The Ransom has been Prepaid October 22, 2006 P20b-06 Pastor Laird Duran
"Give me back my son!" That was a classic line from the movie “Ransom” produced by Ron Howard a few years back. Ransom starred Mel Gibson as the father and Renne Russo as the mother whose boy was kidnapped. The abductor called to demand a two million-dollar ransom.
The parents agree, but something goes wrong with the exchange at the drop off point. That sets up a classic Hollywood thriller. To get back their child, the parents instead decide to offer a two million-dollar bounty for the capture of the kidnapper and the safe return of the child. That is where the plot thickens, and there is a strange twist when they find out who the kidnapper is. I won’t tell you who it was because that would spoil the mystery. But I can tell you, it’s not adductive you would expect. If the story lines sounds familiar, that’s because it was a remake of a classic movie from the 1950's starring Glenn Ford.
Today we baptize a newly born child of God, Matthew. John and Tracie, no doubt you love this child. But here’s the problem. There is someone who is trying to kidnap your child, and demands a ransom. He hates God and despises the gospel of Jesus Christ. He will use the promise of easy money, of power, drugs, and sex. He will try to manipulate his mind and his soul.
Who is it? Why it’s the devil, of course. But who is this devil that wants to take your child away from you? It’s not the cartoon character, some little guy with a pitchfork and horns. This is like a who-done-it Hollywood thriller. How could that be? It’s a mystery and we don’t get it.
Jesus tried to tell us the answer to this mystery, but the disciples didn’t get it either. Even though they had spent considerable time learning from Jesus, they just couldn’t understand why Jesus had to go to Jerusalem and be killed. By whom? For what reason?
Instead, two of them asked Jesus if he would do whatever they asked him to do. Now in case your wondering how were so bold in their request, the answer is simple. Jesus told them to. He said, “Ask and you will receive.” This time when they did ask, Jesus said, “You don’t know what you are asking.” Then he explained it something like this. Okay, you will drink my cup, and you will be baptized with my baptism. But this will not bring you any power in the world like the authorities in this world have. You will not have their kind of power. Instead you will be serving others with your lives, just like the Son of Man.
Today’s children like Matthew face the devil’s predators with drugs, sex, easy money, and violence in the schools and streets. I know you want to protect him, but before he his twelve years old and is confirmed, he probably will meet someone who wants to take advantage of him. So where do we turn for help?
First we can turn to God. To get us back from the evil one, God sent his own Son Jesus Christ to give his life to pay our ransom. He did that by allowing himself to be abducted and killed on the cross. But now God raised him from the dead and won the victory for us and forgave our sins. He has taken our shame and our sin upon himself, and forgives us. That’s the good news of the gospel.
But many people think of God as an unmerciful tyrant who only want to condemn people for their sins. They believe that God will only save those who are worthy of being saved. My favorite story about changing our minds about God is one from Christian counselor Dennis Linn, a personal story about how his mind was changed about God.
Pastor Linn tells of a woman named Hilda coming into his office one day because her son had tried to commit suicide for the fourth time. She described how her son was involved in prostitution, drug dealing and murder and then ended her list of her son's "big sins" with, "What bothers me most is that my son says he wants nothing to do with God. What will happen to my son if he commits suicide without repenting and wanting nothing to do with God?"
Pastor Linn remembered that he too once believed in the popular version of God being something like a stern father, but the counselor in him didn't talk about his own history. Instead, he began by asking Hilda what she thought about God’s character.
"Well," she replied, "I think that when you die, you appear before the judgment seat of God. If you have lived a good life, God will send you to heaven. If you have lived a bad life, God will send you to hell." Sadly, she concluded, "Since my son has lived such a bad life, if he were to die without repenting, God would certainly send him to hell."
Pastor Linn had Hilda close her eyes and imagine herself sitting next to the judgment seat of God. He also had her imagine her son's arrival at the judgment seat with all his serious sins and without repenting. Then he asked her, "Hilda, how does your son feel?" Hilda answered, "My son feels so lonely and empty." So Pastor Linn asked Hilda what she would do, to which she responded, "I want to throw my arms around my son." She lifted her arms and began to cry as she imagined herself holding her son tightly.
Finally, when she had stopped crying, Pastor Linn asked her to look into God's eyes and watch what God wanted to do. God stepped down from the throne, and just as Hilda did, embraced her son. And the three of them, Hilda, her son, and God, cried together and held one another. What Pastor Linn said he learned about God that day is this: God loves us more than the person who loves us the most.
Today, as we baptize little Matthew, we are celebrating the declaration that Matthew belongs to God. Nothing, not the worst behavior, not the worst possible decisions or circumstances, not death, nothing in all creation will be able to separate Matthew from God’s love.
John in Trace, you are his earthly parents. Today by this baptism into Christ, God declares that he is his heavenly Father. Paul writes, (Romans 6) “When we were baptized into Christ, we were baptized into his death so that we will also rise in his resurrection.” So the children of God will die, but they will die in Christ and live in his resurrection. No one, not even death, can snatch us away from God.
Let us live as God’s children, giving thanks and praising God now and forever. Amen
Amen