Being a Ransom
Christopher B. Harbin
Mark 10:35-45
I've read lots of references to a king's ransom. Every one portrays a host of wealth, whether a government is paying to rescue a noble or one is simply portraying the enormity of a particular sum of wealth. A king's ransom is the gilded prize awaiting one at the end of some great adventure, something that will set them up for a lifetime of comfort. When Jesus speaks of a ransom, however, he does not speak of any jackpot. He speaks of his being a ransom, his very life used and given to rescue or redeem us. Why do we have trouble with that?
I kind of like to see the disciples as mentally challenged. They are always getting it wrong and pushing Jesus into boxes from their received traditions. Oh, they had a lot of background from the Hebrew Scriptures that helped prepare them for Jesus. Meanwhile, they had baggage that was not helpful in the least. Jesus comes on the scene to teach them, but they remained stuck in old paradigms, traditional ways of thinking, interpreting Jesus in light of their assumptions, rather than assessing their assumptions in light of Jesus' words and actions. Then again, that is precisely what we do, as well.
It's the way human beings operate. It's how my dog interprets what people say. It's how we make sense of another's body language, gestures, speech, and the words they use. What I learned in First Grade gave me a foundation for Second Grade. What I learned in junior high helped me with high school. High school became source material on which I built my college and seminary learning experience. Along the way, there were lots of assumptions I had to discarded. I learned about atoms in First Grade and I was sure that when an iced-drink was sweating, empty space between the atoms and molecules allowed water to escape its confines like sweat leaking through pores in my skin. Birds flew, because they had wings, so I asked Mom for a bird costume so I could fly into the clouds to fe ...
Christopher B. Harbin
Mark 10:35-45
I've read lots of references to a king's ransom. Every one portrays a host of wealth, whether a government is paying to rescue a noble or one is simply portraying the enormity of a particular sum of wealth. A king's ransom is the gilded prize awaiting one at the end of some great adventure, something that will set them up for a lifetime of comfort. When Jesus speaks of a ransom, however, he does not speak of any jackpot. He speaks of his being a ransom, his very life used and given to rescue or redeem us. Why do we have trouble with that?
I kind of like to see the disciples as mentally challenged. They are always getting it wrong and pushing Jesus into boxes from their received traditions. Oh, they had a lot of background from the Hebrew Scriptures that helped prepare them for Jesus. Meanwhile, they had baggage that was not helpful in the least. Jesus comes on the scene to teach them, but they remained stuck in old paradigms, traditional ways of thinking, interpreting Jesus in light of their assumptions, rather than assessing their assumptions in light of Jesus' words and actions. Then again, that is precisely what we do, as well.
It's the way human beings operate. It's how my dog interprets what people say. It's how we make sense of another's body language, gestures, speech, and the words they use. What I learned in First Grade gave me a foundation for Second Grade. What I learned in junior high helped me with high school. High school became source material on which I built my college and seminary learning experience. Along the way, there were lots of assumptions I had to discarded. I learned about atoms in First Grade and I was sure that when an iced-drink was sweating, empty space between the atoms and molecules allowed water to escape its confines like sweat leaking through pores in my skin. Birds flew, because they had wings, so I asked Mom for a bird costume so I could fly into the clouds to fe ...
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