“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
—2 Corinthians 3:18

Let us suppose that in each of our minds is a natural law: “By beholding, we become changed.” —Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 355.

What themes might we choose to behold?

God has offered us a tremendous variety of literature, in style and content.

Here is a summary report published in the Review and Herald, June 16, 1994, and written by Marilyn Thomsen, Southern California Conference communication director:

John [called “Jean” when he spoke French] Henry Weidner, 81, honored as a Righteous Gentile for his heroic activities as a rescuer during the Holocaust, died of heart failure on May 21 at Monterey Park, California.


The lifelong Adventist was born in Brussels, Belgium, on October 22, 1912. In World War II he led the Dutch-Paris Underground, a rescue operation that saved at least 1,000 persons, including 800 Jews and more than 100 Allied airmen.


Operated with the help of more than 300 friends and relatives, Dutch-Paris was, in the view of former Dutch ambassador Johan Kaufman, “the most important underground organization during World War II for helping people, mostly Jewish persons, to escape from the Holocaust.” Escape routes ran from Holland through Belgium, France, and Andorra to Spain, and through France to Switzerland.


Weidner was considered one of the Gestapo’s most wanted men because of the importance of many of those he saved. Among them was Gerrit van Heuven Goedhart…*


Weidner succeeded in every rescue attempt, and only one person moving along the underground was ever caught. However, a member of Dutch-Paris, captured by the Gestapo, betrayed the names of scores in the underground. As a result, 40 agents were killed, including Weidner’s sister, Gabrielle. Weidner was captured twice and tortured. Once, he escaped from prison the night before he was scheduled to be executed.


After the war Weidner assisted the Dutch minister of justice in the prosecution of war criminals. In 1958 he emigrated to California with his wife, Naomi, and established a chain of health food stores.


For his acts of heroism, Weidner has been honored by many governments, including those of the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands, France, and Belgium. The Israeli government honored Weidner by entering his name among the heroes in the Golden Book of Jerusalem and by planting a tree with his name on the Hill of Remembrance along the Avenue of Righteous at Yad Vashem.


*During the Nazi occupation van Heuven Goedhart was editor of the underground newspaper Het Parool, “The Password.” In 1951 he became the first UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and in 1954 he received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of UNHCR.

Now let me share with you a story about Sidney Rosenthal, one of those 800 Jews saved by Jean Weidner:

“One day while Weidner was visiting the camp at Chateauneuf-les-Bains, he found a detainee named Sidney Rosenthal, who had been recommended to him by the Dutch consulate. A Jew, who could not leave the camp under any circumstances, Rosenthal, with his wife and child, seemed destined for certain deportation to a concentration camp. This was one person John decided should be helped.


”Rosenthal appeared to be honest, he concluded, as the two talked at the camp. He realized what his fate would be unless help came soon from some source. The man said he would cooperate in whatever plan could be worked out for his escape.


“Back in Lyons, John formulated this plan: He would have the prisoner request permission to go for dental work to Clermont-Ferrand, a town about twenty miles from the camp. There Weidner would meet him, and they would travel to Lyons, where further plans for his safety could be made. Since camp restrictions were not applied with the same force to women and children as to men, Mrs. Rosenthal would request permission to visit a nearby friend. She would be met by a member of John’s organization at the little train station in Royat, from which point she would travel toward Vichy, then swing south again and meet her husband when he and Weidner arrived in Lyons from a completely different route.


“On the morning of the planned escape Rosenthal was met at the camp checkout point by a gendarme about whom John’s organization knew nothing. Weidner’s plans, however, were not dependent upon the particular political beliefs of the gendarme. Together the prisoner and guard set off by bus for Clermont-Ferrand.


“John had chosen Rosenthal’s dentist with great care. He was a foe of the Germans, willing to cooperate to save lives and to free France from the invaders. Perhaps the dentist’s most important asset was that his office opened on two streets which met at the point of a triangle. Patients could enter from either street, and leave either way. This was unknown to the guard accompanying Rosenthal. Given only one address for the dentist office, he was completely unaware that the building fronted on two streets.


