Hacksaw Ridge: Weaponless Weakness, Kingdom Power - Anabaptist (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

In the chaos of war, where the ground rumbles with the cacophony of gunfire and the air thickens with the acrid scent of smoke, one man stood apart. Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector during World War II, refused to wield a weapon. Instead, he took up the mantle of a medic, armed only with compassion and courage. Imagine the scene on Hacksaw Ridge—a jagged cliff overlooking a battlefield that looked like hell itself. Soldiers fell, cries of agony pierced the air, and the weight of despair hung like a shroud.

Yet, amid this turmoil, Doss moved with a singular purpose. Picture him, unarmed and vulnerable, navigating the treacherous terrain, his heart pounding not from fear but from an overwhelming desire to save lives. With each wounded soldier he lifted, he echoed the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: “My power is made perfect in weakness.” This was not a resignation to powerlessness; it was a radical embrace of a different strength—the kind that comes from a willingness to be vulnerable for the sake of others.

As he hoisted one soldier after another onto his back, lowering them to safety, each rescue became a testament to a love that conquers fear. Seventy-five men were saved that day, not by the might of a gun but by the selfless hands of a man who chose to embody agape, or sacrificial love. Friends, when we choose to embody such cruciform weakness, we don’t merely survive; we access the divine strength that flows through us. In our own lives, as we let go of our fears and pride, we also become conduits of hope and healing. Let us boast in our chosen weaknesses, for in them, we discover the extraordinary power of Christ—the power that transforms our empty hands into saving hands.