There’s an old illustration about a chicken and a pig sitting down to a breakfast of ham and eggs. The chicken made a contribution. The pig made a sacrifice.
I’ve been looking for a more refined way to say that for years and haven’t found one, mostly because it’s too accurate. There’s a real difference between contributing to something and sacrificing for it, and Jesus puts his finger right on it in one of the most important sentences he ever spoke about himself. If you’ve wondered about the meaning of “a ransom for many,” that’s where it starts, and it ends up somewhere very practical for anyone who serves.
The request that set it up
In Mark 10, James and John come to Jesus with a request. They want the two seats of honor in his coming kingdom, one at his right hand and one at his left (Mark 10:37). When the other ten hear about it, they’re indignant.
Jesus doesn’t rebuke their ambition. He redefines it.
“You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all” (Mark 10:42–44).
In God’s kingdom, greatness looks like service to others rather than authority over them. Then Jesus points to himself as the example.
What “ransom” means
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
The Greek word for ransom is lytron. In the ancient world, it was the price paid to free a slave or a prisoner. It’s a transaction word. Someone is held, a price is set, and someone pays it.
Jesus is saying that his life is the price paid for others’ freedom. He didn’t chip in toward it. He paid the whole price and gave everything.
And then he holds that up as the model for his followers. The implied question for anyone who claims to follow him isn’t What are you willing to contribute? It’s What are you willing to sacrifice?
Contributors and sacrificers
In a working garage, the difference shows up fast.
Some volunteers contribute. They show up when it’s convenient, do what they’re comfortable with, and leave when they’ve given what they planned to give. That’s not nothing. No ministry could function without contributors, and I’m grateful for every one of them.
But the people who change things are the ones who sacrifice. They stay when the job runs long, and they give something that actually costs them instead of just their surplus.
Chuck is our lead mechanic at The Garage at Living Faith. He runs multiple work sessions a week. He takes ownership of jobs the way a good foreman takes ownership of a worksite, not “I did my part,” but “this gets finished.” When a job runs over, Chuck runs over with it.
He has also been going through a difficult season at home. I won’t share what isn’t mine to share. What I will say is that he has walked through real personal pain while he kept showing up and kept leading and kept serving people whose problems are different from his own. He gets support from the community of the garage and gives hope to others at the same time.
Chuck is living proof that you don’t have to have your life together before you can help someone else.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote The Cost of Discipleship before the Nazis hanged him in 1945. He didn’t think sacrifice was an advanced course for a few super-Christians. To him it was the front door.
When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.
Dying to convenience
We’re not being asked to die. Jesus already paid the ransom, and nobody else needs to. But we are being asked to die to some things, like convenience and comfort and the idea that service should always be manageable.
That looks different for different people. For one volunteer it’s staying an extra hour when the job isn’t done. For another it’s showing up on a week when life at home is hard. Somebody else might give up a Saturday they had planned for themselves, or take the job nobody wanted, or serve next to someone they find difficult.
Real service costs something. That isn’t a flaw in the system, either, because we’re following a Savior who gave his life.
An honest self-check
A few questions worth asking, whatever team you serve on:
- Am I currently more of a contributor or a sacrificer? What’s the practical difference for me?
- How does Jesus’ definition of greatness affect my ambitions in this ministry? Am I looking for a seat, or for a towel?
- Have I ever served when my own circumstances made it costly? What was that like?
- If the question is “What am I willing to sacrifice?” instead of “What am I willing to contribute?”, how does my answer change?
Don’t answer those to beat yourself up. Some seasons of life only allow a contribution, and that’s honest. But ask them anyway, because the ransom language demands a real answer.
Start with one costly thing
This is the sixth chapter of Full Service, my book for volunteers. If you lead a serving team, the free leader’s guide has discussion questions for every chapter, built for a monthly team meeting.
So where do you begin? The next time a job runs long, stay until it’s finished. Or pick one hour this month that actually costs you something, and give it. You’ll find out what the pig already knew, which is that sacrifice is where the real change happens.
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