Greater Love Has No One Than This
Sunday is the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended the First World War. During that conflict, an Australian soldier in the trenches of France saw his friend fall in a hail of bullets out in no man’s land. He asked his commanding officer for permission to go out and bring his friend in, but the officer refused. The soldier disobeyed and went anyway.
He got his friend onto his shoulders and staggered back to the trench. When he got there, his friend was already dead and he had received a fatal wound. The officer was angry. “I told you not to go. Now I’ve lost both of you. It wasn’t worth it.” But the dying man, with his last breath said, “Yes, it was.” “How,” replied the officer. “Your friend is dead and soon you will be too.” But the soldier replied, “It was worth it, because when I got to him, he said, ‘Jim, I knew you’d come.’”
Those two young men enlisted together, trained together, and served together. They faced danger and death many times. They each knew that they could depend on the other. As one lay dying on the battle field, his last moments were made bearable because of his certainty that his friend would come for him. And that friend was so committed that even death itself would not stop him going to the other man’s aid.
In the best actions of people we get a glimpse of God himself. After all, he created us in his own image. And what is God like? He loves us so much, and is so committed to us, that even death itself did not stop him coming to our aid. The bible reminds us, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God is completely dependable and willing to sacrifice all for us, if we will only trust him.
Neil Percival
He got his friend onto his shoulders and staggered back to the trench. When he got there, his friend was already dead and he had received a fatal wound. The officer was angry. “I told you not to go. Now I’ve lost both of you. It wasn’t worth it.” But the dying man, with his last breath said, “Yes, it was.” “How,” replied the officer. “Your friend is dead and soon you will be too.” But the soldier replied, “It was worth it, because when I got to him, he said, ‘Jim, I knew you’d come.’”
Those two young men enlisted together, trained together, and served together. They faced danger and death many times. They each knew that they could depend on the other. As one lay dying on the battle field, his last moments were made bearable because of his certainty that his friend would come for him. And that friend was so committed that even death itself would not stop him going to the other man’s aid.
In the best actions of people we get a glimpse of God himself. After all, he created us in his own image. And what is God like? He loves us so much, and is so committed to us, that even death itself did not stop him coming to our aid. The bible reminds us, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God is completely dependable and willing to sacrifice all for us, if we will only trust him.
Neil Percival