Many famous names come to mind when we think about the Easter story. The most well-known apart from Jesus is Judas Iscariot who sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. One not so well-known or talked about is Barabbas. The story of Barabbas can be found in Luke 23:13-19. We know that Barabbas was sentenced to death, this was the end for him. He was found guilty and was soon to die on a Roman cross. I wonder what Barabbas was thinking and feeling when he heard the jail guard walking to his cell. One can only imagine he thought, “Well here goes, my time has come”. What joy and elation would have filled in his heart when the jail guard said to him, “Barabbas you are free to go.”

On that day, Jesus was executed in the place of Barabbas. Jesus was also crucified in the place of everyone who repents and calls on His name for salvation. The Bible says that Jesus was made sin so that we might be made the righteousness of God. Christ died in the place of sinners on the cross. He took the penalty that sinners rightly deserve for breaking God’s law, so that all those who trust in Christ for salvation will be declared righteous in Him.

Jesus was the only person to ever walk the earth that never once broken any of God’s law. Jesus is the only perfect man. Christ never committed any sin. He was and still is sinless. John 18:38 says, “Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.” I wonder if anyone can make a comment like that about you. That they can find no fault in you at all. I don’t know about you but if I was to ask my friends and/or family if they could find a fault in me, I am sure the list would be as long as my arm. If I was to ask someone here today to find a fault in me their hand would raise up quicker than wheat in a Kansas wheat farm. The truth is friends, none of us are perfect. We all have faults and weakness. We are all sinners by nature. This is why Jesus came to save sinners like me and you because we need a Saviour.

When I was writing this message last month, I was reminded of a story that came out of a concentration camp during the Second World War. The story is very similar to that of the one we read about in Luke’s Gospel regarding Barabbas and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Auschwitz concentration camp over a million people were murdered on the order of the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It is hard to imagine that a story of beauty could come out of such awful pain and suffering. A Polish man Franciszek Gajowniczek was held as a prisoner and one day was sentenced to death. Why? Because it was customary for the Nazis to kill ten people every time one person successfully escaped from the camp. Franciszek Gajowniczek was one of ten men randomly selected to die at the hands of the Nazis.

Gajowniczek was a young man who had a wife and children. Gajowniczek was not in the camp long before he was chosen to die. The method the Nazis chose to kill Gajowniczek and the other 9 men was a long process. Gajowniczek and 9 other men were to be placed in a cell without food and water and left there until they all died. No one paid him any attention apart from a priest called Maximilian Kolbe.

Kolbe was also a prisoner of the Nazis. He had only been in the camp for a few months until he was called the saint of Auschwitz. Kolbe would give up food for fellow prisoners and give up his clothing to those freezing in the camp. In keeping with his faith Kolbe had a love for those in need.

When Maximilian Kolbe saw what was happening regarding Gajowniczek he did the unthinkable he spoke without being spoken to. He cried out to the Nazi guards, “I want to take that man’s place.” He began to walk to the front without permission to offer himself over to be placed in the cell instead of Gajowniczek.

Kolbe was placed in the cell. He out lived the other 9 men and was the last to die. Kolbe was not forgotten, least of all by the man who was set free, Gajowniczek. After the war was over Gajowniczek was released and reunited with his family back home in Poland. Kolbe gave Gajowniczek the sweetest and greatest gift a man can give, he gave him grace.

Kolbe died on August 14th 1941, at the age of 47 years. Every year on the day Kolbe died Gajowniczek came back to the camp to remember the man that showed him so much love and to thank him for what he did for him on that day. Grace is a gift of God. Jesus dying on the cross to take away our sin so that we can live forever in God’s heavenly Kingdom is the greatest act of love. It is one thing to say that Jesus died for the sins of the world, it is quite another to say that Christ died for me.

In 1971 Franciszek Gajowniczek spoke at a service in Kolbe’s honour and said, “I want to express my thanks for the gift of life.” Franciszek Gajowniczek died in 1995, 53 years after his life was spared by Kolbe. The moral of the story is God’s will is best. He knows our greatest need. True godly love and grace is when we lay down our life for others. Jesus gave His life as a ransom for all who believe in Him. God sent us a Saviour because our greatest need is to be forgiven of our sins.

The questions I would like to ask you today is this, are your sins forgiven? Are your sins under the blood of Christ? Are you ready to meet your maker? Christ died in the place of sinful men and women so that those who repent and trust in Him will be declared righteous and have a place in God’s Kingdom. What Kolbe did for a fellow prisoner is humbling and amazing. However only Christ can save your soul. We are all imprisoned by our sin. Christ came to break the bars of our sin and reconcile us to God. It is my prayer that you can say with bold confidence with Charles Wesley, “Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature’s night; Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free?”