There’s no denying 2021 has been a contentious year on many levels, and most of us can look around and see folks being stretched toward the breaking point. If human nature is allowed to respond to that stretching, the outcome likely won’t be a good one.
Don’t we wish we were immune? Who wouldn’t line up if there was some sort of vaccine against the ugly side of human nature?
This is where many of us smile and think to ourselves, “Ah, but there is.”
This week we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We rejoice that because He was born, because He died on the cross and because He conquered death and rose to sit at the right hand of the Father, our lives no longer must follow the dictates of our earthy nature.
Now that’s reason to shout, “Hallelujah!”
2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
If you’re not familiar with the story of the Christmas Truce, a true account of Christmas Eve in 1914, we want to share it with you now. It gives us renewed hope that mankind can return to the level of decency that these men knew, that though they were mortal enemies before and after, they acknowledged the holiness of Christmas Eve and the presence of Jesus Christ, even on the battlefield.
It was during World War I, what was being fought as “The War to End All Wars.” The war was being fought ferociously along the Western Front in Europe, but in the dark of night on Christmas Eve 1914, men of the British Expeditionary Force could hear the voices of German troops in the trenches opposite. The Germans were singing carols and patriotic songs, and the British forces could also see lanterns and small fir trees along the enemy’s trenches.
At some point during the night, the two sides began to shout Christmas greetings to each other, and some accounts estimate the greetings were being exchanged along two-thirds of the front.
Christmas Day dawned, and the British and German soldiers who had shared goodwill the night before came together in what was called a “no man’s land” to exchange gifts. They took photographs, and some even teamed up to play soccer.
In addition to the Christmas merriment, the troops also buried their dead and made needed repairs to their dirt dugouts. The truce extended into Boxing Day on Dec. 26, after which the specter of war returned.
And the truce, spontaneous and companionable, was not embraced by many officers, who saw the event as a threat to the fighting spirit. And it likely was.
So, following the 1914 Christmas Truce, commanders on both sides worked to prevent any similar truces – but there are reports of isolated events later in WWI. And for more than 24 hours the horror of human nature was set aside for the shared love of our Savior.
Hebrews 13:1-2 says, “1. Let brotherly love continue. 2. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
Did the soldiers perhaps share greetings with the same angel who spoke to the shepherds?
The angel told those in the fields, as we know from Luke 2:10 and 13-14, “10. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people… 13. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “14. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
Good tidings! Great joy! Glory to God, and Merry Christmas!
