Ransomed
In March of 1987, eight-year-old Marco Fiora was kidnapped at gunpoint. For seventeen months he was held in a mountain hideout in Italy, his captors demanding a two-million-dollar ransom. When police got close to where he was held, his captors placed him on a trail with the order: “Walk!”
The national news media carried coverage of the boy’s recovery, and many rejoiced. However, the mother’s joy was dampened when her returned son looked at her without any emotion in his eyes and asked, “Why didn’t you pay the ransom? You don’t want me back, do you?”
The kidnappers had told the boy that his parents didn’t love him because they were not willing to pay the ransom. The ransom sum demanded was beyond what his parents were able to pay, but the kidnappers had repeated their lie to the boy so many times that he believed them.
The question, “Why didn’t you pay the ransom?” can never be asked of God, for He paid the supreme ransom for our sakes. We cannot doubt His love, because of the cost of that ransom. “Redeemed…with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).
