Those that really know me would agree that I like fantasy
fiction (Lord of the Rings et.al.) but they may not know my dirty little
secret. I like to read ahead to make sure that a character isn’t going to die.
Whereas my wife hates spoilers, I will purposely look them up. Like who’s going
to win Top Chef this season kind of peeking.
Kind of cheating I guess. Still, I am smart enough not to say anything. Not
because I don’t like spoilers, but because I would like to eat something
besides my own cooking. (If I have to explain, don’t ask.)
For a Christian though, it is a necessity. Jesus reassured
us that the end is already written and that He has overcome. Without that
assurance, I don’t think many of us could carry on. Knowing that heaven is
assured and good will overcome evil allows us to serve Him no matter the cost. Paul
said “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians
5:8). Knowing our final future removes the fear of death. And that’s what Jesus
did.
Since the children
have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he
might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and
free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Hebrews 2:14-15 NIV
This kind of thinking, Kingdom
Mindedness does not fit in very well will this current world’s philosophy.
In fact, they basically think were crazy.
Case in point. The Modesto area has a rich history of Dutch immigrants,
many of who are descendants of the Dutch Anabaptists. They did not choose this
name willingly. It came as a slander from their enemies. Although I don’t necessarily
see eye-to-eye with them in all of their practices, I guess in some form I
would be called an Anabaptist too. An
account from 1569 recently caught my eye. Dirk Willems lived in what is now the
Netherlands during a time where they were governed over by The Holy Roman Empire (AKA the Catholic Church.) The Catholic
church and many of the local protestant groups where practicing infant baptism.
Dirk and others were considered Anabaptists because they believed you should be
baptized after a pledge of faith in Christ, not as a baby. Because if this and
because he had helped others to be “rebaptized”, he was tortured and jailed. Here’s
where the unusual mindset occurs. He fashioned a rope of rags and escaped through
a window. Unfortunately he is spotted, and the “catcher” is sent after him. He
made his way across a small frozen lake and because he was thin from his meager
prison rations, manages to not break the ice. His pursuer however, was not so
lucky. The jailor fell through the ice and was in peril of drowning. Dirk, the
godly man that he was, could not let go of Christ’s admonition, “Love your
enemies”, and so went back and pulled him out. The man did not want to arrest
Dirk, but at the chastening of the burgomaster (kind of like the mayor) to “remember
his oaths”, he was rearrested and brought back to trial. Because of his confession
of rebaptism, his crime aiding and abetting others to get rebaptized, and his
unwillingness to recant, he was sentenced to be burned at the stake. He was
executed the 16, of May, 1569, a long and torturous ordeal I might add. You can
read about it here. https://anabaptistfaith.org/dirk-willems/
What I found so interesting were people’s comments about his
actions. Most thought he was unwise, nay stupid, for saving the guards life. Phrases
like, “He was the enemy. You never help the enemy” abounded. Some used the old adage,
“No good deed goes unpunished”. Very few thought it was a noble gesture.
Dirk Willems did not fear death. What he feared was doing
the wrong thing - disobeying the commands of Christ. I think he knew if he went
back, that would be the end. Yet he did. We are not told what happened to the
guard. I’m sure he thought long and hard about what Dirk had done. Will we meet
him in heaven? There’s no way to be sure. At least Dirk’s sacrifice gave him
another day to think about it.
No, like Dirk, we shouldn’t fear death. Not because we are
stupid, but because we have read to the end of the story, and we know who wins.
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