Ransom

The cross was gory. The place where Jesus was crucified would have stunk of fear and death and the earth would have been stained with blood. I don’t believe that God needed this gore for his satisfaction. I believe that the spiritual powers of evil demanded it, and God reluctantly agreed in order to free the humans that he still loved despite them rejecting him.

Here is a story. A rich man paid for his son to travel around the world as part of his growing up. While in a foreign country, he developed a gambling addiction and racked up massive debts in a casino.

When the son could not repay the money he owed, his creditor threatened to torture him until he settled the debt. The son was too ashamed to ask his father for help, so he found another wealthy man and sold himself to be his slave for life in return for him paying the money owed to the debtor. The son escaped torture at the price of a life of slavery.

When the father heard what had happened to his son, he wanted to rescue him. He could have hired some retired special-service warriors to invade the foreign country and rescue his son. The problem is that he did not want to engage in “might is right” activity.

The son had freely sold himself to be a slave, and his new owner had paid real money for him, so the rich father agreed to pay the ransom that the owner demanded to set the son free. He was not comfortable with paying a ransom, but had no alternative, if he did not want to engage in “might is right” behaviour. The son was freed, and the father knew that in the circumstances, he had done the right thing.