Basic everyday bargaining and economic theory tell us that, to the purchaser, the object purchased is worth the price paid by the buyer.
We get a little uncomfortable applying this to humans, and rightly so. We just know that people are so much more unique and precious than a specific number of pieces of paper, even if that number is a very high number.
This is where the Cross of Jesus comes in. The Cross tells us that humanity is worth far more than any number of USD. Humanity is worth the blood of the God of the universe. The Old Testament tells us that “the life” of an organism is in its blood. When I say that humanity was purchased at the price of the blood of God, I’m saying that humanity is worth the life of God. At least to God we are.
Price is buyer specific. One person may only be willing to pay $1,000 for a particular coffee table, but another person may be willing to deem that it is worth $5,000. The same table has a different value in the eyes of different people.
In our scenario about humanity, the price of the blood of God has been paid by God. A convicted murderer in prison might not be worth much to us, but to God, that same man is worth the blood of Jesus. In the end God expects us to learn from and abide by such judgments.
Ephesians 2:4-5 tell us the reason that Jesus died on the Cross.
But BECAUSE OF HIS GREAT LOVE FOR US, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions…
Ephesians 2:4-5
Paul isn’t disputing the fact that God is merciful. He is however stating that what drove Jesus to the Cross was His great love for us. He goes on in verse 10 of the same chapter to reveal that we are God’s masterpieces, His greatest treasure.
When humanity begins to understand how much God (the creator of all that is sexy) has paid for us, we will begin to have a profound sense of identity.
The price that God paid for us only points to something deeper: that we were created in His image to be His very sons and daughters. This implies many things, one of which is that we have the ability to mature and become like Jesus. However, far before we ever get to that point, we can see that as His children there is a preciousness with which He views us. That preciousness is marked by a willingness to pay the blood of Jesus for us.
No matter what we do or don’t do, no matter what we produce or don’t produce, no matter who we please or don’t please, our value can never be any more or less than what it already is. As I tell my daughter, “You are as precious as the blood of Jesus.”.