Friday
Friday
The Ransom Saying
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Mark 10:45
Mark records three distinct occasions on which Jesus predicted his sufferings and death. This is the third. It is especially important because it is our Lord’s own interpretation of the cross; for it is reasonable to suppose that, if anybody understood the meaning of his death, he did.
To begin with, he emphasized that his death would be voluntary. Previously he had described it in the passive, namely that he would be betrayed, rejected, and killed. Now, however, he says that the Son of Man had come not to be served but to serve and to give himself. In other words, he had come not primarily to live his life but to give it as the culmination of a lifetime of service.
In particular, Jesus continued, he had come “to give his life as a ransom for many,” which Paul later interpreted as meaning “for all” (1 Tim. 2:6). What, then, can we legitimately deduce from the ransom metaphor? Firstly, it indicates the gravity of our plight. We are likened to the slaves or captives of sin, who are unable to secure our release. Secondly, it indicates the value of the price paid for our liberation. As the apostle Peter wrote later, we have been redeemed not with silver or gold “but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Pet. 1:19). The Passover is clearly in Peter’s mind. As the firstborn Israelites were saved by the killing of a substitute lamb, so Christ died as our ransom in our place. Thirdly, it is implied that, having been purchased by Christ, we now belong to him. As Paul wrote to Titus, Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own” (Titus 2:14). So we are altogether his for time and eternity.
For further reading: Revelation 5:6–10