7. Господин и его купленный раб

We see that the slave serves the master who bought him from another. Christ, the Son of God, redeemed us for Himself from the devil and his dark power. He redeemed him not with silver and gold or any other perishable price, but with His Blood. He did not spare His blood for our sake, He did not renounce to suffer and die in order to redeem us and appropriate it to Himself. And although Satan flatteringly took possession of us and enslaved us, Christ, our Lord, stood up for us and delivered us from bitter slavery, and appropriated us to Himself, and made us His slaves. And at Holy Baptism, when we entered Christianity, we renounced this enemy, all his pride, all his evil deeds, and promised to serve our Redeemer Jesus. “And you are not your own. For you are bought with a price" (1 Cor. 6:19-20). What price is given for us? Silver or gold? No! What then? Honorable blood has been shed! Whose is it? Is it a simple man? No! Who is He who dealt so mercifully with us that He did not spare His Blood for us, enslaved by the enemy and tormentor? Our Lord and God! “He purchased us with His Blood.” His own” (Acts 20:28). O truly great price, priceless price given for us! Truly we are not our own, but purchased servants of Christ! We must serve Christ, as our Lord, who bought us, do His will and fulfill His commandments. “And Christ died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again for them” (2 Cor. 5:15). The master commands the slave, and the slave listens. He tells him: do this, and he does it. Go there, and he goes. Collect it on the table, and collect it. Christ our Lord commands us: Christian, love your neighbor as yourself; be merciful, humble, meek, pliable; beware of all sin, and so on. We must, as His bought servants, do what He commands us. Moreover, we promised to serve Him with our own will, and this service is useful to us, and not to Him. He honored us so dearly that He did not spare Himself for our sake. "God! What is a person that You remember him? And son of man, why do You visit him” (Ps. 8:5)? Let us also honor Him, who has so honored us. Let us serve Him with all humility, as our Lord. Then He will recognize us and recognize us as His servants on the day of His Second Coming, and will say to each of us: “Good and faithful servant! ...Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21). You might be interested in: