Amid the sadism and horror of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, a Franciscan priest volunteered to die for another man.
In February, 1941, the priest, Maximillan Kolbe, was captured by the Gestapo and brought to Auschwitz. There it was the rule that ten innocent prisoners must die whenever someone escaped from the concentration camp. Since an escape was noted during the roll-call at the end of July, ten members of the Camp had to die.
Death was by starvation. Among the ten chosen for death, one cried out, “Have mercy! I have a wife and children.”
Hearing this, Kolbe offered to replace the man. The commandant, surprised at such courage, permitted the exchange. The priest endured terrible suffering from hunger for two weeks, before they finally gave him the deadly injection on August 14, 1941.
The man for whom Kolbe sacrificed himself eventually was freed to rejoin his wife and children. No doubt each August 14 they remembered the one who had died for him. They could never forget Kolbe’s compassion. Sacrifices like that are rare.
Yet sacrifice is the heart of the Gospel. Another died that we might live. And in this we see God’s infinite love. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us” (I John 3:16). He took our place because He loved us.
Scripture affirms repeatedly that Christ substituted himself for us and became responsible for our sins. He purchased our redemption. Christ “gave himself a ransom for all” (I Tim. 2:6). The Apostle Paul personalized Christ’s work at Calvary when he spoke of “the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).
The -individual who receives the Saviour and says, “He died for me,” gains forgiveness – full and free and everlasting. Christ died that you might live eternally. He had compassion upon you. Believe in the Son of God and say, “He loved me, and gave himself for me.”