Two bear cubs and their mother were pawing through a small garbage dump in central Florida, looking for food scraps to eat. The black bear cubs were about four months old, playful and curious. The mother bear was fiercely protective of her cubs and kept a close watch over them.
One of the cubs found a large jar made out of clear plastic. Although the jar seemed to be empty, the cub’s keen sense of smell must have told it that something good might still be inside. The young bear pushed its head into the large opening to give the bottom of the container a good lick with its long tongue. But it quickly found out that there was no food in the jar.
It was time to get the jar off its head and move on to other possibilities in the dump. The cub tried shaking its head from side to side, clawing at the plastic jar, then rolling on the ground, but nothing worked. The jar fit too snugly around the cub’s neck. Annoyed, the cub bellowed for its mother. She came running, but this was a problem she was not able to solve.
If someone who didn’t know better had seen the cub romping around with a plastic jar on its head, they might have been tempted to laugh. But there was nothing funny about it. Getting stuck in the jar could cost the cub its life. A lot of people are making that kind of mistake when it comes to sin. They think sin is harmless, when in reality it causes the death of the sinner. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:2020The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. (Ezekiel 18:20)). The death of an unsaved sinner is tragic: “Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:3030And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:30)). Fools who don’t know any better may make a mock of sin, but unforgiven sin always leads to eternal death.
Hours passed. When it was time to nurse and drink their mother’s milk, one cub nursed all he wanted, but the cub with the jar over its head could only nestle against its mother. Although the cub could see its mother through the plastic jar, that didn’t help with its hunger and thirst.
Someone saw the bear family walking down a dirt road and realized the cub needed help. This person called the Florida State Fish and Game Department and told them about the cub’s difficulty. The wardens decided to try to catch the cub so they could remove the jar. But to protect themselves, they knew they would have to catch the mother bear first. They set traps for the bears with all kinds of bait, but the bear family avoided the traps for nine long days.
On the tenth day the wardens decided to call off their search for “Jarhead,” the name they had given the cub. Ten days is a long time to survive without water and food, and they assumed the cub had probably died. They were getting ready to collect their traps when they received a call from someone who had spotted the bears running down a trail. One of the wardens grabbed a tranquilizer gun and jumped into his truck to drive to the spot of the sighting. The warden realized this might be the young bear’s last chance, and he didn’t want to make any mistakes.
He got out of the truck, listened closely, and heard some rustling in nearby bushes. Lying on his belly so he could see through the undergrowth, he was shocked to see the mother bear just five feet away. She got frightened and ran directly in front of the warden, but he made a shot. The tranquilizer dart whizzed through the air and struck the mother bear in her hip. She ran several yards and then collapsed.
The warden saw the cubs that had been trailing their mother. He ran toward them and tackled Jarhead, wrestling the cub to the ground. Another warden helped him tug the jar off its head. They set the cub down and turned their attention to the mother lying motionless on the ground. The two wardens were able to pick her up and carry her to a large cage on the back of the truck. They left the gate of the cage open and stepped back. Within minutes, the two cubs ran to be with their mother lying down in the cage. The wardens closed the gate, locking them in for the night. They wanted to keep an eye on the cub and its mother until the next morning to make sure both were healthy enough to release into the wild.
The mother bear awoke out of her drugged sleep, and both cubs were feeding at her side. The next morning the wardens opened the gate of the cage and stood back, giving the bears plenty of clearance. The three bears sprinted out of the back of the truck and disappeared once more into the woods.
The cub needed help from someone greater than itself to take that jar off its head, and sinners need help from someone much greater than themselves to remove their sins. Wonderfully for them, God sent His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to make a way to deliver souls from the death their sins deserve. He gave His life at Calvary where He shed His precious blood so that all who believe on Him might have their sins washed away. “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)).
Faith in Christ is the only way a sinner can be cleansed from their sins and escape sin’s deadly power. You can be very sure that the Lord Jesus is seeking you even at this moment. “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)). If you want to be cleansed from your sins, you will need to come to Him by faith. He loves you and is waiting to set you free and be a part of your life forever.
ML-12/19/2010