"A Ransom for Many"

My very first teaching job was as a teaching assistant at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT. That was 1981, when I was 24. I assisted the professor in a course called the Gospel of Mark. The pages of Mark in my old Bible are REALLY marked up (no pun intended) with notes from that course.  It was a fascinating journey through the shortest and possibly the earliest gospel.

I remember that the professor pointed out what he considered the key verse of this gospel, 10:45, “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

The shaping of Mark’s text is interesting. In 10:32-34, Jesus cautions the disciples what would happened to the Son of Man once they reached Jerusalem, the place to which they were traveling. In the next pericope, James and John get into trouble for wanting a place of honor when Jesus is in glory. Jesus instructs them, and then instructs all the disciples that greatness has to do with service. Thus 10:45: even the Son of Man offers his life in service and ransom to others. The next section is the healing of blind Bartimaeus, and the apparent positioning of stories contrasts the physical blindness of Bartimaeus with the figurative blindness of the disciples.

The word “ransom” brings to mind adventure stories wherein a kidnapped person will be released if the kidnappers are paid a designated sum of money---not incommensurate with some theories of the Atonement where Christ's blood buys us back from the captivity of sin and death. This morning I happened to pick of an older paperback of mine, Karl Adam’s The Christ of Faith (Pantheon Books, 1957), which concerns Roman Catholic christology. His thoughts on ransom (pp. 350-357) are placed in context with Catholic teaching but are not solely Catholic.

Fr. Adam makes a variety of connections with the word---the Greek is lutron---and with the whole verse, Mark 10:45. The service of the Son of Man connects us back to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 52:13-53:12, and in turn the section 10:32-34 where Jesus describes his brutal sufferings that (without Mark specifically quoting Isaiah) are in keeping with the Suffering Servant’s abuse.

Interestingly, Matthew uses that ransom saying in chapter 20, where we find similar positionings of stories of suffering, greatness, and blindness. In keeping with the Synoptic practice we might expect Luke to use the saying and the stories similarly as Matthew. But (Fr. Adam points out) Luke does not use the ransom saying. Instead, and significantly, Luke uses the pericope about greatness in a different context: within the story of the Last Supper (Luke 22:24-30), where Luke also has Jesus specifically quote from the Suffering Servant passage of Isaiah (Luke 22:37).

This ties together several things among the three gospels: Jesus’ suffering as a “ransom for many,” his suffering as a fulfillment of the Isaiah passage, and this suffering expressed in the Eucharist where Jesus’ blood is poured out “for many” (Matthew and Mark).

But the Last Supper passages also connect us to the Torah: the phrase “blood of the covenant” used first by Moses in Exodus 24:8) where he sprinkles the blood of sacrificed calves upon the people. Now the blood of Jesus rather than the blood of peaceful calves is shed for the people called to covenant with God.

Fr. Adam also connects “ransom” to various statements of Paul concerning Christ’s redeeming work. Paul does not use that word but his teachings about redemption (i.e., buying back from danger, for instance 1 Cor. 1:30, Rom. 3:24, Col. 1:14), and “bought at a great price (1 Cor. 6:20), are similar and related though not identical. Fr. Adam notes that Luke (Paul’s associate) does not use “ransom,” nor do either Paul or Luke use the words “for many” in their respective eucharistic passages. Fr. Adam argues that Luke’s citation of Isaiah within the Last Supper passage was sufficient to make the point concerning Jesus’ abuse and death for our sakes.

I checked both my old Interpreter’s Bible and the New Interpreter’s Bible. Those authors make the same point in different ways: that “ransom” in Matthew and Mark is certainly a resource for but is not yet a fully developed doctrine of the Atonement. However you understand the theological meaning of Christ’s sufferings, we are certainly focused upon them today, Maundy Thursday, and through Good Friday and Holy Saturday until we can celebrate Christ’s resurrection on Sunday morning. That "key verse" of Mark is filled with meaning, darkness, and light during these final hours of Holy Week.