What is a Hero? Since I was a young boy that has always been a word that has meant a lot to me, but to be honest I’m not sure that I knew why? Along with Roy Rogers, Sky King, Superman, Zorro, and James Bond, Roberto Clemente comes to mind. I remember sitting behind first base at Forbes Field watching “The Great One” make routine throws to the plate from deep in right field. I remember his home run hits as well as his unbelievable catches. In fact my old six finger baseball glove, while the ink has faded, still has the impression of Roberto’s signature etched into the worn leather. My hero’s life was cut short when the plane he was on delivering supplies to earth quake victims in Nicaragua crashed.

So what is a hero? Mr. Webster says a hero is: a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability; an illustrious warrior; a man admired for his achievements and qualities. Yes a hero is someone we look up to. A hero is someone that we admire. A hero is someone that we emulate and imitate.

This past Memorial Day I was thinking about Fallen Heroes. These are heroes who have given their lives (fallen down dead) in service to God and country (in an act of duty to humanity), men and women who put our freedoms above their lives. If you Google “Fallen Heroes” you will see that there are some 6,260,000 web sites with references to them. With that many web sites Fallen Heroes must be significantly important to a lot of people! But that made me wonder? Who is the greatest Fallen Hero? Out of the 6,260,000 who’s the greatest one?

The answer is of course… Jesus! Although you probably won’t find his name in any of those 6 million plus references to Fallen Heroes yet, he is beyond doubt the greatest Fallen Hero of all times. You see all of those other Fallen Heroes died to free us from tyranny and slavery, but Jesus died to free us from sin. In the gospel of John chapter 8 and verse 24 Jesus told the religious leaders of his day, the Pharisees, “that they would die in their sins”. Now if that is true of religious leaders it certainly takes in you and I doesn’t it? Jesus knew that there was something worse than losing earthly freedom and it was to lose your eternal soul. There is something worse than being a slave and that is being a slave to sin. He said in verse 34 that “everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Yes, Jesus gave his life to save us from sin! And if you believe that Jesus died for you, you shall be free, free from sin, free for eternity, free indeed!