This sermon is by James Choung of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. You are also invited to visit James’ blog at http://www.jameschoung.net/.
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What are you worth? What is your value? I tried to find out for myself, so I went to the most reliable source for information in this world: the Internet. (I’m joking.) So, I Googled "what are you worth" and found a website called humanforsale.com, which places a dollar value on your life. When I told my wife, she first said that I was worth a million dollars to her. But I only laughed: "Only a million?" According to the site, I’m worth $3,098,490. Avg. male: $1,826,769. But later she said I was priceless. Aw.
But another person was worth $400 online. On February 8, 2001 at 4:36p, the listing for "20 yr-old Seattle boy’s SOUL, hardly used" was sold on eBay for $400. The soul in question? Adam Burtle, a UW student and part-time automotive technician from Woodinville, WA. He had a picture of himself wearing an "I’m with stupid" T-shirt. He wrote, "Please realize, I make no warranties as to the condition of the soul. As of now, it is near mint condition, with only minor scratches. Due to difficulties involved with removing my soul, the winning bidder will either have to settle for a night of yummy Thai food and cool indie flicks, or wait until my natural death."
The bidding took off in the last hour, when the price shot up from $56 to $400. Burtle, an atheist, said a former girlfriend bid $6.66. He said, "I was happy to be past $7.50."
But others don’t even feel worth that much. They feel quite the opposite. Like Shusako Endo, a revered Japanese Christian who wrote the book "Silence", wrote about being rejected in his home country for believing a "western" religion, and then when he was an international student in France at the end of WWI, and was labeled a "slanty-eyed gook." He felt rejected in his homeland and his spiritual homeland at the same time. Some of us understand what it’s like to feel constantly rejected, blaming our race or looks or personality or bad luck, or even recurring sins. Some of us carry with us always a sense of unworthiness and rejection. You just feel worthless, and at some point, you start believe it.
An outcast: what was he worth? (Mk 5:1-5)
We meet someone who also feels worthless in Scripture. Read Mark 5:1-5. Whether or not you believe in evil spirits, this guy was in bad shape. How did he end up living in tombs? Can you imagine this phone call: "Um, is this Decapolis Real Estate? Yes, I’m looking for some place quiet, with few distractions. But, something affordable. Do you have something like that?" No, he didn’t choose this place. This was the haunt of evil spirits, and nobody would’ve lived there. He’s a nobody, left for dead in a cemetery. What messages of worth do you think he must have received? The townspeople made it very clear: "we’ve picked the right place for you to live: your dead to us!" No wonder he cried out day and night.
Have you ever been rejected like this? Is there something in your life that makes you believe that you are unattractive to others? What does it feel like?
Back when I was younger, I felt like this when my girlfriend broke up with me. I know, it sounds lame now, but back then, it hit me at so many areas. If I couldn’t keep the relationship that I cared about the most, how could I deal with other relationships? How could I be in a profession defined by relationships? I didn’t know what I was good at. I slept in my room during the afternoons, having no energy for anything. I was good for nothing. I felt worthless. Everything I did felt like crap. For many, it must feel like death: to feel worthless in the eyes of someone else.
No one would go near the madman, and they left him for dead. Every townsperson thought he was worth nothing, everyone except for one man.
Jesus knew a man’s worth: it’s worth his own life (Mk. 5:6-20)
Read Mark 5:6-20. Jesus just happens to row up to the place near the tombs. Coincidence? I don’t think so. No normal Jewish person, much less a rabbi, would risk becoming unclean among the dead. They would be unclean merely at the touch of something dead. So why would be here?
As Alan said two weeks ago in our Bible study, "he’s attracted to the unattractive." (He’s also "attractive to the unattractive.") Jesus needs to come because his love compels him. He’s a doctor looking for those who are sick. He had to come out.
