The Meaning of the Cross, Day 20

Welcome to Day 20 of our series, 40 Days of the Cross. Today marks the half-way point as we take a few minutes each day to look at a word that helps us better understand the meaning of the cross. 

Today’s word is ransom. When we think of ransom, we think of kidnapping, or perhaps ransomware attacks on computer systems. Whatever it is, it is the payment someone demands for holding someone or something hostage. If you want to see your wife alive again, you’ll pay us a million dollars in ransom! So how is the word ransom related to the cross? 

In Matthew chapter 20, Jesus is describing to His disciples what it means to be great in the Kingdom of God. He tells them that in order to be great in the Kingdom, you need to serve others. And then in verse 28 He says, “…even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus said that the giving of His life on the cross would be a ransom for many. 

A ransom, as we’ve seen, is a price paid to release a prisoner or a hostage. Who are the many that Jesus is paying with His life as a ransom to be released? That’s us. We were the hostages. We were hostages to the bondage of sin. And what was the ransom demand? What would it have said in the ransom note for our release? It would say that the ransom was death. Death was the price that had to be paid to release us from the bondage of our sin. Jesus paid that ransom. On the cross He paid the price to free us from the bondage of our sins. Jesus Himself gave His life as a ransom to free us from the bondage of sin. He paid the wage for our sin. (We’ll talk more about wage on Monday.)
 

After we pray today, please take some time to think about how we were hostages to sin, and how Jesus paid the ransom for our sins on the cross. 

Heavenly Father, I praise You today for the love You showed to us through Your Son as He hung upon the cross to pay the ransom in order to release us from the bondage of sin. We were unworthy, but You were willing to pay the price for my freedom. Thank you, Lord. And it’s in the name of Jesus we pray, amen. 

Continued tomorrow