Ransomed

Homily for Wednesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Beloved, realize that you were ransomed from your futile conduct with the precious blood of Christ.

What is meant by the word ransom? Our minds might immediately turn to the context of hostage situations, where a person is being held and their captors demand a large sum of money to buy the captive’s freedom. In today’s society there are individuals who will encrypt all of the data stored on your computer’s memory, and then ask a ransom to allow you to access that information again. Both of these situations. Give us a glimpse of what the Scriptures are telling us about what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.

As St. Peter roach in his Letter to the Colossians, God has ransomed or delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. St. Peter picks up that idea and tells us that our freedom has been purchased not with silver or gold, but with the Precious Blood of Christ. In other words, Jesus is the one who pays the price through his own blood to set us free.

Jesus is aware of what is going to transpire whence they arrived in Jerusalem. He knows what is being asked of him. The forces of darkness are asking him to pay the price for our freedom from darkness. Unfortunately, the apostles failed to understand the enormous price that Jesus will pay to set all of us free from the forces of darkness.

Hopefully, even though the apostles do not understand, anyone who has been ransomed by the Body and Blood of Jesus quickly comes to realize the immensity of the gift they have received. With their newfound freedom, it is as though they have been given a fresh start in life. That is certainly the case for each of us. As we come to this altar to receive the same Sacred Body, that same Precious Blood, by which we are set free, St. Peter asks us to commit ourselves to loving one another intensely. From a pure heart, because we too have been born anew.