January is known as a cold and sometimes snowy month. Some days the mercury never finds its way above freezing causing puddles and ponds to ice over. Extended periods of cold weather can even cause flowing water to freeze and I remember a time or two in my life when the North Fork of the Shenandoah was frozen so solid that I could easily walk across it. (I guess you could say I was walking on water.)
Such was the 1568-69 winter in Asperen, Holland. It was a difficult time to stay warm in homes across the countryside, but especially for imprisoned souls like Dirk Willems.
Dirk had been born into the established church of his day and baptized as an infant. After hearing various ministers and after searching the Bible himself, he became convinced of the need to be rebaptized as an adult believer and did so. Because of this, he officially became an Anabaptist which literally means “baptized again.”
Such decisions were not welcomed at that time by either the Roman Catholics or the Protestants. Because of his refusal to recant and his persistence in teaching and baptizing others, he was arrested and jailed for his perceived crimes.
He was being held in a palace that had been repurposed as a prison. The stone structure was surrounded by a moat that had frozen over due to the prolonged cold spell. Willems tied several rags together to form a rope which he used to lower himself out of a tower window and down onto the frozen moat.
Since his prison meals were practically a starvation diet, he was thin and gaunt and easily scampered across the ice without breaking it. A guard, however, heard or saw what was going on and gave chase.
Unlike Dirk, the sentry had been well fed and was a bit heavier. He quickly broke through the ice plunging into the frigid waters below. As he did so, he cried out for help.
Although Dirk could have easily escaped leaving his pursuer to either drown or freeze to death, he chose not to. Seeking to obey his Savior, Jesus, Willems decided to do good to those who hated him. In mercy, he turned and helped the guard climb safely out of the frigid waters.
All of the commotion drew the attention of others and Dirk was easily recaptured and ushered right back into prison. Attempted escape was now added to his rap sheet and he was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death.
The grateful guard pled for Dirk’s life but the Burgomaster would not hear of it. To punish such insurrection, a few months after this incident, the authorities tied Willems to a stake and burned him to death on May 16, 1569. Dirk Willems became a faithful martyr for Jesus Christ, even unto death.
Such an event seems foreign and offensive to us today. Thankfully, we are free to believe and practice whatever religion we chose or no religion at all. We are very fortunate to live in these United States under a Constitution that guarantees the free exercise of our faith. We must be vigilant, however, to ensure this and our other rights are protected and not infringed upon.
More importantly, Willems’ example of selfless sacrifice even for his enemy compels us to examine our own souls. How could we display such grace-full actions to our political, financial, or ideological “enemies?” What would it look like to help someone who has the power to hurt us climb out of their ice? And how might such living examples begin to thaw frozen relationships and transform our communities and our society into something more like the Kingdom of God?
As our cultural climate gets colder and colder around us, may we as followers of Jesus do our utmost to winsomely but firmly stand for truth while fervently and actively loving those with whom we disagree.
Blessings, George