Peace like a River- Annotation

Shocking. The ending to Peace like a River was completely shocking. It was nothing like what I had expected. When I closed the back cover, I sat in silence still trying to comprehend everything that had just happened. And only one thought kept running through my mind: Jeremiah Land is a representation of Jesus. Fully and completely. From the beginning of the book to the very last sentence. I sat trying to come up with a nice academic word to accurately describe what he did, but the only word that truly sums up Jeremiah Land's actions is one I feel is overused but necessary- sacrifice.

The definition of sacrifice is "the surrender or destruction of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim" (dictionary.com). Life is something we hold a lot of value in. Mr. Land viewed his life as nothing, or of little importance compared to the life of his son, Reuben. The Bible says in John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." Is that not what Jesus did for us?

We as humans have a hard time grasping the concept of that kind of love. A love that values and sacrifices ones own comforts, needs, or even in these examples, ones life. Jesus was obviously the ultimate example of sacrifice, dying so that we might have spiritual breath, so in turn we might have spiritual life. But what Jeremiah Land did for his son was almost as important. He gave away part of himself so that he may save his sons life by giving him new lungs and a chance at a new life free from the limitations his asthma brought upon him. In the death of his father, Reuben received healing. In the death of Jesus, we also have received healing.

The similarities of these two men are amazing. It made the life of Jesus so real and tangible. That what he did was not so far out after all; that love like that really can exist. It should change us. I imagine that Reuben was changed and lived his life differently knowing that his father sacrificed so much for him. I want to live my life differently for my father, knowing that he gave the ultimate sacrifice for my life as well.

Citations

"Sacrifice" Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 25 April, 2011. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sacrifice

The New International Bible. Ed. Print.