Saving Private Ryan

One of the most powerful films in recent history is Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. The film begins on D-Day, June 6, 1944, as the Nazis were advancing across Western Europe. Faced with the ugly possibility of defeat, the Allied powers staged on the beaches of Normandy the greatest military invasion in history. Their goal was to cripple the German army and ultimately force Hitler and his army into retreat.

Following the bloody battle, Captain John Miller (played by Tom Hanks) and his surviving company of soldiers receive very unusual orders from their commander. They must locate and rescue a solder, Private James Ryan (played by Matt Damon), who is fighting somewhere behind enemy lines. We are told that Ryan and his three older brothers enlisted in the Army. What Private Ryan doesn’t know is that all three of his brothers perished during the Normandy invasion. To spare Private Ryan’s mother the anguish of losing all four of her sons, Miller and his men must find James and bring him back alive.

As Miller and his eight men move deeper into enemy territory in search of Ryan, they engage in an intense debate about why one man’s life is so important that they should risk theirs. “This Ryan better be worth it,” Miller says. “He better go home and cure some disease or invent a new longer-lasting light bulb.”

Despite their misgivings, Captain Miller’s band of soldiers bravely carry out their orders, with several of them paying the ultimate price as they successfully locate and rescue the young soldier. In the final battle scene, Miller takes a bullet that will ultimately cost him his life. But before he dies, he whispers to Private Ryan, who is kneeling by his side, “Earn this…earn it.”

The movie ends with a scene set some fifty years after the war, with the elderly James Ryan standing over Captain Miller’s grave at Arlington National Cemetery. With a trembling voice, he says, “Every day I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge. I’ve tried to live my life the best I could. I hope that was enough…I hope I earned what you did for me.”

Where to Take It from Here…

In the movie, Ryan then asks his wife, “Have I been a good man?” For 50 years, he was tormented by the realization that he could never do enough to earn what Captain Miller and his men did for him.

Contrast that with Jesus, who gave his life so that we could live. His dying words were not “Earn this.” Instead, he said, “It is finished!”

Had Jesus said, “Earn this,” you would have quickly come to realize that there’s no way to earn what it cost for Jesus to give his life for yours. To spend a lifetime trying to earn your salvation only leads to frustration and despair.

That’s why Jesus said, “It is finished!” He declared once and for all that nothing more needs to be done. You don’t have to earn it. The free gift of salvation is yours—no strings attached. Just believe and accept him as your savior and friend.

Does that mean we live our lives as if nothing happened? Do we go on living as we did before? “By no means!” writes Paul in Romans 6:2. Instead, we demonstrate that we have new life in Christ by living in obedience to him. Our good works won’t earn our salvation, but they will provide evidence that we have gratefully received it.