A tragic story about a terrible time in human history, The Boy In the Striped Pajamas is a haunting tale that will not be quickly forgotten. It is about the truly evil nature of hate made even more startlingly apparent by the also present belief in love. And in that very stark and intimately paired contrast, I am reminded of the reality of Christ's sacrifice for us, specifically as it portrayed in Romans 5:6-8: "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

In the same way that Bruno finds himself in a world that says Shmuel and his family deserve nothing but destruction, God was once faced with similar reality concerning us. Like Bruno, He instead chose to believe that we were worthy of life and love. But while Bruno ends up taking risks to befriend and help Shmuel without a full awareness of the destructive evil which he is actually up against, God stepped into the prison of sin fully knowing what He would have to sacrifice to express love and renew our lives. He suffered and died a painful death at the hands of the power-hungry and the hateful. But three days later, in His resurrection, His act of sacrifice became a testament to the truth that love, unity, and friendship will eventually triumph over even the most organized forces of hate out there.

And although the end of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas does not offer quite as hopeful a turn of events, with Bruno's own love laying in stark contrast to the Nazi's hate, even amidst its great tragedy, its story also speaks to the hope that will always lie in any act of love

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