The following story was recounted by D.W. Whittle in a tract he wrote in the late 1800’s. 

Willie Lear lived near Palmyra, Missouri.  In 1862 he was a young man of about 18 years of age.  Like most of those who lived in his neighborhood, he sympathized with the South in the War Between the States, which was at that time in progress.  Willie was labeled the village misfit and as such suffered much from many in the town.The Union forces occupied Palmyra, and had control of the district.  Outrages were committed on both sides, and many indefensible deeds are recorded in the local histories of those sad times.  Union soldiers were shot down from behind hedges, and Union men were driven away from their homes, and sometimes foully treated.  To avenge these things, and to check them, the Federal commander arrested and imprisoned a large number of citizens.  They were all charged with being “guerrillas,” and, after trial by court martial, were all sentenced to be shot.  Willie Lear was among the number.

After this condemnation, the general decided to select ten of the number of those condemned for immediate execution, and reserve the remainder under hope of pardon if outrages in the neighborhood ceased, or for future punishment if not.  These ten men were drawn by lot.  Willie Lear was not of this number.

A neighbor of Lear’s who was especially cruel and unkind to Willie was among the number to be shot, he was terribly distressed at the thought of his situation.  He was the father of a large family, a poor man,  and thought of the helpless condition in which he would leave his loved ones was very distressing to him.

Lear saw this, and it deeply moved him.  He stepped forward to the commanding officer and offered to take his neighbor’s place.  The officer had no objection.  The order had been issued that ten men of the number should be shot, and if that number was made up, the law would be satisfied.  The neighbor with the deepest gratitude accepted Lear as his substitute: and so, by the acquiescence of the three parties concerned, the representatives of the law, the condemned by the law, and the satisfier of the law by substitution, the matter was settled.

Willie Lear took the place of his friend in line with the nine men drawn up before a detachment prepared with loaded rifles, and at the command, “Fire!” he with the others fell, riddled with bullets, his blood soaking the earth.

As the man for whom Willie died looked upon the blood, and beheld that mangled body, and said

          “He died for me, I owe my life to him.  O that I could do anything to show my gratitude to the one who has done so much for me!”

The story is true.  Willie Lear died for a crime he did not commit, for a man who had scorned him, ridiculed him and altogether made his life miserable.  Willie became a substitute. He  fulfilled the judgement that the law had demanded, the sentence had been carried out, justice had been served.  The mans life was redeemed because another life was taken in his place.  It reminds me of another substitute that didn’t just redeem one life, but the entire human race.  

Jesus said in John 13 that the greatest love a man could exhibit was to lay his life down for another.  He didn’t just speak these words, he was the one, the substitute, that would carry the sins of humanity on his shoulders and pay the penalty for those sins.  I know today that my sins were a part of the penalty he paid.  He knew I could not redeem myself, I could not answer the charges leveled against me by the judge of all the earth. The decree was guilty, the sentence of death was pronounced. I stood condemned, with no hope. But the King of Heaven had compassion on me and died in my place. My debt was settled, my price paid, my redemption purchased by Jesus,  my substitute.  

Today, we honor his sacrifice, we remember what he has done for us.  I don’t know about you, but I am ever grateful that he became my substitute. I’ll close with this quote from Matthew Henry

“Come, and see the victories of the cross. Christ’s wounds are thy healings, His agonies thy repose, His conflicts thy conquests, His groans thy songs, His pains thine ease, His shame thy glory, His death thy life, His sufferings thy salvation.”

If you’re thankful today for your substitute, take a moment and let him know.  May the lamb receive the reward of his suffering.