There is no better human feeling possible than receiving redemption. In the process of being redeemed, you leave the terrible circumstances you suffered through and gain something of great potential value. This transformation from bad to good happens simultaneously, thus the exhilaration.
Redemption is modernly defined as the action of
regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment or clearing a debt. However, the archaic definition
is: the action of buying one’s
freedom. This concept is introduced very early in The Book and repeated
throughout. Both definitions imply a transaction, an exchange based on a
payment.
In the historical context, if
you were captured, kidnapped, or in servitude, you needed to pay a price or
have someone else pay a price to be redeemed. If you failed to pay the price,
you either remained captive or were killed. Redemption, as tremendous as it
feels, comes with a cost. Typically, the cost is so high that someone else has
to pay it.
Redemption, and the required
payment, are the critical substance of Easter. Everything else in the narrative
only supports redemption. A price was paid for your deliverance—an ugly, disgusting,
sickening price—so that you could regain your freedom.
Right now, we are not
talking about religion, the story, the rules, or whatever. None of those things
comes close to being able to transform your life. Only redemption can do that. And
redemption is only possible if the price is paid. The only thing that matters
at all is - the price.
This brings us to the Great
Exchange. If you are willing to exchange your life as you own it – with the
mistakes, faults, shame, disillusionment, crap, etc. – you can redeem it for a
new one. People try to make it so complicated – but it’s not – it’s really just
this simple, by design.
Your redemption has been fully paid, a great price you can't pay on your own, by a check written in blood. The price of your redemption costs that much.
At Easter, we tend to focus
on the resurrection because it is so miraculous. However, what the resurrection
really means is that your redemption payment is validated—the check has
cleared. Resurrection makes me feel good—redemption makes me good. You can
leave the past behind with the opportunity for a much brighter future. In that,
redemption is miraculous on a personal level.
Deep inside, we hunger for
redemption—and that’s by design. That’s why the most incredible human emotion
possible is the joy you feel at the moment of spiritual redemption. There is no
word for that feeling in the English language. It is beyond words. The best I
can do is: internal rejoicing on an exponential level.
The fact that you have the
freedom to choose to be redeemed does not cheapen the price that was paid. You
hold that check, written in blood, in your hand. Whether you buy your
redemption with it, is up to you.
Be Ye Glad – (Michael Kelly
Blanchard)
Now from your dungeon a
rumor is stirring
Though you've heard it again and again
Now but this time your cell keys are turning
And outside there are faces of friends
Though your body lay
weary from wasting
And your eyes show the sorrow they had
Oh the love that your heart is now tasting
Has opened the gate be ye glad
Oh, be ye glad
Oh, be ye glad
Every debt that you ever had
Has been paid up in full
By the grace of the Lord
Be ye glad, be ye glad, be ye glad
