Please read this passage before reading this homily.
This letter was written, in part, to encourage Christians suffering for their belief in God. They had faced hassling, bigotry, discrimination from others for their faith in Jesus Christ. We may not be suffering the way they did, but we do have our struggles, anxieties and, perhaps, self-doubts as we make our way through life.
“God doesn’t make junk” was a bumper sticker years ago. St Francis was a POW once and was ransomed for a lot of cash. People nowadays are at times ransomed for a million dollars or more. The price paid in ransom is an estimate of how much kidnappers think a human life is worth to them.
The writer of this letter says that we have been ransomed, but not with silver, gold, or millions of dollars. Our ransom is priceless. The blood of Christ, which is worth more than all the gold and silver in the world. We are priceless, very valuable to God.
This ransom that God has brokered and satisfied has been a purification for us. It has taken us out of the filth of our prisons, for prisoners are not kept in penthouses and bridal suites but in squalor and filth. God’s ransom has restored us to our original state.
Since this is so and since we have been purified and returned to our loved ones, we must love one another with renewed love. We have been born anew from God’s generative seed. God’s word and God’s actions remain forever. This is the word that has been proclaimed to us.