The Murderer Who Wept Over Matthew

In 1918, Tokichi Ishii sat in a Tokyo prison cell awaiting execution. He had murdered at least three people — including a woman and her infant — and had attempted to kill several prison guards during prior incarcerations. Officials considered him the most dangerous prisoner in Japan. Two Canadian missionaries, unable to visit him in person, slipped a New Testament through the bars.

Ishii ignored it for weeks. Then boredom drove him to open it. He read through Matthew's Gospel and stopped cold at the crucifixion scene — specifically the words, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The hardened killer began to weep. He read the passage again and again, stunned that anyone, let alone the Son of God, could extend forgiveness to His own executioners.

Over the following days, Ishii devoured the Scriptures and surrendered his life to Christ. His transformation was so profound that prison guards and chaplains alike testified to it. Before his execution, he wrote poetry praising the Savior who reached him in the darkest cell in Japan.

Paul told Timothy that Christ Jesus displayed "immense patience" in saving him — the self-described worst of sinners — as an example for all who would believe. Ishii's story echoes that same stunning truth: the mercy of the Almighty is not rationed by the severity of the sin. Grace reaches the furthest cell, the hardest heart, the chief of sinners — and transforms them into trophies of divine patience.