A couple of years ago at the height of the COVID pandemic lockdowns around the globe, the renowned auction house Sotheby’s set a record.
While auctions, and perhaps most especially those offering unique or rare items with extraordinarily high price tags, are by and large in-person affairs, this particular auction was conducted entirely online. The sale generated in excess of $6.4 million dollars, which was a new online auction record for Sotheby’s. Taking the top dollar spot by pulling a winning bid of $1.3 million was George Condo’s “Antipodal Reunion.”
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that being an art critic is not one of my claims to fame. Not once have I ever received a call from a prospective buyer asking for my opinion of a work’s value. The greatest depth of experience I have in assessing original works of art all involves masterpieces colored by my children and grandchildren. That disclaimer being said, I’ve got to admit that you’d have to pay me the $1.3 million to display “Antipodal Reunion” in my home. While that may be more of a condemnation of the critic than the artist, it is true nonetheless.
Sometimes I look at prices paid for things and find myself scratching my head and wondering what on earth the buyer saw that made the price worthwhile.
Today’s verse fits that pattern pretty well.
GOD BOUGHT YOU WITH A HIGH PRICE. SO YOU MUST HONOR GOD WITH YOUR BODY.
The price God was willing to offer for you and I was exorbitant. He gave His one and only Son and offered Him to pay the price for our sin. Jesus’ death was an excruciating series of tortures that He willing endured because there was no other way. He loved us THAT much.
It was a decision driven by perfect love and absolute commitment.
I have five sons. While I still have my challenges, I like to think of myself as a generally loving and kind person, given to more generosity than I can really afford. But let me tell you something – you can’t have any of my sons. If there’s a debt you owe that’s going to require the life of one of my boys, then you’re in real trouble! I’m not paying it.
But God did !!! The Word became flesh and willingly came dwelt among us. We have seen his glory, the resplendent glory that could only be possessed by the Father’s one and only Son. A glory filled with grace and truth. He came, He lived, and then He offered His life for yours and mine.
Walk down the streets of your city, town or village and look at some of the people for whom He paid such a high price. Among the lot are some folks that couldn’t exactly be described as the most desirable. Gang members, pimps and prostitutes all made the list of those for whom God paid the ultimate price. Wife beaters, child molesters, and murderers made it as well. Even people who are such lovers of self and haters of God that they invent new ways of doing evil. Not the “Whistler’s Mother” type of folk that one might THINK God would prefer, but the “L’Homme qui Marche” sort that you look at and say, “Huh? Why them ?!?!”
You, me, all of them and many, many others — God bought us all with a price too high.
And in so doing established an inestimable value in each of us. For, whether we can discern any beauty or worth from our vantage point, God’s actions have set a price and thereby declared our value. You and I, we’re of great value to God. We’re precious. Treasured.
GOD BOUGHT YOU WITH A HIGH PRICE. SO YOU MUST HONOR GOD WITH YOUR BODY.
The price paid determines the value of everything. Our value was purchased, not with money, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. And so we are precious. We were bought with a price, so we must not become the slaves of men. We were bought with a price, so neither can we become slaves to sin. You and I must honor God with our body.
We must.
The scripture asks us, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” He increases our value, a value established by the price He paid, by adding HIS SPIRIT within us. You and I, we are not our own.
That is why He tells us to pay careful attention to ourselves. It is why He has commanded those who serve as His Bishops to pay careful attention, not only to ourselves, but also to all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made us overseers. As overseers we are responsible to care for the Church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
Discovering a priceless work of art is an incredible find. In 2016 an original masterpiece by Rembrandt was rediscovered when it fell off the wall of a country home in Rome, Italy. It had sat in the house unrecognized. For generations the family thought they owned a beautiful copy of the master’s lost work; never realizing they owned the original. The fall damaged the frame, but not the work itself. It was in the restoration that the piece was identified.
You and I have been identified by the master artist as the work of His hands. An original masterpiece of much more value than anyone who has been looking at us ever thought.
But now that we know – we should act like it.
We were bought with too high a price to do otherwise.
GOD BOUGHT YOU WITH A HIGH PRICE. SO YOU MUST HONOR GOD WITH YOUR BODY.
