A number of years ago, after my wife and I left the local Assembly of God “Christian Life Centre” where we regularly worshiped, I ministered to a pretend pro-Jewish “church” (a real “Clayton’s church” — “the church you have when you don’t have a church”), on the Gold Coast of Australia, that called itself The Olive Tree Fellowship. It was a tenure that was short-lived as most of the congregation were outright anti-Semites. They wanted (on the one hand) to identify with persecuted people (hence the Jewish “bent”) but (on the other hand) didn’t like to know how Jews think, and how they have always thought. They thought that they themselves were “true believers” but — as I brought Jewish thoughtform to light — their historic Christian (really, Constantinian) predisposition’s quickly surfaced and I found myself in doctrinal controversy after doctrinal controversy. I would not back down on God’s truth, so I resigned amidst furor and hypocrisy. I have kept a diary of those days and it makes interesting reading indeed, looking back!

I recall mentioning (during a sermon I gave one pagan Sunday morning service) that the Messiah wore earrings. Well, as a result of mentioning that fact, we lost at least three families and a large number of single people. Why such a rift over a seaming trifle? One lady said to me later that she equated the wearing of earrings by a male as a display of homo-sexuality!  Another told me emphatically that “The Messiah was not a woman!” The latter comment was intriguing considering she made a previous point of disagreeing with me over the proper pronunciation of the name of the Lord. She claimed it was Yeshua — a feminine name in Hebrew! Yep, I get an occasional chuckle reflecting on the past history my wife and I have had with some “true” believers, more than I do over memories of our relationships with happy healthy pagans — believe it or not.

But what about earrings? Did Our Lord Yeshu wear them? Is it even an issue? Believe me — it’s an issue with remarkable spiritual implications for each and every one of us.

The Torah stated clearly that a Hebrew slave was to be released after six years of service and that his employer (slave master) had to supply him with sufficient remuneration to re-establish himself as a productive citizen of society. “If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you…and you shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress…it shall not seem hard to you, when you let him go free from you; for at half the cost of a hired servant he has served six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do” (Deut 15.12-18).

Dr Ken Chant, a mentor of mine, discussing this situation of ancient slavery and the provisions of the Mosaic Law, has written, that “a prerequisite for freedom is always to love it passionately. But there are still many who, deep at heart, prefer bondage. We meet them all the time: alcoholics and drug addicts who fail to respond to prayer simply because they are afraid to face life, their problem gives them an excuse for failure; or sick people, who seek healing but don’t find it because actually they don’t want it – they would like to be rid of the pain of their affliction, but they enjoy the sympathy, attention, and seclusion it brings them, and they don’t really want to get well; or smokers, who remain chained to their habit because they can’t bear to lose the comfort and relief they imagine it brings them; or sinners, who never master their sin because deep inside they love it too much; and so on. Know this: you are unlikely to be free unless you want freedom more than anything else on earth! If you are content to remain bound, the Tempter will be content to hold you in bondage. But if you insist on liberty you will find it, for Christ has already written your release!” (K. Chant, Great Words of the Gospel. Studies in the Major Themes of Salvation., 1991, 8-18).

I agree wholeheartedly with my mentor, Dr Chant! Moses had somewhat to say about just such a situation as Chant describes. “If the slave says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your bond man forever” (Deut 15.16,17).

Now, please take note! The Word of God (not the word of Les Aron Gosling) describes Our Lord Yeshu as a slave with his ear bored! Notice it now, in a Messianic Psalm, and in the writings of the prophet Isaiah: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears have you pierced” (Ps 40.6). “The Lord God has pierced my ear, and I was not rebellious” (Isa 
50.5 Hebrew).

What does this mean to us who serve God in the final few years left of this world’s present evil age? The ONLY method available to the Messiah to FREE US from the Dark Lord’s icy grip was to become a slave Himself — to leave eternity and to enter His own creation as a mere mortal to taste the degradation and humiliation of human experience and finally succumb to awful rejection, persecution, hatred, insult, lash, rape and spike (Phil 2.6-8). Never a truer word was spoken but that those who desire to experientially know the fellowship of God’s Son (who willingly became a slave), must them-selves  become slaves that they may be sons — sons of GOD, children of FREEDOM and LIBERTY.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,” said the Messiah, “for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Mt 11.28-30).

Our Lord Yeshu loved us enough to die for us. Our Lord Yeshu gave Himself for our ETERNAL release. His ear was pierced right through. Do we LOVE serving Him, as He loved serving us?

The Messiah said clearly enough that He is our “Door” (Jn 10.7). There is only ONE ENTRANCE — one Door — through which we may walk with complete confidence into eternity.

Are we GLAD our ears are pierced to the DOOR?