A Ransom for Many

In July of 1941, Franciszek Gajowniczek, a Polish soldier who was imprisoned at the Auschwitz concentration camp, knew he was a dead man. In punishment for the escape of ten prisoners, the Nazi commandant picked out ten other prisoners who would be starved to death.

“My wife! My children!” was Gajowniczek’s anguished cry. Then another prisoner, a Roman Catholic cleric named Maximillian Kolbe, stepped forward: “He has a family; let me take his place.”

The commandant agreed and Kolbe, not Gajowniczek, eventually died. It’s fascinating to know that Kolbe had never met Gajowniczek. His offer was truly selfless, and it was gratefully received.

After four more years of captivity, Gajowniczek was liberated. He was reunited with his wife, but his sons had been killed in a Soviet bombardment. For the rest of his life—another 50 years—the onetime soldier told everyone about the man who became his ransom.

But Gajowniczek is not the first person in human history to be spared a death sentence because someone else stepped up to take their place. The fact is, every person who has ever lived, and every person alive today, is under a death penalty, since “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

Franciszek Gajowniczek did not deserve to die in a Nazi concentration camp. Neither did Maximillian Kolbe. Their confinement and Kolbe’s death were due to cruel, inhuman, and criminal actions by a government determined to enforce its will.

By contrast, because everyone has sinned, and because death is the price that must be paid for sin, then Jesus’ substitution for us is a truly grand, world-changing gesture. His once-for-all sacrifice guarantees us more than a few more decades of existence. It guarantees those who accept His sacrifice a life throughout eternity!

Apply It:

Let someone know today that, if they choose to believe, they’ve been redeemed because Jesus has taken their place.

Dig Deeper:

Galatians 3:10–13; Hosea 13:14; Titus 2:14

Key Bible Texts

For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45 KJV)