Jesse is a hero
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
Do you know what a hero is? How many of you have a hero? Are your heroes from the Bible or from real life? How many have heroes from the Bible? How many have heroes from real life?
Today I’m going to tell you the story of Jesse. Jesse lived in Mexico a long time ago. Before you were born. Before your parents were born. Jesse’s story is special because he always wanted to become a hero.
Jesse’s family was poor. His father was a blacksmith. Jesse’s father needed the help of his children and he taught them his trade and they helped him in the shop but that didn’t keep Jesse from going to school. He learned to read and write. He learned numbers. But most of all he learned about history and about heroes. He loved those stories of heroes from the past.
He loved the story don Miguel Hidalgo, the priest that began the revolt against the Spanish crown. He loved the story of the struggles to make Mexico an independent country. Like the story of “El Pipila”. This story took place when the revolutionary army tried to take the fortress where the Spaniards had taken refuge. The place was impossible to assault. But a young man, Juan José de los Reyes Martínez, “El Pipila”, strapped a paving stone to his back to shield himself from the bullets of the Spanish guns. “El Pipila” made his way to the front door of the fortress and set it on fire. “El Pipila” became the first hero of Mexico’s war of independence.
He was also one of Jesse’s heroes.
We know this because he would tell his teachers. “One day I want to be a hero”. He would repeat this phrase over and over. He wasn’t satisfied with having heroes. He wanted to become one.
Jesse’s life wasn’t an easy one. When he was only 15 his father died. The family moved to a mining town, Nacozari, up in the mountains of northern Mexico, in Sonora. Without a father Jesse and his brothers had to look for work.
Jesse applied for work at the mining company. He was hired as a waterboy. His task was to provide water to the locomotives. This was before electric trains. This was before diesel trains. The trains run on steam. To provide steam you need water and fire. Jesse’s job was to provide water to the locomotive engines.
But Jesse was smart and soon he was promoted to maintaining the rails, then to be in charge of the breaks, later he became a fireman. By the time Jesse was 20 he had become an engineer.
I want to talk about heroes for a minute. What does it take to be a hero? Sometimes it requires to make a big discovery in the field of science, like medicine. If you were to discover the cure for AIDS, you would be a hero. Or the cure for cancer. You would be a hero not only in Beltsville, or Washington, or the United States, you would be a hero around the world.
Christopher Columbus became a hero when he discovered America. He had the idea to get to the east going west. And it worked.
Neil Armstrong became a hero when he set foot on the moon.
They are both heroes in every part of the world.
You could be a hero in the world of sports.
Mark Spitz became the first and only man to win 7 Olympic gold medals. He won more gold medals in a single Olympics than any athlete in Olympic history. At the Olympics in Munich in 1972, Spitz won gold medals in the individual 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle and the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly races. The other three gold medals were won as member of relay teams. He became an overnight hero. You could see his poster, displaying his 7 gold medals everywhere.
Nadia Comaneci became the hero of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada. That year, the 15 year old Romanian took three gold, one silver, and one bronze medal in gymnastics. After the Olympics she was awarded the gold medal of a Hero of the Socialist Party, the youngest Romanian to do so. After a long career in gymnastics, in 1999 she was awarded as one of the great female athletes of the century. She certainly is a hero.
You know you are a hero when people take your name and give it to their children. After 1976 a great number of mother named their daughters Nadia. I have a niece that was named after Nadia Comaneci.
Music can turn you into a hero. Your generation has Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Cristina Aguilera, and Britney Spears, to name a few. They are today’s pop heroes. A previous generation had Michael Jackson and The Beatles, and Elvis Presley. They are our music heroes.
Sports can turn you into a hero. Who has never heard of Michael Jordan? Air Jordan. You know you are a hero when a major brand carries your name. How about Mark McGuire and José Sosa? A few years ago we had a young mexican by the name Fernando Valenzuela. They are our sports heroes.
And television. Can television turn you into a hero? How about Elmo? What can we say about Elmo? Camila was barely a year when Tickle-me Elmo became that year’s must-have toy. Camy got three Tickle-me Elmo for her first birthday. Needless to say, Elmo was already her hero. Now she has Arthur, and Clifford. And let’s not forget Larry Boy. They are our tv heroes.
But we were talking about Jesse, remember? Jesse became a bright young man and he was rewarded for his intelligence and diligence. He came to study for a short time to the US. He could have gone back to Mexico City and make more money. But there were two things that kept him in Nacozari, his mother and his sweetheart.
His work consisted in taking materials to and from the mines. One of those materials was dynamite. They needed dynamite to dig deeper into the mountains to get to the minerals.
On Tuesday, November 7, 1907, six days before he turned 24 years old [his birthday was on November 13], after he partied all night he had to report to work. When he got to the rail yards, he was informed that the conductor had fallen ill. He was so sick that he was at the hospital. “That means I’m in charge”, said Jesse. It also meant that he had to do the work of two people, his and the conductor’s.
He made several trips that morning and he is informed that he needed to pick up four tons of explosives. It was the most powerful type of dynamite made at that time in the US.
While they were loading the dynamite, Jesse took time to visit his mother. After a short visit Jesse headed back to his locomotive.
Remember what I told you about how the locomotive run? With steam. Well they had the fire die and the steam was low. So Jesse and Joe, one of the workers, had to take some time to get the fire going and the steam up.
They didn’t notice that, somehow, some of the fire had escaped and some of the railroad cars had began to burn. They had began to burn very close to where the dynamite was stored. When the steam was up the engine began pull the train. They were going up hill. Nacozari was nested between hills and to get in and out of town they had to get through the hills.
When they realized that they were on fire, they tried to put it out it by removing things. It didn’t work. Then they tried to use their clothes to put it out. But it wasn’t working. The fire kept spreading. It was getting very close to the dynamite.
About two miles out of town Jesse asked the rest of the crew to abandon the train. Jesse didn’t have time to think how tired he was. He didn’t have time to think in his mother or his sweetheart. His only thought was I have to save the town. He wasn’t thinking about becoming a hero. He wasn’t thinking about himself.
Joe stayed with Jesse the longest. “I’ll take the train,” Joe told him. Jesse replied, “No, I’m the engineer. I’m responsible. Leave the train”. Joe leaped from the train. Jesse had to stay on to keep it going up hill. He couldn’t run the risk of jumping off the train and causing it to run back into town. Jesse’s time had come.
At 2:30 PM the fire reached the dynamite. The explosion was so big that it broke the windows of the town four miles away. Some of the rail cars were found a mile and a half away from the explosion. Jesse’s body was identified only because of his boots. Joe lost his hearing and his mind. That night from the sky fell a cold rain. Joe kept repeating, “Even the night is crying for Jesse”.
On that day Jesse saved the town and the life of thousands of people, including his mother and his sweetheart.
Now I want to tell you the rest of the story.
His name wasn’t really Jesse. His name was Jesús. In Mexico Jesús is a very common name. Is the same name for Jesus.
Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
The Son of God came to earth not wanting to become a hero, but because he was a hero. He came to a certain death because without it this world would perish. The load of hatred, envy, deceitfulness, and evil was about to catch fire. And the train had to keep running.
Jesus didn’t think about himself when he came and was born in Bethlehem. He didn’t think about what he was leaving behind, the glory of heaven and the worship of angels. He was thinking about you and me. He was thinking that without him we would perish.
Jesse became a hero. A song was written telling his story. The name of the town carries his last name, it is now called Nacozari de Garcia. In other words, Jesse’s town.
Jesus was our hero. Shouldn’t his name be in your heart? Should you be called after him? He gave his life so you could live. Is he your hero?
