For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
- Mark 10:45

Jesus did not come to be served. The Gospels contain images of people serving him: Martha scurrying to provide food, the Samaritan woman giving him something to drink, Zacchaeus opening his home to host Jesus. There’s nothing wrong with being served. But that wasn’t why Jesus came.

In Jesus God comes to earth for a very particular purpose: to provide for us a beautiful service.

We each have been trapped by our sin. To paraphrase the apostle Paul, we know lots of good things to do but just can’t seem to do them all. And the bad things we don’t want to do, we end up doing them anyway. Our slavery to sin keeps us from being and becoming the people we want to be, the people God wants us to be.

In the ancient world, slaves could be freed if someone was willing to pay for them. The price to set a slave free was called their “ransom.” That same term is commonly used today in kidnapping situations.

Jesus came to pay our ransom so that we could be set free to join God’s family. He paid our ransom by taking our place of servitude, becoming a slave in our stead, and ultimately by laying down his life on the cross.

Jesus did this for us even though we didn’t know we needed it, even though we never asked for it, even if we don’t exactly know what to do with it or believe about it. Jesus gave his life for us.

How will we respond to Jesus’ great act of service? Gratitude. Shame. Joy. Confusion. Worship. So many responses are available to us.

Take some time today to reflect on Jesus’ great act of service: he laid down his life for you. What is your emotional response to what he’s done? How does what he’s done change the way you think and live today?