The man on the left is Dirk Willems, a Dutch Anabaptist. In the winter of 1568-69, Willems escaped from prison in Asperen where he was being starved for his Anabaptist practices. Coming to a thinly iced river, Willems crossed it with no problem, thin as he was. But the pursuing jailor fell through the ice and would have drowned had not Dirk Willems turned back to save him. The grateful jailor would have let him go, but the burgemeister (seen on the bank of the river) would not allow it. Willems returned to jail and was burned at the stake in May, 1569.
What would you have done? Most of us would have had no problem leaving the man to die, seeing it as God making a way for our escape. Willems and many other Anabaptists saw it differently. They took Christ literally when He told them to love their enemies and pray for their persecutors (Matthew 5:44.) They followed His example when He submitted to His captors in the garden and replaced the ear of Malchus (Luke 22:50-51; John 18:10.) Argue all day long about what Willems could have done if he had escaped, the blessing it would have been to his wife and children to see him again, that he was crazy and had a death wish… the ultimate truth is that Dirk Willems did what he did because Christ would have done the same.
Will you do what Christ has commanded? Even if you know it will cost you your life?
Wowsa, now there is something to think about
By: Jon on December 11, 2009
at 1:00 pm