Miracle on the River Kwai

One of life’s little mysteries is how the books in the chapel library get rearranged. Almost every week I find new volumes have come to light at the top of the pile. This was how I stumbled across Ernest Gordon’s Miracle on the River Kwai.

Captain Gordon served in the Far East at the start of WWII, and after the fall of Singapore he was sent to a succession of Japanese PoW camps – including building the notorious railway along the River Kwai. His account describes how amidst the suffering and barbarity of the camps, the PoWs slid further and further into selfishness and despair; he went on to recount how spiritual revival came to the camp and changed many lives, including his own.

This book should be compulsory reading for anyone who has read Pierre Boulle’s novel Bridge on the River Kwai. Boulle’s book suggests that military discipline and civilised ideals could overcome the conditions in the camps and the manic cruelty of the Japanese guards. Capt. Gordon’s writing reveals that in fact those things crumbled under the reality of life there; only the hope and compassion brought by true believers in Christ could survive.

Although life in 21^st century Britain may be far removed from that in the prison camps, the lessons learnt there are strikingly relevant today. Firstly, for the PoWs spiritual life was indivisibly welded to practical compassion. To follow Christ meant to actively live as He did. In doing so they also completely abandoned self-pity and complaining. Perhaps what struck me most was the effect of a few Christians whose behaviour opened the door for the Gospel. They didn’t make an impact by talking about religion; it was their actions that prompted others to ask for “an account for the hope that was within them”. They stood out by their unwavering integrity, selfless kindness in the midst of selfishness, and hope in the midst of despair.