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At Teensing last night (thanks to Dennis and Kathy for hosting!), we sang Pierce My Ear. It's a beautiful song with beautiful lyrics:

Pierce my ear, oh, Lord my God.
Take me to your door this day.
I will serve no other God.
Lord, I'm here to stay.

For you have paid the price for me.
With your blood, you've ransomed me.
I will serve you eternally.
A free man I'll never be.

Pierce my ear, oh, Lord my God.
Take me to your door this day.
I will serve no other God.
Lord, I'm here to stay.
Lord, I'm here to stay.

[See the Youtube video down below to listen/sing along.]

There's no doubt that those lyrics are strange without context. The song isn't asking for a divine ear-piercing for the purpose of "external adornment," as Peter put it. Rather, it's a reference to a section of the Old Law: Deuteronomy 15:12-18.

There, God gives instructions on freeing slaves. After seven years of service, the Hebrew people were to free their slaves and send them on their way with substantive material blessings – "As the LORD your God has blessed you, you shall give to him." If, however, the slave chose to remain enslaved, God laid down a different plan of action.

Wait – read that last sentence again. If a slave chose to remain enslaved...? In our society, freedom is one of our highest virtues. We will sacrifice almost anything in order to be and feel free. In the U.S., we are blessed with tremendous freedoms. To some extent, we appreciate the value of freedom.

However, one can only imagine that a slave would appreciate that value in a special way. The lack of freedom a slave endures would seem to inspire an intense desire to be free – as the old song says, "Free at last." Why, then, would a slave choose to remain a slave? Read it with me:

But if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever.

Because he loves you. A slave could choose to remain a slave because he loved his master. In response to that, his ear would be pierced as a tangible representation of his love-incited choice.

In other words: the steel-pierced ear was a sign of a love-pierced heart. Take a moment to pray this prayer with me as we begin a new week:

Father, I want to renew my lifelong covenant with you. Today, as every day, I want to take up my cross and give my life to you. I want my ear pierced through as a sign of my dedication to you. I want my heart pierced through with love for you and your household. Thank you for being such a caring, compassionate, gracious master. Please help me to serve you better today than yesterday. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.