My Ears You Have Pierced

Exodus 21:1-6 provides a most beautiful picture of love and commitment. 

    Under the Law of Moses, if an Israelite bought a Hebrew slave, he would serve for six years; but on the seventh he can go out as a free man without payment. If he comes in alone, he shall go out alone; if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.  If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master and the slave shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, “I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man;” Then his master shall bring him to God (to the judges who act in God’s name), then he shall bring him to the door or doorpost.  And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl for all to see; and he will serve his master forever.  The slave considered the shame of being a slave as nothing because of his love and commitment to his master and his family.

Application to Christ!

    The Psalmist wrote: “Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; burnt offering and sin offering You have not required – Psa. 40:6. David applies these verses to Christ – Heb. 10:4-6. “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. He said, sacrifice and offering You have not desired, but a body you have prepared for Me.”

    The body God prepared was the body of His only begotten Son who took on the form of a servant, permanently, and was made flesh and dwelt among us, qualifying Him as our one mediator back to the Father – Phil. 2:8; Jn. 1:14; 1 Tim. 2:5.

    Back in Ex. 21:6, because of his sincere love for his master and his family, the slave could show his pierced ear proudly and consider it as nothing.  He was not ashamed to remain as a slave.   

What About Christ?

    A hole was not punched through the ear of Christ with an awl.  Rather, six-inch spikes were driven through His wrists and feet showing His eternal commitment and determination to do His Father’s will and not His own.  What about Christ having to die with the worst of criminals in that most shameful death of crucifixion?  The writer of Hebrews wrote: “…who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame…” The Greek word, despising,  kataphroneo, has a different meaning than we would ordinarily understand the word to mean.  It means, “to think little or nothing of a thing.”   Christ’s love and commitment to the Father, and the joy set before Him, made the shame of the cross seem as nothing even to consider. Christ was not ashamed to show the print of the spikes in His wrists and feet. He showed them to His disciples giving proof of His crucifixion and His resurrection from the dead (John 20:19-20, 27-28).

Application

    It is highly unlikely that we will ever have our ear pierced with an awl or our wrists and feet pierced with six-inch spikes. But how may we  show the world our love and total commitment to the Lord who died for us? Can they see Christ  in us, our very hope of glory (Col. 1:27)?  Can they see our persecution because of godly living in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:12)?

    Because of the joy set before Him, Jesus considered the shame of the cross as nothing. Will we feel the same way when we see Jesus? Like the refrain of one of our songs: “And the toils of the road will seem nothing, when I get to the end of the way.”

    Oh, Lord, open our ears that the world may see the love and commitment we have for Thee!  In Jesus name,  Amen!

View Full Content Source:
https://www.southsideonline.org/articles/2026/03/29/my-ears-you-have-pierced