No Greater Love
Dear Friends, Last year I watched the film "12 Years a Slave" which was based on the true story of Solomon Northup. It was not easy viewing and I was sickened by the extent of the wickedness of humankind. As I watched it I found myself comparing it with the life of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Solomon Northup was a freed black man enjoying a prosperous life in New York with his family in the 1840s. He was tricked and kidnapped by two men who stole his free papers and sold him into slavery. Everything was taken from him, his freedom, his family, his identity. For 12 years he was viewed as a white man's property and viewed as less than human. He endured extreme brutality on the cotton plantations of Louisiana. Punished and whipped severely on many occasions for no real reason, he didn't deserve any of the harsh treatment he received. But he was helpless to stop it. He tried to escape, but was found ...