I was listening to the benediction followig the recent presidential inaugural ceremonies and heard about the fallen soldiers who had made the ultimate sacrifice. It made me wonder what determines the ultimate sacrifice. When one person dies in the crossfire of opposing political agendas of others, is that an ultimate sacrifice? One would think a Christian would consider Jesus death on a cross the ultimate sacrifice. The One who made this sacrifice said He would have mercy and not sacrifice. The implication being that all subsequent sacrifice was waste. What is a long life of self denial in service to others if not an ultimate sacrifice? But ultimate seems to imply no greater sacrifice was possible for the person who made it. That idea should be questioned.

For example: A bright young woman is destined to discover a health breakthrough that will save the lives of millions when she is in her thirties. At 20 years of age, she decides to join the military. At 23 years of age she dies. Even if she were reincarnated at the time of death, millions more will die before she attains her thirties and makes the breakthrough discovery. Or perhaps the discovery will happen on schedule from the efforts of another person.

One person is destined for greatness and another is not. Both die on a battlefield. Has one not made a greater sacrifice than the other? If dying violently is the greatest sacrifice, how about the loss of children to street violence? Is their sacrifice less ultimate than that of a soldier? Did they not die as a result of someones political agenda, the same as a soldier? Is it a uniform that decides ultimate sacrifice? If so, does a parent in uniform sacrifice more than a single person in death? That word ultimate is a challenge to reason.

Many in this world do not consider death for political ambition a sacrifice at all. It is an honor. It is a passport to a better life. Even the apostle Paul looked forward to the rest at the end of a turbulent, stressful ministry. There are millions who would agree with Janis Joplin that freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose. What then is the sacrifice of death and how is it ultimate?

What if the sacrifice Jesus made about 1975 years ago was in fact, the ultimate sacrifice? What if His sacrifice made all subsequent sacrifices unnecessary tributes to past millenial traditions of men? Is it possible we have been taught to consider unnecessary sacrifice to be ultimate, when it is really just the opposite? Perhaps we feel better when sacrifice could easily have been avoided, when there were better options for living sacrifice not chosen, we choose to call it ultimate as a self deception. Perhaps self deception is truly the ultimate sacrifice.