The Cross of Christ

On Good Friday we remember the sacrifice Jesus took on our behalf. Jesus told us why He came…

“For the Son of Man did not come to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” –Mark 10:45

He gave His life, offered it up willingly and freely for us.

He life was a ransom for many. A ransom is what is paid to release slaves from slavery. A ransom frees captives from captivity. A ransom gives prisoners redemption.

And we were slaves, captives, and prisoners to Satan and to our own sin…

Ephesians 2:1-3 As for you, you were dead in your transgression and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

When we think of paying a ransom we usually think of an exorbitant amount of money. But this ransom was a person, Jesus Christ Himself!

Nikolai Berdyaev was raised a Marxist but converted to Christianity. When asked what led to his stunning conversion he mentioned the name “Mother Maria.”

Berdyaev was at a Nazi concentration camp and watched as Jews were murdered in the gas chambers. One young Jewish mom was being forced to part with her baby. Mother Maria spotted the soldier, and when she realized the soldier didn’t care who went as long as his quota was made, Maria quietly pushed the young mother aside and took her place for the gas chamber.

Berdyaev learned the heart of Christianity that day, and the high price of ransom.