For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. [Mark 10:45 (NLT)]
For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. [1 Peter 1:18-19 (NLT)]
God took Heaven’s best—the Lord Jesus Christ—to redeem earth’s worst! [Billy Graham]
What if you were held hostage and no one cared enough to pay your ransom? There was a black comedy in the 1980s called Ruthless People in which that happened. After a young woman is cheated by her contemptible boss (played by Danny DeVito), she and her husband decide to retaliate by kidnapping her boss’s wife and holding her for ransom. What they don’t know is their vile nemesis doesn’t want his wife returned. In fact, the despicable man was planning to kill her himself to gain control of her family fortune! Hoping the kidnappers will finish her off for him, the husband deliberately disobeys all of the kidnappers’ ransom demands.
The inept kidnappers find they have more than they bargained for when their victim (played by Bette Midler) turns out to be a foul-mouthed mean-tempered shrew. In the dark of the basement, however, the hostage wife sees the light and both her disposition and physique make a vast improvement. She bonds with her kidnappers over their common enemy and the three exact revenge upon her contemptible husband.
Fortunately, as Proverbs 13:8 points out, “The rich can pay a ransom for their lives, but the poor won’t even get threatened,“ so, unless we’re ultra-wealthy, the likelihood of our being held hostage for ransom by a kidnapper is pretty slim. We needn’t fear coming up with the ransom money or, worse, having a spouse unwilling to pay to get us back! Nevertheless, both rich and poor can be held hostage by sin.
While we associate a ransom with kidnapping, in the ancient world, a ransom was the price paid to buy a slave’s freedom and it was the slave-holder who determined the price and received the payment before releasing the slave. We once were slaves to sin and Satan was the one holding us hostage. It was God, however, who determined the payment amount and received the ransom and it was His Son who paid that ransom. Some 2,000 years ago, Jesus paid the price that secured our release from bondage. His blood redeemed, freed, and rescued us from sin, death, and hell. Jesus gave His life in payment to save us from the wrath of God and it is by our faith alone that we receive His gifts of atonement and forgiveness. No longer prisoners, we are free to leave sin’s captivity; all we need is faith in Him for the door to freedom to open.
Unfortunately, not everyone understands they don’t have to remain prisoners. Perhaps, having grown accustomed to wallowing in sin, guilt, and shame, they’ve fallen prey to what is known as the Stockholm syndrome and begin to have positive feelings—even compassion—toward their captor. Perhaps, not believing the price was fully paid, they’re still trying to pay their own ransom with works. Then again, maybe they just can’t believe that God would love them enough to sacrifice His only Son for them. Whatever the reason, they remain prisoners of their own free will.
Thank you, Jesus, for loving us enough to pay the ransom that released us from captivity to sin.
From the depth of sin and sadness To the heights of joy and gladness
Jesus lifted me in mercy full and free; With His precious blood He bought me,
When I knew Him not He sought me, And in love divine He ransomed me.
[Julia H. Johnston – 1916]
Devotions of the Heart 