Phil and Gus were two boys in the same class at school. One day when they were in the schoolroom alone together, some firecrackers went off. Now the teacher had strictly forbidden anyone to bring firecrackers into the school, and he immediately demanded which one of the boys had done the deed. Gus denied it. Phil would neither admit nor deny it, and as a result, he was severely punished for his obstinacy.
When the boys got alone again, Gus asked, “Phil, why didn’t you say you didn’t do it?”
“Because there were only us two, and one of us must have lied,” said Phil.
“Then why not say I did it?” asked Gus.
“Because you said you didn’t, and I wanted to spare you even though you were telling a lie,” answered Phil.
Gus’ heart was melted. Phil’s moral gallantry subdued him. When the class was assembled again, Gus, the young culprit, marched up to the teacher’s desk and said, “Please, sir, I can’t bear to be a liar. I let off the firecrackers,” and then he burst into tears.
The teacher’s eyes moistened as he looked upon the young self-accuser, and as he thought of the undeserved punishment he had inflicted upon Phil, of whose guilt in the matter he had no real proof, his conscience was smitten. Then before the whole class, hand in hand with the guilty Gus, as if he and the boy were joining in the confession, the teacher walked down to where Phil sat and said aloud in the hearing of all the class, “Phil, my boy, Gus and I ask your forgiveness; we are both to blame!”
The class was hushed and still, as men and women in older schools are apt to be when something true and noble is being done—so still, you might almost have heard Phil’s tears dropping on his book, as he sat enjoying the moral triumph which subdued himself as well as all the rest. Then, from want of something else to say he gently exclaimed, “Hurray for teacher!” in which the rest of the class joined, and the tears flowed down the teacher’s cheeks again.
The Lord Jesus took our place and bore the punishment we deserved. He had no sin of His own to answer for. We were the guilty ones, but He took our place and died in our stead, because He loved and pitied us.
The teacher could not punish Gus for he had already punished Phil. And God will not nor can He punish a sinner for whom Christ has died. Those who have put their trust in Jesus as their Saviour are freely pardoned. God sees them as sinless now in His sight, made so by that precious blood which washes whiter than snow.
ML-10/15/1978