Jesus does the exact opposite thing as the townspeople: where they wanted to restrict his freedom with chains, Jesus brought freedom. When the townspeople merely wanted this madman out of their sights, Jesus makes sure that he’s within his. When the townspeople reject him as someone dead, Jesus comes to make him alive. He’s the healer, and frees him from the many demons named Legion.
And I love the eerie scene set up in verse 15: he’s just sitting there, dressed and in his right mind. Jesus even had the forethought to bring him some clothes, or gave him some clothes off his own back. But it would’ve been just eerie to see someone who used to cry out and cut himself with stones, now sitting there in his right mind.
But I keep coming back to a question: sure, there’s healing. But why the pigs? Why not cast them out outright? Why waste all of that pork? I could use some Baby Back Ribs, you know what I mean? Some scholars say that he wanted to give some tangible evidence of the demons and their leaving. But I think it’s far deeper than that. Jesus wanted to make a point that the townpeople wouldn’t forget.
Now I’m a bit of a nerd, and I wanted to find out how much these pigs the sum of 2,000 of them were worth. So I went online, and found that in Greece in ’95, per capita pork consumption was about 46.8 pounds. An average pig’s carcass weight is about 175-180 pounds, so one pig could feed around 4 people for a year. (Though, they ate far less meat than the Greeks of ’95 do!) Still, that means you could feed 8,000 for a year. That’s big money. The destruction of the pigs is really a question posed to the townsfolk. What’s worth more: the madman or the economy of your town? And Jesus wanted them to know the right answer: the life of a human being is worth far more than the town’s economy. He’s worth far more than the wealth of the town. He didn’t merely want this madman to know that he’s worth something to God, but he wanted everyone else to know!
There’s a story recounted by a great writer named Victor Hugo, in the book Les Miserables. Jean Valjean stole a loaf of bread to feed his hungry family. He was caught, and sentenced to 5 years of prison. But, his constant rebellion in prison gave him 19 years, after which he was released on parole. He was excited to finally be let out, but he wasn’t welcome in any town or village. No one would give him lodging or work, because of his past as a con. Rejections piled on top of injustices, and he became the ex-con he never wanted to be. He became that angry ball of rejection, never vulnerable he never wanted to be hurt. Every time he was chased out of town, he set himself to be more defiant, more indifferent -- because deep inside he was hurting.
Then he met a bishop who took him in, and gave him food and shelter. But in the middle of the night, thinking the bishop naïve, he steals a pair of candlesticks and runs off into the night. But as he runs, he’s chased down by the police and brought back to the bishop’s house. The cops explain that Valjean insists that the bishop gave them to him as a gift, and the bishop says, "that is right." And not only does he uphold Valjean’s lie, he gives him more candlesticks, saying "would you leave the best behind?" But the bishop tells Valjean to use the stolen goods to start over and become an honest man. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
The Bishop did it with a pair of candlesticks, worth 2,000 francs a piece. He effectively said that Valjean was worth more than that. But, Jesus is saying something even greater. You’re not worth only two candlesticks; not only are you worth more than a town’s economy, you’re worth the life of God. And this is the scandal of grace that God is offering. The God and Creator of the universe and all that the eye can see came down in human from and gave his life for us. And here’s the crazy truth: you’re worth more than the life of God himself. It says in Hebrews that Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him, and that joy was you. For all the torture and agony that an innocent God suffered on our behalf, he did it because he thought that we were all worth it! And that’s great news!
In another part of the Bible, Jesus says that heaven parties when a lost one is found. To those who have felt rejected, our God will never reject you when you come to Him! No matter what you’ve been through, he will always welcome you with open arms. He’s not a begrudging old man looking for your every fault -- those are Christians! No, the Father loves you unconditionally, and wants to welcome you back!
The entire Christian faith makes no sense without starting with God’s love and forgiveness. Some of you have experienced so much hurt and rejection that you have felt worthless all of your life. Some of you have felt that life is meaningless, and if you were taken off the planet right now, it wouldn’t matter. God wants you to know, that you’re worth more than the economy of a major city, more than His own life. What are you worth? More than you’ll ever know.
