Chapter 15: How Much Is Our Ransom?
Geeze. Yet another incident between the last chapter (Chapter 14) and this one (Chapter 15). Somewhat annoying, isn’t it? To have to stop the exhumation and use our shovels to fight off the birds. Really not surprising. Typical behavior for territorial birds. The flock has inherited this overgrown monstrosity of a Weed-Field from its predecessors. “Stop digging up our property!” they chirp. They actually see it as their field. “You are welcome to it,” I told them. “Once we are done giving light to what’s underneath.”
Even in the midst of ALL this, we have made great progress with the RANSOM Jesus left for us. We dug it up (got ALL the dirt out of the way). We unwrapped it. What’s next?
Let’s count it and make sure its ALL there.
How much is the RANSOM? How much is my RANSOM? How much is your RANSOM? Within the genius of the Jesus Concept, what exactly is the monetary figure of any person’s RANSOM? Knowing the Scriptural answer to this question helps us connect ALL the dots. It fills in ALL the missing border puzzle pieces from the perimeter, inward toward the center. It helps us to authenticate the shape of the most crucial missing piece, right in the center of the puzzle. Who is the kidnapper?
For ALL these centuries, no one on Earth had a clue. The monetary puzzle pieces were painfully missing from ALL six Church Atonement Theories. Trust me. It will give you a fuzzy good feeling to see how PERFECTLY the monetary puzzle pieces fit. Giving us that “Way-Beyond-Faith” thing Jesus talks about so much.
ABSOLUTELY KNOWING
So powerfully connecting, the payoff details derail the slow, going nowhere Sacrificial/Warshed-In-Da-Blood Hand Car, helping to bring even the most religiously brainwashed soul onboard THE RANSOM TRAIN. The monetary puzzle-pieces legally indemnify the New Covenant — a Covenant-Between-Two-Parties. And, here, Virginia, is what is certain to blow ALL the Pope’s horses’ and ALL the Pope’s men’s ecclesiastical heads apart. The applicable precedent has not one thing to do with Mosaic Sacrificial Law. Rather, the guiding rule is found in Mosaic Social Law. Hidden treasure.
One wonderfully simple Word opens the dusty box. RANSOM. Hidden within, lay the missing pieces. This is a RANSOM — not a “blood-sacrifice.” Kidnappers are not paid off in so many pints of blood. Unless the kidnapper happens to be a vampire or a lunatic. Attention ALL lunatics who may be reading this: The “vampires” are the fictitious ones.
For any RANSOM to be paid, there has to be a monetary value placed upon Life. That is exactly what a RANSOM is — a monetary value placed upon one person’s Life. The Life of whom? Duh. The Life of the kidnap victim, of course. Certainly, the one who pays the RANSOM has to be able to afford it. However, when it comes to RANSOMS, the actual amount of any RANSOM is not based upon what the Life of the one paying the RANSOM is worth. Think about it. The monetary value is always based upon what the Life of the kidnap victim is worth to the one who is paying the RANSOM.
Same with the Jesus-RANSOM. My dear reader, the Jesus-RANSOM is based upon how much YOUR Life is worth to the one paying the RANSOM.
After ALL... YOU are the kidnap victim — the shanghaied slave. We ALL are. So... here is the silver-dollar question. In Lawful-Scriptural-Declaration, financially speaking (Old Covenant, Mosaic-Legal-Paradigm), how much money does it cost to FREE a shanghaied slave?
Thirty pieces of silver.
That sounds so ridiculously coincidental you may think I am making it up. I am not. It is a documented fact in Old Testament Scripture. A slave’s Life is legally valued at thirty pieces of silver. For instance, if a domesticated animal were to get loose and kill a slave, Mosaic Social Law says that the owner of the animal must pay the owner of the slave thirty pieces of silver in restitution:
Exodus 21:32 (New Living Translation) “If the ox gores a male or female slave, the animal’s owner must pay the slave’s owner thirty silver coins.”
Thirty in silver is the Lawful/Legal price... for one slave. Whether you are purchasing a slave, FREEING a Living slave or paying restitution for the wrongful death of a deceased slave. In any case, by the guiding light of Mosaic Law, the value of one slave is set at thirty pieces of silver.
Jesus tells us that every stroke of THE LAW will continue until it has served its purpose. Well... ladies, gentlemen and ALL esteemed others, Exodus 21:32 is the last stroke of THE LAW. This is where the Old Testament ends and the New Testament begins. Interesting, that our exit from slavery into FREEDOM is readily found in the Book of Exodus. The moment a person of bondage Truly-Accepts that this transaction has, indeed, taken place — in his mind, in his soul and under God’s blue heaven — he is no longer a slave of Sin under THE LAW. He is now and forevermore FREE-Indeed under PERFECT-Grace.
