In just over two weeks’ time, we will celebrate the 80th anniversary of Victory Day, the official end of World War II in Europe. Footage and photos from that day eighty years ago show crowds of people celebrating the victory of the Allied forces over Nazi Germany. However, the harsh reality was what people had to face: Europe was in ruins, both literally and figuratively. Rebuilding the continent was a monumental task, literally and figuratively. Political leaders in Western Europe seemed to have learnt the lesson of the Great War, which was supposed to end all wars. In fact, punishing Germany severely had led to the rise of Nazism and, consequently, World War II just twenty years later. This time around, a different approach was necessary. Three political leaders, Robert Schuman of France, Konrad Adenauer of Germany, and Alcide De Gasperi of Italy, are credited with the idea of cooperation between nations to prevent future military conflicts on the European continent. This idea became a reality with the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, which would eventually evolve into what we now know as the European Union. Whatever view we may have of the organisation, it has undoubtedly led to great economic prosperity and peaceful cooperation in Europe. At the heart of it were Christian values taken seriously by the political leaders of the time. The three aforementioned men, considered the founding fathers of the European Union, shared one specific trait: they were practising Catholics who put their values into action. Their project was built on the principles of reconciliation, forgiveness, and the common good. After the war, they won the peace.
Today we are celebrating Jesus’ triumph over Satan and death. However, many might question whether such a statement is true. About two thousand years have passed since Jesus’ victory, but there is precious little evidence that it has made any impact on the world’s affairs. It’s hard to find a year when no wars were fought. Violence in various forms seems to be part and parcel of society’s everyday life, occasionally flaring up in a spectacular manner. To make things worse, there have been too many instances in history when wars, violence, and persecutions were committed “in the name of Jesus.” Shouldn’t we expect to see a significant, material change as a result of Jesus’ triumph? I think we should, and we can if we look at it in the right way.
We can think of Jesus’ triumph over Satan and death as the ultimate victory in a spiritual war on a cosmic scale, much like defeating the armies of Germany and Japan in World War II, which eliminated the immediate threat they posed. Having won the war, it was time to win the peace; the latter is often as challenging as the former, sometimes even more so. In a similar way, Jesus’ triumph created spiritual space for humankind to achieve peace. It’s a highly simplified and simplistic view, but over the centuries, our globe has been transformed for the better by people and nations that built and organised their affairs on Christian values. This development has never been linear, constant, or one-directional. There have been many hiccups, failures, regrettable mistakes, and abuses of the Christian faith for ideological purposes. The relative prosperity and equality that we take for granted are built on these Christian foundations, implemented by influential figures, as well as ordinary people living out their faith. This is where we come to the fore.
After Japan officially surrendered at the end of World War II, Japanese soldiers in Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands that had been part of the Japanese Empire continued to fight local police, government forces, and Allied troops stationed to assist the newly formed governments. These holdouts either doubted the veracity of the formal surrender, were unaware that the war had ended, feared they would be killed if they surrendered to the Allies, or felt bound by honour and loyalty never to surrender. Many holdouts were discovered in the jungles of Southeast Asia and the Pacific over the following decades, with the last verified holdout, Private Teruo Nakamura, surrendering on the island of Morotai in 1974. Similarly, the remnants of the forces of evil hold out and continue to fight in the jungles of human hearts and minds. The decisions we make, the actions we take, and the attitudes we display – everything we do – either combat these remnants of evil or bolster them. As we celebrate Jesus’ Victory Day, we affirm that Jesus has won the cosmic battle against evil. Now, you and I must strive every day to win peace in our hearts and minds.
