So we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. – 1 Thessalonians 2:8

Today's Scripture Reading (March 19, 2024): 1 Thessalonians 1 & 2

Saladin laid siege to the city of Jerusalem on September 20, 1187. In the actual siege of Jerusalem, Saladin demanded a ransom for each person in Jerusalem whom he was willing to set free. The price was the equivalent today of about $50. Considering the price he could have demanded, the ransom was small, almost insignificant. But even this price was beyond the capability of some of the inhabitants of the Holy City. However, the ransom was paid, and the people left Jerusalem, turning it over to Saladin and his Muslim army.

This idea of ransom is something that we make a lot of within the Christian community. We were bought at a price, a ransom. As I stand before God, there is nothing I can do, no sacrifice I can make, and no price I can pay. Not even my life is enough to pay the ransom price that is hanging over my head. But God was willing to pay the ransom that I couldn't pay, much like the rich of Jerusalem paid for those who could not pay Saladin's price.

The Church's response to Saladin's taking of Jerusalem was the Third Crusade. Part of what made the Crusades so wrong was that they argued that you could put a price on salvation. The religious structure promised that if the knights joined the battle for Jerusalem, all of their sins committed in the past, the present, and the future would be forgiven. The religious elite seemed to miss that forgiving sin wasn't within their power. Our sin is forgiven because Jesus died on a cross on the receiving end of the violence of the Roman guard, not because we were willing to be the instruments of violence that was bestowed on Jews and Muslims and anyone else who might stand up against the will of the Church, and even some who were part of the Christian Church. And today, the list of people we are taking a stand (sometimes violent) against is way too long.

The Bible says the grand result of sin is death, but the gift of God is life. But if the result of sin is death, then it is a debt so high that I cannot pay it. It is a cost much higher than the ransom Saldin demanded in Jerusalem and even higher than the gift that the Church promised the Crusaders; the cost is all of us. The price is the complete surrender of our lives to God.

Paul begins this section of the passage with these words, "Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much" (1 Thessalonians 2:7b-8a). And sometimes our response, if we are honest, is that we don't feel like loving that person. And my response should be, too bad, salvation and entrance into the Kingdom of God comes at a cost, which is Paul's point. We shared with you our lives because that is the cost of our faith. Jesus gave his life on a cross for me, so my only response is to lay down my life, my wants and desires, and love you with everything that I have. Sometimes, that is an arduous task, and I fall short of the goal. But the only reason any of this is possible is because God's love flows through me and us, flowing in and out of our lives from God to those who accompany us on this sacred journey we call life.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Thessalonians 3 & 4