The two sides hate one another. Decades of broken promises, duplicitous alliances and endless conflict have built a level of mistrust unseen in the past. “If you’re not with us, you’re against us” seems to be the rallying cry and choosing sides has become the thing to do.
Despite changes in leadership and attempts to bridge a compromise, the situation just keeps getting worse. The opposing sides have legitimate grievances against one another, but then, they always do. One side feels they have been wronged by the other, and the feeling is quite mutual. There seems to be no way to stem the tide of rising animosity.
You may think I am talking about the present, but I am actually describing the world of more than a century ago. The year is 1914, and the world has become engulfed in war. Over the 4 years of hostilities, 17 million people will die and another 20 million will be wounded.
The war was fought, as it always is, not by the leaders but by the ordinary people. People who may or may not have believed in the rightness of their cause but were nevertheless drawn onto the battlefield. It was they who would endure the cold and misery, the lack of food and medicine, and the constant peril of the gunfire.
The two sides were dug in, with trenches to protect them from the shelling. The ground between them was called no man’s land. It was exposed land with no protection, so to set foot on it meant you were in the line of fire from both sides. The leaders implored their troops to take that ground, to push the enemy back, to advance! Many had tried to cross it, but they
were quickly dispatched. No man could live in that middle ground. But God is far more than a man.
Isaiah tells us that God is about to break into the world, bringing peace and good news to the world. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
From John we hear “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” The light coming into the world is Jesus Christ. Jesus, who comes to bring peace, good news, and salvation. Jesus, whose birth we remember each Christmas is the true light of the world.
As dawn breaks on December 25, the canon and rifle fire slow, and then stop. The quiet is startling after months of warfare. No one is sure what is happening. The men on one side hear the men on the opposing side holler, ‘Merry Christmas!’ They respond in kind. Then across no man’s land comes the sound of Christmas carols echoing across the battlefield.
A man climbs out of the trench and steps onto no man’s land. He has no weapon and is holding his hands far out to the side to demonstrate his peaceful intent. Soon others follow, tentatively stepping onto the most dangerous spot on earth. From the other side, men begin to put down their weapons and step out onto no man’s land as well.
They meet in the middle, unsure what to do next. One man holds out his hand and a man from the other side shakes it. This breaks the ice and soon everyone is shaking hands. They communicate as best they can, showing pictures of wives and children to one another.
Someone brings out some food and they begin to swap and share. The singing continues as men from both sides join together in song. A few even begin a football game.
For that day, peace reigns in no man’s land where there once was war. The coming of Jesus into the hearts of men has given them the means to practice peace. The leaders want nothing of this; they want the war to continue. But it is not the leaders on the battlefield, it is the rank and file men, and they are moved on this one day, to put aside their orders and see one another as brothers. For by coming into the world, Jesus invites them into that no man’s land, into that place of fear. For the coming of the Lord invites all to peace, good news, and salvation.
We live in a world not unlike that one; where division and polarization are the order of the day. “If you’re not with us, you’re against us” is again a rallying cry, and a no man’s land has developed between two entrenched sides. Some on both sides look for ways to bridge no man’s land with compromise but are quickly dispatched by those who see this as an all or
nothing world.
But we have an opportunity. Just as He has for over 2,000 years, Jesus is born in our hearts again this night. And like the men in the trenches on the western front, we too can put down our weapons, step out onto no man’s land, and greet one another. We can share our food and drink, we can swap stories, we can sing songs together and get to know one another. Food,
drink, stories, singing – is it just me or does that sound exactly like what we have been doing at Supper, song and praise? Believe me friends, that is not an accident. We are forming intentional relationships with one another, for once you have broken bread with someone and shared their story, it is infinitely harder to think of them as your enemy. While the truce of
1914 lasted only a few days, we can make it last for all time if we truly work at it.
I know what you are thinking; this is a big world so how can a handful of us make the slightest difference? Change can start, not with the leaders, but with the people. People who are moved by the coming of Jesus to see others as sisters and brothers and take a chance on getting to know them. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. The light of even a single candle can pierce the darkness. And when that candle is joined by others, the light gets brighter and brighter.
Let Jesus into your heart and step boldly into no man’s land, for that is where we can come together and build the city of God. Be the person who shows the light to others. Share it with others, who will share it with others and eventually, that light can and will change the world.