Serfs and Lords

In school lately we have been learning about the age of the knights. We’ve learned about lords and ladies of various ranks and of the people who served beneath them. Life was not very good at all for the poor people – the serfs who lived under the authority of the lords. Often the animals of the landowners were treated better than the serfs.

One thing has struck me, though, as we’ve been learning all of this. In our American culture we have no true concept of serving and living under the authority of a lord. We have bosses, we have governmental authority figures, we have parents, we have teachers, we have pastors and we have teachers. But we do not have lords. Scripture talks extensively about serving Christ as Lord. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, but here in the United States we don’t have true examples of either one.

Serfs were the lowest of the low. They weren’t slaves – they were lower. Slaves would have been worth something because a price would have been paid for them. Serfs were the common people who barely existed. They lived in structures that barely passed as shelter. They grew food on their lord’s land for their lord and were allowed to keep just enough to keep themselves from starving. The wild game on the property was for the pleasure and food of the nobility – any peasant caught killing food on the land was charged with poaching and theft. But they couldn’t leave. They had nothing and nowhere to go, and often they were punished if they tried to escape from the land. They were totally and completely at the mercy of their lord. Although I’m sure there were very kindhearted people among the nobility who did have a heart for their people, the system insisted that even those who were better cared for remain fully and completely at the mercy of the residents of the castle.

Scripture claims that Jesus is the Lord of lords. Christ is to be our Lord. Do we really and truly understand that? Can we honestly say that we know what it is like to be totally subject to our Savior for our very existence? How often do we try to provide our own sustenance when we are supposed to be totally dependent on Him? How often do we attempt to protect ourselves and our children from the evils around us when the defenses of His kingdom are really the only ones that can protect us? How much of our every day life is lived in the shadow of the influence of our Lord? Oh that we might truly learn to acknowledge Him as our Lord in every aspect of life.

Oh, and I left out the very best thing…His status as Lord of lords indicates that He’s the best there is. He holds the standard for what earthly lordship should be, and His standard is kindness, justice, mercy, provision, and love – perfection in all aspects. We are not abused, mistreated, or neglected in His kingdom. Our Lord is the greatest, and we should greatly desire to be His.