Rainey Bethea

Have you ever heard the story of Rainey Bethea.  He lived in Kentucky in the 1930s.  He was arrested and sent to prison on at least two occasions before being arrested for breaking into an elderly woman's home, robbing and murdering her.  He was convicted of the crime and sentenced to death.  At this time in Kentucky, executions were done by public hanging.  The event turned into quite a circus.  Thousands of people came from all over the state to see it.  The executioner showed up drunk and at the last second changed his mind about pulling the lever.  The reports of how or who pulled the lever differ depending on the account, but on August 14, 1936 Rainey Berhea died by hanging.

The newspaper accounts of the day vary in details.  The sheriff was a woman and that was unusual. Some papers embellished her reaction to the hanging.  One even reported that she fainted.  Other papers embellished the crowd's reaction and some said that the crowd stormed the gallows to take souvenirs.  Most agree that neither the storming of the gallows, nor the sheriff's fainting ever happened.

The execution of Rainey Bethea was the last public execution in the United States.  The crowds and the media circus had become too hard to manage.  Over the last 75 years all executions have been done in private.  That however does not solve the problem of managing crowds or the media circus.  It seems that every time there is an execution crowds line up outside the prison gates.  Some are protesting the death penalty.  Others are whooping and hollering and generally celebrating the spectacle.  And of course the media is there to cover it all in round the clock detail.

Now here's the thing about this story.  Think of all of the people listed.  All of them.  There is Rainey Bethea.  He was a murderer and a thief.  There is the elderly woman that he killed.  There is the sheriff, the drunk executioner, the reporters making news where it is not.  There are the thousands of people who showed up to watch the executions.  There are the people who are executed today and the people who show up to protest and celebrate and the news people who cover and sensationalize it all. And and and.  

Here is the thing about this story.  Jesus came for all of them.  Jesus came to seek the lost and that includes everyone in this story.

All

of

Them

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

Jesus came to save the lost.  All of the lost.  That includes murderers as well as you or I.  We all need redemption and Jesus came for us all.  No more or less for one or another.  All of us.