When God Leads Into Captivity

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Pastor Foley

Part IV of our series on Ransoming the Captive

In Monday’s post, we talked about how Christ did not come to pay the ransom for us but to be the ransom for us and why that difference matters.

Today, we’re going to see how the concept of ransoming the captive didn’t actually begin with Jesus.  The Old Testament is saturated with the idea which should clue us in to how close to God’s heart this work of mercy really is.

Wilhelm Bacher (a professor at Jewish Theological Seminary in Hungary) and Julius H. Greenstone (an American Rabbi) give us a sample of just a few of the Old Testament verses that relate to ransoming the captive. You’ll notice as you hear them that we don’t normally think of these Scriptures as related to ransoming captives, but according to the Hebrew tradition we have inherited, we should. They write:

He who refrains from ransoming a captive is guilty of transgressing the commandments expressed or implied in Biblical passages such as the following:

  • “Thou shalt not harden thy heart”
  • “Thou shalt not shut thine hand from thy poor brother”
  • “Neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor”
  • “He shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight”
  • “Thou shalt open thy hand wide unto him”
  • “. . . that thy brother may live with thee”
  • “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”
  • “Deliver them that are drawn unto death”

One who delayed in the work of ransoming a Jewish captive was placed in the category of the murderer.

So you see, a lot more of the Bible is about ransoming the captive than we might think. And there’s a lot more to God’s role in ransoming the captive than we might think, too. That’s because God is portrayed in Scripture not only as the one who ransoms his people from captivity, but also as the one who sends his people into captivity in the first place!

That may not sound very loving. But really, it is—supremely.

Even when God leads us into captivity, it really is for our good—for our redemption.

And he protects us even when we’re in captivity. You can see that in the way that those who mistreat us when we are in captivity always get punished by him.

Always—always—there is a glorious redemption for those owned by God.

The prophet Jeremiah portrays the whole picture, from freedom to captivity and back to freedom. The following is a long passage, but it’s worth hanging on every word. Read it carefully and resist the temptation to scan.  I know this is a blog and all, but it’s important that we allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us.

This Scripture teaches us how God thinks about captivity, and, when we understand that, it will profoundly reshape how we think about captivity, too—ours and those whom he sends us to free in his name. What you’ll hear from Jeremiah here is about Israel. But it’s also true of the entire human race, which entered into comprehensive captivity to sin and death:

“And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
“Then fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord,
nor be dismayed, O Israel;
for behold, I will save you from far away,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
and none shall make him afraid.
For I am with you to save you,
declares the Lord; I will make a full end of all the nations
among whom I scattered you,
but of you I will not make a full end.
I will discipline you in just measure,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

“For thus says the Lord: Your hurt is incurable,
and your wound is grievous.
There is none to uphold your cause,
no medicine for your wound,
no healing for you.
All your lovers have forgotten you;
they care nothing for you;
for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy,
the punishment of a merciless foe,
because your guilt is great,
because your sins are flagrant.
Why do you cry out over your hurt?
Your pain is incurable.
Because your guilt is great,
because your sins are flagrant,
I have done these things to you.

Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured,
and all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity;
those who plunder you shall be plundered,
and all who prey on you I will make a prey.
For I will restore health to you,
and your wounds I will heal,
declares the Lord, because they have called you an outcast:
‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’

“Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob
and have compassion on his dwellings;
the city shall be rebuilt on its mound,
and the palace shall stand where it used to be.
Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving,
and the voices of those who celebrate.
I will multiply them, and they shall not be few;
I will make them honored, and they shall not be small.
Their children shall be as they were of old,
and their congregation shall be established before me,
and I will punish all who oppress them.
Their prince shall be one of themselves;
their ruler shall come out from their midst;
I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me,
for who would dare of himself to approach me?
declares the Lord. And you shall be my people,
and I will be your God.”

Behold the storm of the Lord!
Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back
until he has executed and accomplished
the intentions of his mind.
In the latter days you will understand this.

(Jeremiah 30:8–24, ESV)

And Jeremiah was right: In the latter days we really did come to understand this, specifically through the revealing of Christ Jesus, the visible image of the invisible God. The visible God offered himself as our ransom!

Have you ever been led into captivity by God?  What did you come to understand about the work of Ransoming Captives through that experience?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Myth: Jesus Came to Pay The Ransom for All People

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Pastor Foley

Part III of our series on Ransoming the Captive

As is the practice of those who would be a disciple of Jesus, learning how to ransom captives involves us first looking at how God ransomed us.

First we hear the word of how God has ransomed us.  Then, we do the word.

So we began with Jesus’ first sermon, where he talked about ransoming the captives. And here is the key point I want to make over these last few blog posts:

As Jesus’ mission unfolded, what Scripture reveals is that Jesus did not come to pay the ransom, but rather to be, personally, the ransom for all people. 

The apostle Paul summarizes it in this way:

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.

(1 Timothy 2:5–6)

Mark Shea writes about Francis Gajowniczek, a Polish army sergeant who was sent to a Nazi concentration camp during World War II for aiding Jewish people. One day in the camp, something remarkable happened to him. Shea writes,

Gajowniczek was chosen at random by the commandant of Auschwitz to die along with several other prisoners in reprisal for an escape. His sentence was to perish in the starvation bunker without food or water in the middle of the blistering Polish summer of 1941. As he was about to be led away, [he said, “”My poor wife! My poor children! What will they do?”]… there was a stir in the ranks of the assembled prisoners in the yard.

