A sermonette for Memorial Day and D-Day 2026
This is a story about a faithful young man named John Steven. A young man who gave his life to Christ, completed seminary, and entered the ministry.
So how is it that our young man found himself in a muddy ditch, late at night, in a strange and faraway place? In the darkness, in a place no Christian plans on finding himself, John Steven knew that his situation was about to become even more dangerous and uncertain.
To answer our question, we must look to the Word. The Bible is more than the Word of God—it is the story of us. It is John Steven’s story, and it is our story.
Scripture tells us that God created mankind in His image and walked with us in perfect fellowship. But humanity chose sin over obedience, and ever since that fall in the Garden, we have lived in a broken world marked by suffering, fear, temptation, pain, and death.
Yet even in our rebellion, God did not abandon us.
Because of His great love, the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into this broken world to save sinners. Christ lived the sinless life we could never live and willingly gave Himself on the cross for our redemption.
Salvation is not earned through good works, sacrifice, religious devotion, or human strength. It is offered by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
And when Christ saves us, He also calls us.
He calls us to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him. He calls us to love, to serve, and to carry the light of the Gospel into dark places.
Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly calls ordinary, flawed people to stand faithfully in difficult places.
Gideon stood against overwhelming odds armed only with obedience, trust in God, trumpets, torches, and clay jars. His army of three hundred routed an enemy force many times its size by surrounding the camp, sounding their trumpets, and letting their light suddenly shine through the broken vessels.
Nehemiah left the comfort of the king’s palace to rebuild the broken walls of Jerusalem while facing ridicule, threats, and opposition—even from his own people. His weary laborers worked with trowels in one hand and swords in the other until the task was complete.
And Christ Himself entered a world consumed by sin and suffering not to destroy sinners, but to save them. He healed the sick, fed the hungry, comforted the brokenhearted, and laid down His own life so that we might live.
Gideon dispersed light to drive off an enemy; Christ broke through the darkness with a light the darkness could not overcome.
Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem with stone and mortar; Christ is building His Church with living stones.
This is the example Christians are called to follow.
So what does this have to do with our young man, John Steven?
John Steven Maloney, a minister of the Lord, served as a regimental chaplain with the men of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment—the so-called Band of Brothers.
During the final hours of June 5, 1944, the young chaplain stood in a muddy ditch at an airbase in England surrounded by paratroopers preparing to enter Nazi-occupied France. Within hours, many of those men would be wounded or killed during the Normandy invasion.
A short time later, carrying a parachute, a Bible, and a cross, he climbed aboard a C-47 transport plane and flew into the darkness.
As anti-aircraft fire filled the skies over France, the chaplain stood beside 116 soldiers waiting to jump. He hooked his line to the cable, stepped to the open door, pushed up his glasses, and leapt into the night.
John Steven did not carry a weapon; he carried the Gospel.
After landing safely, he immediately began ministering to wounded and dying soldiers under fire.
Following the bloody fighting to unite Omaha and Utah Beaches, one veteran recalled that amid smoke, confusion, and cries for medics, John Steven was moving among the wounded and dying.
“He had no weapons on him, just carried a cross.”
The veteran continued:
“He was all over like a ghost, running in and out. If you were fighting, you didn’t pay attention to what he was doing. But if you got wounded, and you didn’t know if you were going to survive, his presence was important.”
John Steven continued serving through some of the fiercest fighting of the war, including the Battle of the Bulge, where he himself was wounded. He helped carry wounded men to safety under heavy fire. He held worship services in frozen mud and once used the hood of a bullet-riddled jeep as an altar during a Christmas service near the front lines.
Decades later, battle-hardened veterans traveled across the country to attend his funeral and serve in the honor guard. They never forgot the comfort, courage, and hope he brought them in the darkest moments of their lives.
So, how does a faithful servant of God end up in a muddy ditch?
HE IS CALLED.
John Steven did not serve because he wanted medals, recognition, or glory. Those who knew him can testify that he was an example of humility. He served because he believed he had a responsibility before God to comfort the suffering, minister to the fearful, and point souls toward Christ.
The Christian life has never been a call to comfort. It is a call to faithfulness.
There is an old hymn titled “Keep on the Firing Line.” While its language comes from another generation, its message still rings true. Christians are called to stand firm against evil, persevere in faith, and continue serving even when the work is difficult.
But our battle is not against flesh and blood. We do not fight with hatred, violence, or pride. We fight darkness with truth. We confront despair with hope. We answer suffering with compassion. We overcome hatred with the love of Christ.
There is no glory in war. It is one of the clearest reminders that we live in a fallen and broken world. Battlefields are filled with suffering, grief, fear, and death. Yet even in humanity’s darkest moments, we sometimes witness extraordinary examples of courage, compassion, duty, and self-sacrifice.
That is exactly what John Steven understood, and it is the calling of every Christian.
We are called to minister to the afflicted, the suffering, the forgotten, the marginalized, the abused, the oppressed, the frightened—the naked, the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, and the prisoner. We are called to care for both physical and spiritual needs.
But let us be clear: feeding the hungry, clothing the needy, comforting the suffering, and serving our neighbors cannot save a single soul. Only Jesus Christ saves. We do these things not to earn God’s favor, but because we have already received it through Christ. Service is not the root of salvation; it is the fruit of salvation.
As believers, we are called not only to preach the Gospel, but to live it. We feed the hungry because Christ fed us with the Bread of Life. We clothe the needy because Christ clothed us in His righteousness. We comfort the broken because Christ first comforted us.
The Gospel changes hearts, and changed hearts move toward suffering people rather than away from them.
Above all, I pray that we would follow Christ by serving the hurting, the lonely, the poor, the frightened, the forgotten, and the broken with humility, compassion, and truth.
Because sometimes the greatest acts of courage are not found in moments of combat, but in the daily acts of faithful Christian service carried out quietly in the name of Jesus Christ. The world is our firing line and sharing the love and hope of Christ is our mission.