“At the address given Rosenthal and his guard, John waited to make sure no problems delayed or postponed the trip. When he saw Rosenthal enter the building with the guard, Weidner hurried around to the other entrance. Inside the building, in the waiting room, Rosenthal and the guard sat down to wait for the dental appointment. In about ten minutes the prisoner asked permission to visit the restroom, which was down the long corridor connecting the two entrances of the dentist’s office. The guard, sitting to one side in the waiting room, could not see down the corridor, nor did he suspect any unusual move on Rosenthal’s part. He readily granted the prisoner’s request.


“Rosenthal, having been told every move he should make by Weidner several days earlier, entered the restroom and immediately popped out again and checked the hallway toward the waiting room. When he noted that all was clear, he hurried to the entrance at which John was waiting.


“Outside, the prisoner breathed, ‘My friend, you have kept your word. You are here! How can I thank you?’


“‘Don’t thank me, at least not yet,’ said John. ‘We have a long way to go, and we must hurry. Here are your papers. If we are stopped, act as though you have had these papers a million years and that you belong in this part of France. Whatever happens, keep your confidence; and we will get away with this. If either of us is apprehended and questioned, however, neither you nor I must indicate that we know each other. That way at least one of us will go free. Follow me closely, and let’s move as if we knew exactly what we are doing.’


“‘I understand perfectly. If you are ready, I am,’ Rosenthal replied.


“John had set Rosenthal’s dental appointment for thirty minutes before a bus left Clermont-Ferrand for the little city of Thiers. The route to Thiers was not the well-traveled way to go to Lyon from Clermont-Ferrand. He hoped this fact, plus their travel by bus instead of by train, would give them an advantage in their escape. The train station would be the first place the gendarme and local police would go looking for Rosenthal, Weidner knew.


“The two men hurried to the bus station. There they found the bus practically loaded. With tickets already purchased by John, they slipped on unnoticed. As the vehicle roared out of the station in Clermont-Ferrand, John breathed more easily. No gendarmes had been at the station, and no one seemed to take any interest in the two men.


“As they traveled, John reviewed the rest of the route by himself. ‘We are on our way to Thiers first,’ he mused. ‘There we will catch another bus for Lyons. Rosenthal’s wife will probably be there waiting for us. I’m sure she left the camp for Royat ahead of him this morning.’


“The bus began to slow down as it entered Thiers. ‘I hope he acts just as he did at Clermont-Ferrand,’ John thought to himself. ‘There may be gendarmes here, but they won’t ask for papers unless they feel there is something suspicious about us. If Rosenthal will act confident, then all will go well.’


“Wiedner and Rosenthal dismounted from the bus when it reached the station and went through the process of boarding another bus bound for St. Etienne with no difficulty. At. St. Etienne their change for a bus for Lyons was made without a hitch. A short time later the Rosenthals had a joyous reunion in Lyons. When further arrangements had been made, John took the family on to Switzerland and freedom.


“Every time John completed the escape of refugees such as the Rosenthals, he dug a little deeper into his conscience to ask, ‘Am I doing what is right in this work? We are saving people from certain death, but we are using illegal means to gain their freedom. We forge identification and travel papers; we ask guards to renounce their appointed job when they help us. We elude, falsify, evade, and outwit. As a Christian, am I doing right in this?’


“Throughout his years of underground leadership, John continued to apply these questions and thoughts to the work he was doing. But each time he found resolution in prayer and a deep inward searching of his life to make sure neither hatred nor personal gain was the motive that drove him day and night. ‘I feel the hand of God leading me forward,’ he admitted to himself on one such occasion. ‘These countless refugees need the help of a compassionate friend. They need the love of God demonstrated amid the torment and terror of this awful war. I believe the work our organization is doing will show the love that only He can give.'”


—Ford, Herbert, Flee the Captor, Southern Publishing Association ©1966, pp. 61-65.

Question:

Do these excerpts from the story of Jean Weidner remind you more of Joshua, or more of Jesus?

Question:

Suppose that family and friends were gathered to remember your own life, would you wish them to say:

“Here was a life that reminded us of Joshua, from ancient Israel?”

OR

“Here was a life that reminded us of Jesus, from Nazareth?”

Text: Matthew 25:40.

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'”

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.