So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

Today I would like to talk to you about great prices that have been paid. I’d like to begin with a story of the price paid for a bride. The story comes from Polynesia. There the custom was if a man wanted a wife he would go to the father of the girl he wished to marry and he would buy her. The more he had to pay the more status she had. There were bragging rights that went along with how much had been given for a wife.

Going into Christmas I saw this one commercial for the Jarred jewelry stores. All of this woman’s friends show her their new jewelry with the tagline, “He went to Jared’s.” It is obvious this woman was upset and hurt that her husband didn’t love her enough to go to Jared’s.

On these islands the women would compare how much was paid for them. Now to understand the story you have to understand their medium of exchange. They didn’t have horses like American Indians, nor did they have camels like Bedouins, nor gold or silver to measure one’s wealth by but they did have pigs. Pigs were the medium of exchange. The more pigs one had the richer one was.

Well, when a young man wanted to get married he would go to his future father-in-law and offer him a pig or two for his future bride. It sounds funny to us but it worked for them. The women would brag about how many pigs had to be given for them. The more pigs the more bragging rights. I was a “two pigger”, “I was a three pigger.” No one could remember any woman being worth more than three, although it was rumored that long ago a woman had gone for four, but no one knew if that was true or just a story. Anyway all this bragging as to how many pigs one was worth was sort of a “He went to Jarred’s”. It was hard for a woman to only go for one pig, and if one did she at least you hoped it was a really good one.

Well, there was this young woman who came from a very poor family who lived away from the village and kept to them selves. Little was known of the daughter, few had seen her; she was so quiet, shy, and by most accounts not very pretty and socially every inept. It was common gossip that she would have little to offer as a wife. It was rumored that if anyone wanted her all she wouldn’t even be worth one runt of a pig; some speculated if she would she even be worth a piglet? No woman had ever gone for less than one pig, much less a runt or heaven’s sake a piglet. But what man would have her any way.

Then one day a stranger from one of the far away islands arrived on the island. It created quite a stir when after several days on the island he let it be known that he was here to take a wife. But to everyone’s shock and amazement he went to father of the girl everyone knew no one would want. “How much would he pay? Would the father have to pay him?” The tongues were really wagging.

The would-be-groom sat down with what he hoped would be his future father-in-law and he said, “I do not have much to offer you but what I have I will give to you for your daughter. The father held his breath, the mother held her breath, all the people from town who had snuck up next to their house held their breath,…. “I will give you twenty-one pigs and would give more if I had them.” Twenty-one pigs, there you have it! No daughter, no future bride had ever gone for so much!

Everyone was still in shock when the pigs came. His name became her name and they left. It was six months or better before they came back for a visit. When they did everyone recognized him but no one recognized her. The scrawny little girl who hid from everyone, the one whom everyone made fun of and whispered about was back. She came into the village self-assured and poised. She looked like a princess and treated those who had once made fun of her with grace, acceptance, and sincere joy that overflowed from her heart. Truly she had become a twenty-one pig wife, really one worth much more than that. The great price paid for her transformed how she saw herself, who she was, and now how she lived. The more she thought of the great price paid for her and the love it represented the more she reflected it, growing more beautiful each day. Truly, his love changed everything about her.

Did you ever stop to really think just how much we are worth to God? Oh most certainly we are worth even more than twenty-one pigs to God. The Father loved us so much that He traded His only Son for you, and you, and me and all the rest of us. God would have given more if He’d had it, but He only had one Son, whom He loved and yet He gave His Son in exchange for us. Scripture declares to us that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall perish but have eternal life. (John 3.16)

What is amazing is that He loved us even when we were covered in muck and mire or our sins and rebellion against Him. He came for us not because of anything we’d done but because He loved us in spite of our sinful nature, and He continues to love us when we still aren’t very loveable despite all He has done for us.

St Peter tells us about the incredible price paid for us. For you know it was not with perishable things such as silver and 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. (1st Peter 1.18) Jesus set aside heaven for us, took up our humanness, and even died for us. That is how valuable we are to God. He didn’t have too, He didn’t owe us one nor did any of us earn it. He did this because He is God and a God who loves us in a manner and a measure we can’t even begin to fathom.

It is the knowledge of that, no, more than knowledge, it is realization born of faith, a realization that comes to us at the foot of the cross as the blood of our champion, our rescuing hero. It is a realization that comes to us as the blood of the one who loved us in spite of our sins splatters down around us. His love has the inherent power to transform us- He loved us enough to die for us to go down into a grave that should have been ours. He willingly did this for us, and then He rose again that we would know with all certainty His promises can be trusted, promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Not only has He done all this but He showers us with tangible proof of His love. Look to the baptismal font. There, He put upon us the robe of His forgiveness embroidered with His name, a name that carries with it blessings! Put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them, says the Lord. Look to the bread and wine of communion. There, our bridegroom comes to us in full measure, taking hold of us, forgiving us, and strengthening our faith. He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish, spot and free from accusation. (Col 1.22) Cherish His Words of absolution as He with abundant patience forgives our missteps and our backsliding into sin. He lovingly takes us back time and time again forgiving us completely. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Ps 103.12) Listen to the Words of Scripture as He lovingly speaks to us of the Father’s justice and yet His grace, of His power, and yet of his mercy. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Rm 10.17) He speaks to us of new ways of living and caring for ourselves and others. Live such good lives among the (unbelievers) that though they accuse you of doing wrong they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (1 Peter 2.12) All these blessings have the power to transform us even more so than the twenty-one pig wife was transformed.

There will be those who will not believe we are different, and we at times will act no different. We will even be ashamed of how we act especially toward the bridegroom who loves so much, But we are different. Not because of what we have done but because of what was done for us. May belief in what Jesus has done for us bring us to try to live differently in spite of the world and in spite of our failures. May His love compel us to live differently to prepare our minds for actions, be more self-controlled, to set our hope fully on the grace given us, to strive to no longer conform to the evil desires we once revealed in But just as He who called you is Holy so be holy in all you do for it written be Holy because I am Holy.( 1st Peter 1.13-14, 15-16)

All around us are people for whom the Father and the Son paid an unfathomable price for, but how will they know if no one tells them. How will they ever how precious they are to God if no one tells them?

And before the Bridegroom needed to ask, the bride, who had been brought to cherish what she knew He cherished, said, “Let me tell them, let me tell them that their joy may be complete as well.”

Amen