Q4, S06 Ransom
Quarter 4, Session 6: Ransom
WILL YOU RECEIVE MY SUFFERING ON YOUR BEHALF?
Passage
Mark 10:45
Matthew 27:45–56
Concept
This session falls under Jesus’ eleventh question: Will you suffer with me? We have seen Jesus as a great example for our lives and a great teacher for our souls. But as he dies on our behalf, he accomplishes far more. He came and died on our behalf so that he could set us free from various forms of slavery and oppression and restore our broken relationship with God.
Key Question
How have you seen Jesus setting you free from enslavement, or how do you believe Jesus can set you free from it?
The Cross Tool
Do you see our Cross tool being played out in Mark 10:45 and Matthew 27:45–56? With whom? How so?
Ransom
Have you ever felt trapped? Perhaps you were in a harmful relationship and you couldn’t see a way to free yourself from it. Maybe you felt financially trapped. Maybe you told a lie or two and found yourself trapped in a web of lies you could hardly keep track of. On some level, we all know what it’s like to be trapped. Enslaved. Whether it be enslavement to doubt, fear, debt, sin, addiction, or something else, we know that feeling of not being able to see any light at the end of the tunnel, not having any clue how things will end. These are dark, even impossible situations. As human beings, we can legitimately find ourselves in situations to which there is no solution, no hope, no freedom.
In our passage for today, Jesus found himself in a situation like this. But the remarkable truth is that it wasn’t his own poor decisions and actions that brought him into this impossible situation; he was there because of the evil and oppression of others. But he was also there of his own volition, he was there because he wanted to be. Jesus entered a situation in which he was condemned to death precisely because he wanted to bear the weight of this hopeless dead-end so that we wouldn’t have to. His willingness to take this path brings life and freedom to all of our hopeless situations, to all of our dead-ends. As you read about Jesus’ death in this passage, consider what he endured and the reality that he endured this willingly for your sake, so that you wouldn’t have to bear what he bore on your behalf.
1. Read Mark 10:45 and Matthew 27:45–56. Right off the bat, what strikes you about these passages? What do you find interesting or challenging or confusing?
Freedom from Slavery
In Mark 10:45, we are told that Jesus came to serve and to give his life as a “ransom” for many. The word “ransom” is not a word we commonly use, but it’s extremely meaningful in this context. Mark writes this sentence in the middle of his Gospel, but it looks ahead to the end of Jesus’ life. Ransom refers to the price that was paid for a slave’s freedom. By using this terminology, we get a picture of Jesus coming to the aid of many who were enslaved by being the price that was paid for their freedom.
Another word we use to explain the significance of Jesus’ death is “atonement.” This refers to the mending of a broken relationship. Phrases like “appeasement” and “making things right” also address this concept. By offering himself on our behalf, Jesus was paying the price to set us free from slavery. He was restoring our broken relationship with God. When it comes to the death of Jesus, there are always more implications, but these concepts are vital to understanding what was going on.
It’s difficult for us to understand the concepts of ransom and atonement. Sometimes we feel our enslavement to sin or oppression in various forms. But in other seasons of life, we feel fine. We feel fairly independent. We’re often happy, and in these situations, it’s difficult to feel the weight of the concepts of ransom and atonement. This lack of sensitivity to the weight of Jesus’ work for us puts us in a dangerous place. His death always matters more than we could ever grasp, but when things are going “fine,” we’re tempted to believe that we don’t need any help, any liberation, any ransom or atonement.
This is the situation that Israel was in when Jesus arrived. Throughout their history, they were sometimes in physical slavery. They needed physical liberation from this. But whether they were physically enslaved or not, they could never shed the spiritual slavery they constantly turned back to. They entered this type of slavery willingly. If we take stock of our spiritual lives, we will have to acknowledge that we are prone to this very thing. Willing or not, we are enslaved to various passions and oppressors, and we need the liberation that only Jesus can offer.
