John Luther Jones. Chances are you’ve probably never heard the name before. His nickname was ‘Casey’. Casey Jones. Now perhaps you’ve heard the name before. No, he’s not the mighty Casey who struck out in a baseball game. This Casey worked for the railroad. Back in the 1890's. After working as a brakeman and fireman, Casey was finally promoted to an engineer. And he became a very good engineer at that. Jones prided himself with being able to bring his trains in on time. Every time. Jones also had a distinctive whistle that he blew on his route between Tennessee and Mississippi. It was said that when Casey blew his whistle in the middle of the night, people would turn over in their beds and say, “There goes Casey Jones!”In the early morning hours of April 30, 1900, Casey left the station on a second run. Another engineer had called in sick and Casey volunteered to get the passengers to their destination on time. At the time of departure Casey was 95 minutes behind schedule. Determined to arrive on time, Casey had his firemen pour on the coal as fast as he could. Gradually Casey and his ‘Cannonball Express’ made up almost all the time. With just a short distance to go it looked like Casey would once again arrive 'as advertised'.
Unbeknownst to him, disaster lay ahead. Two trains were occupying the passing track ahead. The result was that four cars ended up being on the main track. Directly in Casey’s way. As the speeding Cannonball Express got closer Casey’s fireman saw the red lights of the caboose up ahead. He yelled to Casey. Casey, in turn, told his fireman to jump to safety, which he did. Casey then desperately tried to slow his train down. Remarkably, in that short distance, he was able to reduce his train’s speed in half. But it wasn’t enough. The train plowed into the parked railroad cars. Casey was killed. His watch was found stopped at 3:52 AM, the exact time of impact. However, because he stayed with his train, instead of abandoning it, no passengers were killed. Casey was the only fatality. Afterwards, Casey Jones became immortal due to a song that was written and sung about his heroism in the accident. Today marks 112 years since Casey Jones died.
When I read about Casey Jones and his heroism, I couldn’t help but contrast it with the actions of Captain Francesco Schettino. It was Captain Schettino who abandoned his ship, the Costa Concordia, earlier this year after it capsized off the Tuscany coast. Thirty-two people are thought to have perished in the tragedy. Also, when I read of Casey Jones, I couldn’t help but think of his similarity with Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 5:14 we are told that Jesus “died for all”. In other words, Jesus sacrificed His life so that the rest of us could live. What sacrifice. What heroism. Of course, the difference between Casey Jones and Jesus is that Jesus intentionally died on the cross. It wasn’t an accident. It was planned from eternity past. Yes, Jesus gave His life so that every single man, woman, boy and girl could arrive safely at Heaven’s shore. This is why we sings hymns and songs of praise to Jesus. Because He is worthy. He truly is a hero. More than this, He is our Savior!
Lord, I thank you for the willingness of Jesus to go to the cross. To die for my sins. So that I could live. What an incredible sacrifice. What a tremendous display of love. For which I will be eternally grateful! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Lord, I thank you for the willingness of Jesus to go to the cross. To die for my sins. So that I could live. What an incredible sacrifice. What a tremendous display of love. For which I will be eternally grateful! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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