In Matthew 18 we see Jesus addressing God's people, the Jews. Matthew 18:12-14 Jesus says this, "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish." I attend a weekly Bible study where we are studying the Book of Matthew and this past week we were studying Matthew 18 and my Bible study leader shared something with me that brought a whole new meaning to how I understood these verses.
The video clip posted next to this paragraph is from the movie, Schindler's List. In it we see some Jewish men and women who had been saved by Schindler. They present him with a letter, and a gift of gratitude. The ring they give him is inscribed with a passage from the Talmud that says "Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire." Judaism has always placed a huge emphasis on one life, because the potential of that one life is incredible. For them they were looking for a Messiah, and in every generation there was a potential for the Messiah. If one life is lost, there is no telling what is lost with that one life.
So as Jesus is addressing this crowd, He wanted them to know that the fact that the Messiah had come did not change the fact that one life has unlimited and infinite potential and value. There was no need to look for a Messiah anymore, but that did not change the fact that every life that God breathed was still important to us as people, but more importantly to the God who created it. So my answer to the question, "How valuable is one life?" More than you and I could ever imagine or even hope to understand. Jesus was saying that if one sheep is lost, the shepherd will do whatever it takes to get that sheep back. We at one point are all lost sheep, and Christ made the ultimate sacrifice to come for each one of us corporately, but also individually. When Christ was sent he had the whole world in mind, but in his infinite greatness, he had you specifically in mind.
Your value can't come from anything we can accomplish here on earth. Your value has to come from the fact that a perfect Creator created you, and a perfect Savior died for you. You were bought with a price, and a very high price at that. But that isn't just for you, that is for every created being that God loves and desires to be in relationship with. I don't know about you, but I'd rather not try to assign an earthly value to something that God assigned an eternal, infinite value to.
