Today we consider Jesus’ teaching on Mark 10:35-45, where Jesus says “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
An Old Testament passage that will help us understand the idea of ransom which forms this climax of our passage is Exodus 21:1-6.
Here we have a description of how slaves were to be treated in ancient Israel. Normally, Israelites could not enslave other Israelites. But if one incurred a debt he could not pay, he could become a slave to his debtor and work the debt off. This slavery was a form of temporary, indentured servitude and is not to be equated with the dreadful slavery that the Israelites suffered under Egypt.
In v.4 we are told that if a slave enters slavery as a single man and is given a wife by his master, that wife may not go free when the slave is freed. This seems cruel to us until we consider that an important part of the marriage laws in ancient Israel involved the payment of a dowry to the wife’s father. In this case, the slave may not take his wife because, though he has worked off his indebtedness, he has not paid the bride price. And so, in order to keep his wife, he has two options. Either he can go out and earn enough money to pay the bride price, or he can remain in slavery until the price is paid in full (vv. 5–6).
On the cross, Jesus paid the ransom price so that we would be free. But remember that the debt we owe is a moral debt, not a financial debt.
The Father was not obligated to accept the payment of someone else to cover our breaking of the Law. Yet, in His grace, He sent Christ to secure our redemption by paying the moral debt we owed as covenant-breakers.
Jesus has paid the moral debt we owed to the Father for breaking the law of God. He was not obligated to pay this debt, even as the Father was not obligated to accept this payment. But in their great love and mercy, they agreed to redeem us in order that we might receive freedom. Rejoice in the love and mercy that motivated Christ’s atonement.
It is truly amazing that the sovereign Lord of creation became incarnate to perform a great service for us – the paying of the ransom price to release us from bondage to sin. Such a gift can never be repaid, but we can thank Him if we bow to Him, the glorious Suffering Servant, and imitate His willingness to sacrifice Himself for others. For whom are you sacrificing your time and energy this week?