2. Are there any areas in which you feel (or have felt in the past) like you’re enslaved? What is/was this like?
3. How have you seen Jesus setting you free from that enslavement, or how do you believe Jesus can set you free from it?
Freedom from Guilt
Today, we tend to feel okay with whatever anyone is doing. We have a hard time telling people that they should follow our norms and expectations. We avoid telling people that they should feel guilty for breaking our rules. Our society as a whole increasingly wants to leave each person alone to do what they see fit, to pursue their own happiness. In light of this, it seems that most people are no longer walking around feeling guilty before God. There may have been a time when Christians could speak of Jesus setting us free from the weight of guilt we carry and people would resonate with that kind of statement. But people do not seem to be carrying guilt around with them as they once did. People seem more prone to justify their behavior. If that is your mentality, then atonement does not make immediate sense. It’s not a concept you’re likely to resonate with.
This is a generalization, of course. Many of us do feel guilt over our actions, and we can all certainly experience seasons of guilt. When we are aware of our guilt, we should be ready to hear the message of Christ’s atonement and to grasp it. But often when we’re in these situations, we are prone to doubt that anyone or anything could take that guilt from us.
This can be such a difficult concept to understand because nothing in our lives operates according to the principles of ransom and atonement except for our relationship with God. Human courts certainly do not work this way. When a crime is committed, we expect a corresponding punishment. And God certainly does punish sins. But because of Jesus, there is good news for those of us—all of us—who have committed crimes by rejecting his rule and instruction. We were enslaved, but the price has been paid to set us free. We had single-handedly and collectively broken our relationship with God, but atonement has been made, that relationship is once again restored. This is what Jesus has done. He has set us free from the guilt we have incurred, whether or not we’re conscious of the weight of that guilt.
4. What guilt arises in your life? How has or how can Jesus set you free from that guilt?
Forsaken by God
As we have seen throughout this study, Jesus was a model for how we can live. He was a leader who started a movement. But he was also more than those two things. He also came to be a ransom for us. In his act of dying for us, Jesus brought the good news down to earth. He made it a practical, tangible, historically-rooted reality.
We can begin to feel the weight of what it cost Jesus to do this by looking at Matthew 27:46 when Jesus cried out, “My God, My God! Why have you forsaken me?” This is a reminder that Jesus was going through intense suffering so we wouldn’t have to. He didn’t sidestep this, he took it on. Just as we saw as Jesus’ prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, this is another glimpse of Jesus being fully human. Because to be human is to feel forsaken by God. Jesus is quoting Psalm 22, which was written by King David, a human being experiencing the common human experience of feeling far from God. Jesus experienced this forsakenness so that we would not ultimately be forsaken.
As we watch Jesus on the cross, we need to remember that it was actually us who forsook God. The phrase we are prone to direct toward God as an accusation “Why are you forsaking us?” would actually make more sense if God were saying it to us: “Why do you keep forsaking me?” But Jesus came to absorb the offense against God so that we could experience peace and restored relationship with God. In our human relationships, disrespect and offense continue to flow back and forth until someone steps up and absorbs the offense. It takes someone stepping up and allowing themselves to be hurt without retaliation. Otherwise the offense continues. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus on the cross felt forsaken by God even though we were the ones who forsook God. Jesus himself absorbed the pain and offense of it all so that we can be made right.
Forsakenness is hell. The essence of hell is being forsaken forever. Being separated from God forever. Relational pain hurts the most because it’s unraveling two people who have been bound together. You cannot fix a broken relationship on your own. But the gospel says that Jesus has come to fix what we will never be able to fix. He has done this on our behalf. The only question is how we will respond.
5. Have you ever felt forsaken, disregarded, or unheard by God? What is this like?
6. As you contemplate the reality that Jesus was forsaken by God so that you wouldn’t have to be, what insights and implications come to mind? How should these affect your thoughts, desires, and life patterns?
7. Spend some time in prayer. Thank God for the ransom and restoration he offers through Jesus. If you have never done it before, acknowledge and receive his gift of healing, forgiveness, and a mended relationship. He did all of this for you so that he could enjoy being with you from this moment on.
Key Question
How have you seen Jesus setting you free from enslavement, or how do you believe Jesus can set you free from it?