A man stepped forward and volunteered to take Gajowniczek’s place. He explained that he was old and a priest, of no use to anyone in the Nazi New Order of utility. The commandant, with brutal Nazi calculation, accepted the proposal—and St. Maximilian Kolbe was led away as a ransom just as his Master had been.

Just as his Master had been.

When we pay 50 cents a gallon of people’s gasoline cost, it reminds them that there are still nice people in the world.

But when we ransom the way Jesus ransomed – when The Ransom Church actually becomes a ransom in Christ’s name, rather than just paying for gas and wrapping paper – it reminds the world that there is a redeemer: Jesus, God’s own Son, the perfect…and only…ransom for our sins.

And through the Holy Spirit, we are invited as his church to return to the literal work of ransoming that he began.

When thinking about becoming a ransom for someone else in Jesus’ name, what fears or reservations do you have?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Ransoming the Captive is About More Than Being Nice

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Pastor Foley

Part II of our series on Ransoming the Captive

We launched a new series this week on Ransoming the Captive and concluded by asking readers to share their thoughts on what it looks like for a church or an individual to ransom captives today. What does it look like to do this Work of Mercy in our time?

Well, on March 8, 2009, a new church was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The local newspaper headline from just a few months later read:


The name of the new congregation was The Ransom Church, and it listed the following mission and vision on its website:

Our Mission:

We exist to set captives free…Period.…

Our Vision:

We believe God’s vision for us is to spread the truth of Jesus Christ through Sioux Falls. God has called us to set captives free. We want to leave no corner of this city untouched in living out this vision.

Now that’s a Scriptural mission!

In fact, as we’ll see all throughout this month, few missions or visions or congregational names are as Scriptural as the mission of ransoming captives. And when we understand how Christ has ransomed us, we’ll come to understand why even more deeply.

Unfortunately, though, the newspaper report and the website for The Ransom Church do not go on to detail a literal ransoming of literal captives, with members giving themselves up to imprisonment in order to ransom others. If the early church had a website, it would have talked a lot about that kind of ransoming. We know this, because it’s a subject that pops up in many letters and stories and reports by and about the early church.

It was one of the things that amazed people about Christians.

You can see it in Clement’s letter to the church in Corinth, sent around the start of the second century AD. Clement wrote:

We know that many have given themselves up to imprisonment in order to ransom others; many too have delivered themselves into slavery and have fed others with the sale price

(1 Clement 55:2) 

Did you catch that? Many. As in, “Many Christians have ransomed others by delivering themselves into slavery.”

And it was hardly a one-time thing: On through the Middle Ages, Christians continued to deliver themselves into slavery in Jesus’ name in order to set others free. In fact, several groups in the medieval church like the Trinitarians and the Mercedarians even set aside a third of their income to ransom church members who were taken captive.

Well, today, there are more Christians being held captive than ever before. In fact, there are 200 million Christians in 60 countries who are persecuted, tortured, and imprisoned simply for being Christian.

That’s a lot of ransoming to do!

Unfortunately, though, we don’t read the Scriptures very literally anymore. We don’t personally know a lot of Christians who are in prison. And we’ve forgotten 1800 years of church practice and instead we think of ransoming the captive as something figurative, or symbolic…which is what the pastor of the Ransom Church of Sioux Falls, South Dakota told the newspaper reporter when the reporter asked, “So what does it mean to ransom captives?”

“We’re all captive to something,” the pastor said. “Greed, guilt, abuse, past failures, money.”

So before Christmas, The Ransom Church leadership team delivered 2,000 Christmas bags door-to-door to homes around Sioux Falls. Those bags were stuffed with ribbon, tape and holiday gift tags in addition to flyers about The Ransom Church.

The church also held events in November and January at a gas station, sponsoring a 50 cent -per-gallon discount on gas. The pastor said, “We pumped gas, met people and had a commitment not to accept any donations. For the leadership team, it was about introducing ourselves, meeting people and serving free of self.”

Those are all very good things. And it’s true that greed, guilt, and abuse can be like captivity. But this is all quite a bit different than what Ransom Church’s ancestors—Christians across eighteen centuries—meant by ransoming the captives in Jesus’ name. For example, as a chronicler of the Mercedarian Order wrote:

An Irish saint by the name of Saint Serapion was enrolled as a soldier in Richard the Lion Heart’s Army…  He redeemed many captives and on one particular occasion gave himself as hostage to ransom Christian prisoners, who were on the verge of betraying their Faith.

His Mercedarian friend traveled swiftly to Spain, collected the money for the ransom and returned to save Serapion.

Unfortunately, the friend did not return in time and the Algerian King, Selin Benimarin, nailed Saint Serapion onto a Saint Andrew’s cross… Similarly, Saint Peter Armengol gave himself in exchange for a captive in Morocco. Once again the ransom money did not arrive in time and Saint Peter was hung. The Blessed Virgin miraculously intervened and although Peter remained with a twisted neck for the rest of his life, his life was spared. Peter died in seclusion in the Convent of Santa Maria dels Prats, in 1304.

Giving a 50 cent per gallon discount on gas is a good way to be nice to people.

But willingly entering into crucifixion, hanging, or neck twisting in order to ransom a captive brother or sister—that is not about being nice. 

It’s about mirroring the character of Christ to the world.

And we have to figure out what that means today. In other words, is ransoming the captive just a figure of speech for us? Or does God intend for it to be something more?

What do you think?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments