A Bondservant

Luke 22:50
This is a seemingly insignificant person mentioned here in the form of the bondservant who has an ear cut off and healed.  But it is of extreme importance, providing us with a crucial truth and warning.  A bondservant is a slave who has fulfilled his term as a servant for 6 years, and then in the seventh year he is set to go free, equipped with provision from his master, to help ensure his success as he ventures out on his own.  However, when this time comes, out of pure love and devotion to his master, he revokes his right to freedom, and instead chooses to remain a slave for life to his master, giving up whatever rights or entitlements he would have been given.  He will now serve his master for the rest of his life (Deuteronomy 15:12-17).  This is a truly beautiful picture of love and devotion, when one's heart is truly wrapped up and lost in his master.  Numerous people throughout the Bible refer to themselves as bondservants of Jesus Christ.  It is an incredible relationship and statement made when one opts for this life in Christ.  But should it be that surprising?  Should this not be anyone's natural reaction when encountering Jesus?  After all, he is the only one deserving of this type of commitment, as he alone is purely loving, good, kind, gracious, merciful, holy and righteous, all-sufficient, perfect, and worthy of our heart's and affections and desires.  He alone is worthy of giving up all our "freedoms" for and all that entails and implies, for however long our life may be here on this earth.  Why, in light of who he is, would we ever choose anything or anyone else to give ourselves to in bondservanthood?  He alone can be trusted.  And yet, here in this verse, we see a horrific perversion of this truth, as this man here has forever linked himself and devoted himself to a mere mortal, another human being, in the form of a high priest.  He has revoked any chance and opportunity for freedom and liberty in order to serve another human being, who offers benefits and advantages in this life only, and at some point will perish just like his bondservant.  He has chosen to bind himself to an earthly creature, an empty vessel, that is going down with the ship, all stemming from a fleshly mindset, which is death and deception (Romans 8:5-6).  He has given himself over in deception and neglect to eternal life and truth, and will pay for it for eternity.  But let us not be so quick to pity this man, for we are this man.  Everyone of us, not matter what you may think, have latched ourselves, yoked ourselves to someone or something (Romans 6:16).  To think otherwise is to be deceived and in disagreement with God's Word.  We all are a bondservant to someone or something.  We all have revoked our rights in order to serve something, in obedience to something.  We all listen to and follow something, either Jesus or something else, and it really doesn't matter what that something else is, for if it is not Jesus it is eternal damnation.  And if we are of the mindset that we are still trying to decide who we will be a bondslave of, we have in reality already made our choice.  And once one has chosen his lifetime commitment it cannot be changed, for it is a lifetime covenant.  It is impossible to retake one's own life after having given it away.  One would have to die to be freed from their previous covenant, and then raised to life in a new covenant, which is clearly impossible.  However, praise be to God that one has come and done the impossible and one has come and died to the previous and been raised to life in the new.  And praise be to God that he now offers us this if we will but turn to him in weakness and repentance, asking the God of the impossible to do the impossible within us.