It was toward the end of World War 2. U. S. troops had captured one of the Pacific islands held by the Japanese.
Following the invasion, as the medical corps moved among the dead and wounded they came upon a little Japanese soldier with a terribly injured leg. He could have been left to die, but moved with pity the stretcher bearers carried him to the tender, which subsequently took him to the hospital ship anchored offshore.
The Japanese was terrified on finding himself helpless in enemy hands. He had been solemnly warned by his officers that all Japanese prisoners were tortured unmercifully by their captors, especially by the Americans. With growing apprehension he watched as first one and then another was wheeled into the operating room.
Finally his turn came and he was placed on the operating table. Words could not describe the terror written on his face as the doctors moved in for the examination and prepared to amputate the shattered limb.
A spinal anesthetic was administered and the surgery swiftly performed. The best possible skills were employed, so that the patient, on recovery, could with little discomfort wear an artificial limb.
When the operation was completed, it suddenly dawned on the Japanese soldier that the torture tales he had been told were utterly false. Instead, his captors had shown him nothing but mercy and kindness.
The surgeon, having completed his task, bent over the patient and smiled.
Overcome with gratitude, the wounded man with what little strength he had, put his arms around the doctor's neck. Then with tears streaming down his face, and using the only English word he knew, he exclaimed: "American, oh, American!"
The above story recalled from the Reader's Digest, illustrates on the one hand man's unfounded fear and terror of God; and on the other hand, his complete ignorance of God's compassion, mercy and love.
The stretcher bearers, who could have left the Japanese soldier to die, brought him to the one he dreaded the most— to the surgeon, whom he believed would take advantage of his helplessness to torture him.
How absolutely wrong he was! On the contrary, his condition only served to draw out the kindness and consummate skills of the only one who could save his life.
May it all serve to illustrate how we who are by nature enemies, are reconciled to God by the death of His Son. As the Scriptures say: "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us... For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement" (reconciliation. R. V.).