battle for American troops.  For five months the poorly equipped and poorly supplied US and Filipino troops fought against superior numbers.

In March of 1942 General MacArthur went to Australia to get help with his famous promise, “I shall return.”  A month later we suffered one of the most devastating military defeats in American history, and the largest surrender of US armed forces in history when on April 9, 1942, Major General King surrendered to the Japanese army.  All of a sudden the Japanese had more POWs than they could deal with.

Today, April 10, 2022, marks the 80^th anniversary of the beginning of the Bataan Death March.  The Japanese force marched 76,000 prisoners of war, 66,000 Filipino and 10,000 Americans, 70 miles over 7 days, to a prison camp.

Of those 75,000 emaciated, malnourished, physically weak soldiers who started the march with little or no sleep, food or water, 54,000 reached the prison camp in the middle of Luzon.  Anyone who fell or straggled behind was shot.  The Bataan Death March was one of the most brutal war crimes ever committed by the Japanese.

To this day it is remembered in the Philippines where April 9 is a national holiday, called the Day of Valor.  The heroism, sacrifices and suffering are not forgotten.

Over the next two and a half years another 30,000 would die while in prison.  But General MacArthur made good his promise and returned to liberate the Philippines.  On one amazing day in January 1945, 121 U.S. Rangers emerged from the jungle and after a brief fight, liberated the prison and rescued the 513 remaining American and Allied survivors of the Bataan Death March.

Hampton Sides describes it this way in his book Ghost Soldiers:

“Slowly, the awareness that this was a jailbreak was beginning to sink in among the rest of the prisoners. They were reacting with a kind of catatonic ecstasy, numb and inarticulate. One prisoner wrapped his arms around the neck of the first Ranger he saw and kissed him on the forehead. All he could he say was “Oh, boy! Oh, boy! Oh, boy!” Alvie Robbins found one prisoner muttering in a darkened corner of one of the barracks, tears coursing down his face. “I thought we’d been forgotten,” the prisoner said. “No, you’re not forgotten,” Robbins said. “We’ve come for you.”…”I was glad it was dark so he couldn’t see my tears,” Tommie Thomas remembered years later. With the help of many heroic Filipinos, the liberated prisoners, sick, weak, frail, made their way back to the Allied lines. Finally they saw an American flag, the first Stars and Stripes he’d seen since the surrender three years earlier. “We wept openly, and we wept without shame” (Hampton Sides, Ghost Soldiers, pp. 238, 317).

I wonder if in all of human experience there is any experience quite as powerful, quite as joyful as being liberated from some bondage.

Who of us can come close to that kind of experience, the liberating joy of a great release from a great bondage?

A prisoner who has been let out of prison.

A hostage released from his captors.

A slave set free like in the movie 12 Years a Slave.

Someone in bondage to some sin or addiction, porn, alcohol, finally gaining victory.

Getting free from a great financial debt.  Getting a diagnosis of being cancer free.

A child let free after being grounded.

Right after Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness He went to Nazareth, His hometown and on the Sabbath went into the synagogue and read Isaiah 61 and preached from it.

In Isaiah’s prophecy liberation and incredible joy go hand in hand:  “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;… to comfort all who mourn;… the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit” (Isaiah 61:1-3).

After He preached, He astonished everyone there by saying, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).

Three years later, on this day, on the beginning of Holy Week on Palm Sunday, we remember another day of valor, another death march and the beginning of another great liberation.

While the crowds are singing and praising hosanna in the highest, Jesus is intentionally making His final death march, surrendering to enemy forces, submitting to horrific torture and injustice, yielding to sin and death.  Jesus’ march was truly a march to the war to end all wars, the cosmic battle against the spiritual forces of darkness, of sin, Satan and death.

This is that day, when Jesus begins fulfilling the prophecies of Zachariah and Isaiah.  He wants us to know three things, which I take from three phrases in our text.