Jesus is not only our GOOD shepherd, he is also our GOOD legal defense attorney. The best. You see, strictly speaking (again, from an Old Testament, Mosaic-Legal Paradigm) if you want to FREE a slave (or kidnap-victim) the amount of the RANSOM is exactly thirty pieces of silver. Thirty in silver to FREE ANY slave. Including a Slave to Sin. And, who exactly, is a Slave to Sin? Practically speaking, every one of us. “The many.”
John 8:34 (NIV) “Very truly I tell you, every one who sins is a slave to sin.”
Funny, isn’t it? That the RANSOM amount needed for FREEING any one of us (one slave) is thirty pieces of silver. Funny, isn’t it? How the purported bad-guy (Judas Iscariot) agreed to that exact amount at that precise moment in Time. And, with whom? That last part (with whom) is the funniest part (funny amazing and, in a most exhilarating way, funny ha-ha). With whom, exactly, does Judas make this bargain of ALL Time? With the most Law-Abiding descendants of Moses on the planet. The guys who follow Mosaic Law to the last grain of salt. The Pharisees and the Jewish religious leaders.
Actually, the amount of this payoff is no zany coincidence. It takes two parties to agree upon a price. I can promise you, it was not the Pharisees and the religious leaders who effectively negotiated the transaction to that specific monetary figure. The Pharisees and the religious leaders would have been willing to pay any price to be done with Jesus and to silence The Truth — which includes the God’s-Honest Truth that ALL Organized Religion is an abomination in the sight of the Living God. To the Pharisees and Jewish religious leaders, thirty silver coins was the bargain of the century. And, yes... it was Judas Iscariot who effectively negotiated the RANSOM to that magnificent figure. Thirty in silver.
You know what? Throughout my early years, as I was taught bits and pieces about the Life and times of Jesus, I heard ALL that terrible gossip passed on to me about Judas. Mostly from good, upstanding Church people. What a “terrible” and *Evil* person he was. How he had “betrayed our Lord and Savior.” The first time I read the Gospels for myself, two things struck me hard, clear as a bell and as plain as day. One (and unquestionably) Jesus of Nazareth knew the exact same Living God as I knew. And, two, the accusation that Judas Iscariot “betrayed” Jesus of Nazareth made absolutely no sense to me. It ALL comes down to motive. There is simply none to be found throughout the entire quadraphonic New Testament Gospel. Ask the Holy Spirit. She will tell you. It was Jesus who specifically instructed Judas to negotiate the price to thirty pieces of silver — the monetary amount to be traded for one Life. The thirty in silver was a nice touch. That was our Savior, making a simple, wonderful and earth-shattering point as he put his trusted, right-hand Apostle up to putting ALL this into motion. Thirty Pieces of Silver is the theme song of the Jesus Concept. The remarkable Life of Jesus — worth the value of one slave. One kidnap victim.
You see, more so than our Savior gave his Life for ALL of us (“the many”) he specifically gave his Life for me. One kidnap victim. He specifically gave his Life for you. One kidnap victim. And, onward and outward... outward and onward. This is an amazing Reality. The power of ALL of what he did that day is ALL for one person. One person after another. One becomes few; few becomes many; and, ultimately, many becomes ALL. That is beyond powerful. That is beyond brilliant. That is beyond genius. That is Divine. The entire spectacle of what happened to Jesus that day — rather, the entire spectacle that Jesus PERFECTLY orchestrated to happen to Jesus that day — is also beyond genius. It is also beyond heroic.
PERFECT-Grace has zero to do with satisfying justice. To satisfy justice, we should ALL be thrown into Fire Lake only for slandering the likes of Judas Iscariot. We have good excuses. We are way too stupid and careless and ignorant to know any better. We should ALL fall on our faces (forget our knees) and thank God that there is no “debt of mankind” that has to be rendered unto God. No mortgage. No bill. What’s-Been-Done-For-Us-On-the-Cross is ALL about changing our way of thinking. Eternal ANTI-MALWARE and VIRUS PROTECTION coupled up with a RESTART, taking us ALL the way back to our original state of mind and keeping us there. A state of mind where WE HAVE NO SIN.
What’s-Been-Done-For-Us-On-the-Cross is PERFECT in and of itself. It is not our knowledge, nor our wisdom, nor our carefulness, nor our *Goodness,* nor our conduct, nor certainly not our “faith” that has to be PERFECT. It is something much more simple, God-Given and basic to human nature. Our ability to TAKE must be in PERFECT working order. Our gift-taking ability. It is our TAKING of What’s-Been-Done-For-Us-On-the-Cross that has to be PERFECT. One-hundred percent. With no ifs, ands or buts.
Ready to put the 2000-year-old missing center-piece back into the puzzle? If you’ve come this far, you are presumed ready. Who is the kidnapper?
