On January 2, 2007, Wesley Autrey, a New York City Construction worker and a Navy veteran, was waiting for a train at the 137th Street–City College station in Manhattan with his two young daughters.
At around 12:45 p.m., he and two women noticed a young man, Cameron Hollopeter, having a seizure. Autrey borrowed a pen and used it to keep Hollopeter’s jaw open. Following the seizure, Hollopeter stumbled from the platform and fell onto the tracks, as described by New York Times reporter Cara Buckley. and recorded in Wikipedia.
As Hollopeter lay on the tracks, Autrey saw the lights of an oncoming train. While one of the women held Autrey’s daughters away from the edge of the platform, he dove onto the tracks. He thought he would be able to take Hollopeter off the tracks, but he realized there was not enough time to drag Hollopeter away. Instead, he protected Hollopeter by throwing himself over Hollopeter’s body in a drainage trench between the tracks, where he held him down. Though the operator of the train applied the brakes, all but two cars passed over them, close enough to leave a grease mark on Autrey’s cap.
Autrey, who was dubbed by the media as the “Subway Samaritan” and the “Hero of Harlem,” told The Times, “I don’t feel like I did something spectacular; I just saw someone who needed help. I did what I felt was right.”
What Wesley Autrey shows us is this: when love is real, it doesn’t hesitate—it acts.
What happens when we love more?
It shows.
Love doesn’t always have the time to calculate the risk. Sometimes, as in the case of Wesley Autrey, love acts before fear speaks. This kind of selfless love, as directed toward a total stranger, is instinctive. Innate. Unprompted. It resides in one’s heart. It’s rooted in character. While Christian love may not always be spontaneous, it is chosen. Agapē, as noted last week, is a love of the will.
It’s “Good Samaritan” love, kindness, and compassion that stop to help a bleeding, bloody stranger lying on the side of the road when others won’t.
Love shows.
John, often identified as the apostle of John, expressed it succinctly when he wrote: “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18).
“Fine words will never take the place of fine deeds,” wrote William Barclay, “and no amount of talk of Christian love will take the place of a kindly action to a man in need, involving some self-sacrifice, for in that action the principle of the Cross is operative again.”
“Applied today,” as one unknown author expressed it, “this verse calls Christians to examine whether their compassion results in tangible service—meeting needs, bearing burdens, forgiving wrongs, and acting with integrity. Love, according to John, is proven in the daily choices that reflect Christ’s self-giving love, transforming faith into a lived reality rather than a spoken claim.”
Love shows.
1 Corinthians 13, which we will examine in later posts, offers 15 specific, concrete actions that show our love to others. They go beyond mere emotions and empty platitudes, but find their substance in the daily grit and grind of life.
In the home, it’s insulting for a wife to hear her husband say, “I love you,” but then fail to express affection, kindness, and concern for her needs and feelings.
Love shows.
In our relationships with our brethren, our words of love sound hollow when we neglect to minister to obvious needs, share our material blessings, or even take the time to listen to their hurts.
Love shows.
I wonder how the Lord feels when we sing “Oh, how I love Jesus,” but fail to obey His commandment, ignore opportunities to do good, half-heartedly engage in worship, and neglect to follow Jesus’ example in our daily lives.
Love shows.
Few, if any of us, will ever be faced with a decision like Wesley Autrey. However, we all encounter daily opportunities to be kind, lend a helping hand, demonstrate compassion, and put feet, hands, and heart into the Two Great Commandments.
Love shows.
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
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