Whenever the subject of
love comes to mind I keep going back to the classic novel A Tale of Two Cities,
by Charles Dickens.
The story revolves around
three characters, Sydney Carton the Englishman, a wild, drunken lawyer; Charles
Darnay a Frenchman, a fine gentleman; and Lucie Manette, the woman
who is loved by both men.
Carton and Darnay though
opposite in manners bear an uncanny resemblance to each other. But it is Darnay
whom Lucie loves. Carton realizes this, and concedes that he cannot win the
heart of Lucie. He knows Lucie does not deserve a drunken, disgraced lawyer
like him. As much as Carton loves Lucie, he gives way,
to Darnay.
It happens that these
three characters are in Paris at the height of the French revolution.
Darnay is arrested by the revolutionists to answer
for the crimes committed by his father. He is accused before the revolutionary
court which condemns him to die by
guillotine.
Lucie is driven to
despair. Darnay suffers agony, as the day of execution comes near, without a
ray of hope.
Carton’s love for Lucie
compels him to a make a last ditch
effort to save Darnay. He trades places
with Darnay in prison, for after all they look alike. Darnay slips out and
joins Lucie making their escape.
On the day of execution
Carton willingly goes to the guillotine and dies in place of Darnay.
Before he dies he delivers
this classic immortal lines: “It is a
far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better
rest that I go than I have ever known.”
This is love unsurpassed.
Dickens may have written about
a lonely fictional hero, who sacrificed his life to save the life of another
man for the sake of the only woman they both love. But the great novelist
offers a far, far better message behind this tale: The great and surpassing love of Christ for mankind, who willingly made
the ultimate sacrifice by going to the Roman gallows, in our place, and receiving the penalty for
our sins.
“For
Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring
you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit” (1
Peter 3:18).
At the end of the story Sydney Carton
in the face of death is certain that he is going to a far, far better
place than he had ever known.
Jesus said,
“In
My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have
told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you
may be also.”(John 14:2)
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