1 Peter 1:18-19 “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”

If Peter had been writing these words today, he might have chosen something more valuable than silver or gold to compare to the price Jesus paid for our redemption–platinum or diamonds, stock in Google or Apple–but it would have made little difference in the comparison. If you were to put them all together and chart their value next to that which follows, they wouldn’t even be a mathematical point sitting at the very bottom of the chart.

Perhaps that vast difference explains why it is so difficult to appreciate the price with which Jesus did redeem us. We were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. One could go and find what hospitals charge for a unit of blood these days, but that is no help. How does one put a price on something so unearthly as the blood of God’s own Son?

Remembering that Jesus is God’s own Son, we might draw comparisons between how we value people dear to us–our parents or our children–and how God the Father must value Jesus, as I and other pastors have done in sermons. Pondering the thought of killing your own child certainly has an emotional impact. But again, can our love for family even begin to compare with the perfect love God the Father has for his perfect Son? Can we even begin to know the value that Jesus has to him?

Finally, no illustration can enable us to grasp it, and no mountains of descriptions will enable us to feel its worth. Martin Luther points out that even the tiniest drop of Jesus blood would have been so precious, so valuable, that it could have paid for the sins of the world, but God the Father is so gracious that he permitted his only Son to pour out all his blood as our innocent lamb of sacrifice. All that we can do is ponder this. All that that we can do is consider the cost. As we take the time to give it our serious attention, perhaps it will help us to value our redemption even more.