On 23 March, an Islamist gunman killed four people in southern France.
He left many others injured and psychologically harmed. The 26-year-old said he was fighting for Islamic State and was demanding the release of the most important surviving suspect of the 2015 Paris attacks. He was shot dead by armed police.
One of the gunman’s victims was a policeman who chose to trade places with a hostage the killer was using as a human shield at a supermarket in Trèbes. The policeman’s family, friends and colleagues say he became a Christian eleven years ago.
‘Killed so I could live’
Brother Hicham, pastor of a church in Carcassonne (where the gunman killed his first victim), explained: [The hostage’s] name is Julie, she is 40, has a husband and a little girl. She worked as a cashier in a supermarket for over a year. This is the lady with whom 44-year-old Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame voluntarily exchanged places. He knew that the terrorist’s intention was to “kill people in uniform”. The terrorist had already killed three people and his morbid, suicidal determination did not suggest anything good. Arnaud was almost certainly doomed. But he didn’t hesitate. The rest is history.
‘Julie, keeping her cool, remained a long time under the threat of a weapon held at the back of her neck. Today, she is miraculously alive and well, while another woman grieves the loss of the man she was to marry in a few weeks’ time. Julie said: “He gave his life for me, he was killed so that I could live.”
One word
‘One word has been heard repeatedly since the announcement of Beltrame’s death: sacrifice. Tributes include terms such as hero, admiration, respect, example, generosity, commitment, service… his gesture astonishes and challenges. It drives us to consider the most fundamental questions of life and death. What could motivate someone to give their life for another? A popular French newspaper gave an answer in the headline: “Only faith can explain the madness of this sacrifice”. Beltrame seems to have had an authentic conversion to Christianity at the age of 33.
‘The chaplain of the Gendarme National said: “He did not hide his faith. In fact, he radiated it. His sacrificial act was in line with what he believed. He went to the limit in his service for his country and his testimony to his faith. To believe is not only to adhere to a doctrine. It is first to love God and your neighbour, and to testify of your faith concretely in everyday life.”
Following Jesus
‘For Christians, Beltrame’s sacrifice recalls that of Christ, the mediator between God and men. For millions, Lieutenant-Colonel Beltrame is a hero, but to the female survivor he willingly swapped places with, he is much more. He is a saviour. This is also what every Christian feels about Jesus. He gave his life so that we could live – we who were his enemies. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friend” (John 15.13). Jesus suffered the punishment of death in our place. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”(Romans 5). 8. What an extraordinary source of hope in the midst of darkness! And how wonderful that the Lord is using for good what others intended only for evil.
‘At this time when France pays tribute to the heroic gesture of Arnaud Beltrame, we must also remember that this sad event, in which violence and nobility mingle, speaks to us of the one who has also voluntarily exchanged places with condemned men and women in order to save them, except that his was a planned death. “The Son of God loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2.20).
‘The Carcassonne-Trèbes drama forces us to face the inevitable reality of death, and the great questions of life. The terrorist obeys a suicidal logic, in contrast to Arnaud Beltrame, who gives his life to protect others. In both cases, there is an encounter with death. The terrorist, fascinated and hypnotised by death, seems to be looking for it, for others and for himself… while Arnaud engages his life to defend another life, in a dynamic of giving and grace … We are here at the extremes of a torn reality between darkness and light.
Pray for the family
‘While the anger and indignation is overwhelming, let us pray for the suffering family of the terrorist. Let us pray for the Muslim community, knowing that they too are suffering. Not all Muslims are terrorists. Torn between the murderous ideology of Islamist terrorists and a society that regularly asks them to publicly dissociate themselves from these acts, even when they have nothing to do with them, French Muslims today live in a complex situation.’
