Why Dirk Willems?

Having anabaptist grandparents, my definition of a hero goes beyond the fire fighters and soldiers, and certainly far beyond a sports figure. Now I'm not saying the first two mentioned don't perform heroically (some do, some don't, a uniform doesn't make someone a hero), and there is nothing wrong with looking up to someone who has achieved their goals. I'm just saying I was raised on sterner stuff. I can't say I teethed on Martyrs' Mirror, horrors! My grandma wouldn't have allowed anyone to chew on a book, but I did fall asleep to a story or two about a martyr. Which is kind of scary, really, but certainly left a child in her bed with food for thought and not wiggles and giggles.

Among the many stories I heard, that of Dirk Willems was one of my favorites. During my youth I didn't like the tale because Dirk saved his pursuers life—I thought the man was a complete idiot—I liked it because it challenged me to think about what had taken place. Stories of martyrs should make you think about such things but I have found, in my life, that it's the things that have challenged me that have turned my thinking more toward the Lord. It just took me quite a few years before I began to love the love of Dirk Willems.

If you aren't familiar with the story you can read it in full at Scroll Publishing, but I'll give you a quick rundown. In 1569 Dirk was a prisoner for his faith. He was able to escape, I don't know how or why, but Dirk fled the prison with a thief catcher in hot pursuit. As Dirk was crossing a river (at least I always pictured it as a river due to the above image), the thief catcher fell into the icy water and was in danger of drowning. Dirk turned back to save this man's life. He was then apprehended and later burned at the stake.

Now what kind of person turns around to save the person who is about to be a party to his own death? As a child I would ponder that and decide that I would not. I would keep running. Dirk had been in the clear and he could have gone on to share the faith with others. Surely that was what the Lord would have wanted. I lived my life on that principle, much to my grandma's disappointment, but that story stuck with me, and I would still go to sleep at night plagued with the question, "Why did Dirk turn back?"

It was love and respect for another human being that had been made in the image of God. Dirk didn't just preach it, he lived it. He took seriously the commandment to love your enemies and bless them that curse you. (Mat. 5:44) Dirk could not have gone on with his life knowing that the thief catcher had died without more time to give his life to Christ.

Oh, you can argue all you want about how Dirk shouldn't have broke the law to begin with, he shouldn't have escaped from prison, he shouldn't have turned back, that the thief catcher had been given enough time to accept Jesus, if he had died that was the end for him. I did. Yet as I have come to know the love of Christ more and more, I have learned that Dirk did what Christ would have done in saving the thief catcher. Dirk laid down his life for another. He knew what the end result would be.

While I know that, while I finally understand the story my grandma was telling me so many years ago, the question that plagues me as I fall asleep now is, "Would I?" I want to, I hope I will, but would I?

When I saw that Scroll Publishing had a sale for a print of Dirk Willems I bought it so I could hang it up and remind myself of what love is and for my children and future grandchildren to see what a true hero is. I'm glad I did, the picture's colors are more stunning in real life then in the image in the store and simply beautiful. Hopefully it will help my own children to come to the same conclusion I finally did.

That's also the purpose of this site. To encourage you to follow even this commandment of Jesus. People do live it, just like Dirk did. It can be done, it must be done.