A King's Ransom

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2020:25-28&version=NIV

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+31:5&version=NASB

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy%202:5-6&version=NIV

A King’s Ransom.  Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase before.  It refers to a large sum of money.  Such as “The price of a new truck these days is the equivalent of a king’s ransom.”  The phrase originated in the 15th century and referred to the large sum of money a country had to pay in order to have their king, who was captured in a war, returned to them safely.

In March 1938, Germany invaded neighboring Austria and annexed it.  This meant that all Austrians now were under German law.  For most Austrians, this did not radically change anything.  Except Jews.  Austrian Jews immediately came under the harsh and repressive German laws which discriminated against them.  Under the 1935 Nuremberg Racial Laws, a person was considered a Jew if 3 or 4 of their grandparents were Jewish.  This resulted in confiscation of property, sentence to a concentration camp and ultimately death.  However, if a person only had 1 or 2 Jewish grandparents they were considered ‘mixed blood’.  They still suffered restrictions in the areas of education, marriage and employment but at least they didn’t have to worry about being imprisoned and killed.

Trapped inside Austria were some siblings of the famous Austrian philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein.  The Wittgensteins, who were among the richest families in Austria, were of Jewish descent although they had long-since converted to Catholicism.  Ludwig was living in Ireland at the time and subsequently applied for and received British citizenship.  Unfortunately, his siblings were now trapped inside German-controlled Austria.  Wittgenstein’s brother, Paul, immediately and secretly left the country with his wife and fled to England.  Another sister, Gretl, was married to an American and was safe.  However another sister was in great peril due to her Jewish roots.

Immediately Ludvig, Gretl & Paul began working on a plan to rescue their sister.  They put in a request to have her reclassified from being a ‘Jew’ to a person of 'mixed blood'.  Unfortunately this request had to be personally approved by Hitler himself.  In 1939, records show that there were 2,100 requests for reclassification.  Hitler approved only 12.  Fortunately, the Wittgenstein’s sister received a reclassification.  This enabled her to leave the country and avoid subsequent persecution and death.  The reclassification came at a great price however.  The 3 Wittgenstein siblings were forced to pay the Nazi’s 1.7 metric tons of gold.  If this sounds like a lot, it is.  As of last month’s price of gold, that amounted to $103,000,000!  That is an exorbitant amount of money.  It is truly a king’s ransom.  But that is what the Wittgenstein’s siblings were willing to pay to get their sister out of Austria and to freedom.

While $103,000,000 is a lot of money it is nothing compared to the cost of our salvation.  God, in His great love and mercy, ransomed us from the control of Satan by an even steeper price - the blood of Jesus Christ, His only Son.  In I Peter 1:18-19 we are told, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”  The death of Jesus for our sins is truly the definition of a king’s ransom.  If this doesn’t scream love and worth to us, nothing will!

Lord, I thank you that You loved me so much that You ransomed me from the power and control of Satan.  That ransom came at an incredible cost - the death of Your only Son.  May I never forget it.  May I always be humbled by it.  May I live a life worthy of it.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.