How Much Is One Person Worth?

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” – Psalm 139:13-16.

One of the most powerful moments in The Martian is when Mark realizes the sacrifices that people made to try to save him—million-dollar missions abandoned, countless overtime hours worked, months spent traveling in space. Watney says, “The cost for my survival must have been hundreds of billions of dollars, all to save one dorky botanist. Why bother?”

The Martian is a story about just how far people will go to save someone who they’ve lost. It reminds us of the incredible lengths that God goes to save us: coming to this earth as a child to show us the way back to God, dying on a cross to pay for the things we have done wrong, and pursuing us in so many big and small ways throughout our lives. When we reflect on ourselves, we might say, oh I’m just one dorky salesman, or student or fireman. Yet Christ saw us as worthy of rescuing, and the cost of our rescue was the life of Jesus Christ.

Think about that for a second. Jesus came to Earth for you and me. “Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges, he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.” (Philippians 2:6-7) The Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthian believers, “You are not your own — for you were bought with a price.” There is not an illustration in all the vast reaches of time or space that could properly portray what Jesus did. Sometimes we try to fabricate imaginary circumstances to convey the idea of His sacrifice, but even the most creative of us fail miserably when we try to put the sacrifice of the cross into words. How can we truly understand the real meaning of Christ’s suffering and death on that cross.

Is one soul worth such an infinite price? The answer is yes. Christ’s love for people is repeatedly dramatized in the Bible in spiritual conversations with individuals. The gospels record some fascinating stories of Jesus’ interaction with people. Each encounter reveals something about the nature of Christ, enabling the reader to more deeply understand His mission. Jesus seemed to relish His conversations with all of these, from a despised tax collector (Zaccheus) to a respected Pharisee (Nicodemus) to the thief on the cross. This series emphasizes the love and compassion of Christ for humanity and His creation and the value He placed on people.

My prayer is that the immensity of the price Jesus paid for our redemption, stirs you to a greater devotion and commitment to the Savior who loves us so much.

Discussion Questions:

How does the “redemption” picture help you understand the meaning of the cross?
How can we live our life in a way that understands the price Jesus paid for us?