A Volunteer in Block 14

In July 1941, a prisoner escaped from Auschwitz. The Nazi commandant, Karl Fritzsch, selected ten men from Block 14 to die by starvation as punishment. When Franciszek Gajowniczek heard his number called, he cried out for his wife and children. He would never see them again.

Then a frail Polish priest stepped forward. Father Maximilian Kolbe removed his cap and stood before the commandant. "I wish to die in place of this prisoner," he said, pointing to Gajowniczek. "He has a wife and children." Fritzsch, momentarily stunned, agreed. Kolbe was marched into the starvation bunker. For two weeks he led the condemned men in hymns and prayer, comforting each one as they died. He was the last to go.

Gajowniczek survived the war. He lived to be ninety-three years old, and he spent the rest of his life telling anyone who would listen what Kolbe had done for him. "I could only thank him with my eyes," he said. "I was so stunned I could barely speak."

This is the heartbeat of John 3:16-18. The Almighty did not send His Son to condemn the world but to step into our place. The gift has already been given — one life offered freely so that others might live. Like Gajowniczek, we did nothing to earn it. We can only receive it, and spend our days telling others what was done for us.