The Most Expensive Thing in the World

What would you say is the most expensive thing in the world?

If you ask the mass media, the Wall Street Journal, or Google, you will be given a plethora of different items that are “the most expensive in the world.”  A 2019 article lists the following examples, which give us an idea of the prices (all subject, of course, to market fluctuations, inflation, and the like):

• The world’s most expensive watch, for instance, is valued at $55 million: it is a “platinum quartz watch encrusted in yellow, pink, blue, gray, and orange diamonds in different cuts.”
• The world’s most expensive car is the 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO; there are only 39 of them globally, so each alone is valued at $70 million.
• The world’s most expensive house is in Mumbai, with 27 floors, a garage for 168 cars, three helipads, and even a temple (to what god, it might be asked); the house is worth $2 billion. That’s cheap, though, in comparison to
• The world’s most expensive yacht, which boasts a master bedroom with a wall made of meteorites and a statue made from the bones of a T-Rex, all of which could have been yours for a mere $4.5 billion.

The Actual Most Expensive Thing

Despite what businessmen or Wall Street might say, the most expensive thing in the world is sin, and this for three reasons.

First, we can see the terrible price of sin when we consider its effects. The meditation on the three sins given by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises highlights the price paid by the angels, Adam and Eve, and a soul condemned for a single mortal sin. The angels lost all their grace, virtues, and even beauty; Adam and Eve lost grace and all their other gifts; they were condemned to a life of toil and labor, culminating in the inescapable experience of death. The soul condemned loses everything forever.

Second, no amount of money in the world can bring peace or salvation to a soul. A watch does no good in hell where time is measured by eternity, and a car can’t evade the presence of Satan and the damned. The only house worth having is one in heaven. Dinosaur bones remind us of the fate of all living beings, but they can’t help us to escape it. In any case, the only boat to be taken is the one that floats down the River Styx. Condemned souls would think little of paying 4.5 billion dollars if they could only have grace and peace restored to them.

Third, we can see the price of sin because Someone paid it in full: Jesus Christ, whose Precious Blood was shed for us, each drop of which was, to borrow a phrase from C. S. Lewis, “more precious than the Earth would be if it was a single solid diamond” (The Silver Chair). This is truly the price of sin: it is the most expensive thing in the world. Yet, for this infinite love, the ultimate exchange, Judas was paid a mere thirty silver pieces. How many times do we sell ourselves for something even less!

The Battle of the Two Economies

In the Catechism, we read that “[the] ‘divine economy’ refers to all the works by which God reveals himself and communicates his life,” especially those saving acts of His Passion (CCC, 236). This economic language, we could say, penetrates the mystery of our redemption. The word “redemption” itself comes from the Latin re, meaning again or back, and emere, to buy; Christ, in redeeming us, bought us back, or repurchased us from Satan to whom we had sold ourselves through sin. The cost of this exchange is beyond our understanding.

Here we see two different economies at work: we have the divine economy, which works with grace and mercy, humiliations and sufferings, as its currency, and the human economy, which is content with dollars and cents, pleasures and everything fleeting. The two systems don’t even operate on the same level, and they place different prices on the same items. When we lose sight of the divine economy, of the real cost of things, we settle for the human value of things, one that reduces the supernatural, setting it on sale or giving it a steep discount, and that elevates the natural (or anti-natural), marking up the prices for what in reality is quite cheap.

A Case in Point

If we pay close attention when reading the Gospels, we see that Christ gives us some insight into divine finances and the value it places on various things. Speaking to His disciples, He comments, “Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God. Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6). That small coin is the ἀσσάριον (assarion), worth one-tenth of a drachma; there’s debate about how much a drachma was worth, but some scholars think it would be about 17 cents in our day.

However, when Matthew reports this saying of Jesus, he writes: “Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?” (10:29). The phrases give different values: we have two sparrows for one coin or five sparrows for two. Biblical scholars say the probable reason for this is that these were actual market prices. To encourage people to buy sparrows, which weren’t even worth ten cents apiece, there would be a bargain: buy four, get one free. Even that fifth sparrow that has no monetary value whatsoever, that’s just extra, thrown in as part of the bargain, even that one “does not escape the notice of God,” or “is not forgotten.”

That word, forgotten, is a rather lengthy Greek tongue-twister ἐπιλανθάνομαι (epilanthanomai), and it emphasizes, not simply the mental aspect (that the bird isn’t overlooked), but rather the effects that follow from God’s remembrance of it. God doesn’t forget us; on the contrary, our lives are constantly marked by His providence, which is the most constant and concrete expression of His love. He knows what we need and will provide it so we can reach heaven.

Practical Consequences

What does this mean to us, practically speaking? First and foremost, these truths should serve as a huge reality check: we need to try to see reality as God sees it. Most of us can recognize that a $55 million watch is over-priced, but what’s the price of a nice juicy piece of gossip, or a quick click to watch something inappropriate “for free”?

This negative aspect – avoiding what is immoral and sinful – is one concrete consequence. However, there is another, positive, aspect: when we start to see what matters most to God, we can see the importance of the sacraments, the supernatural, and even of other people.

In the book documenting his conversion, Scott Hahn tells the story of one of his professors in theology, Dr. Francis Schaeffer, who was in Paris with some of his students. It was evening, and, as is fairly common, especially in big cities, there was a “lady of the night” on the corner.

Much to the horror of his students, the professor left the group, went up to the woman, and asked, “How much do you charge?” She replied, “Fifty dollars.” The professor looked her up and down and said, “No, that’s too little.” Taken aback, she thought for a moment and said, “Oh yeah, for Americans, it’s one hundred fifty dollars.” The professor stepped back again and replied, “That’s still too low.” She quickly answered, “Uhh, oh yeah, the weekend rate for Americans is five hundred dollars.” But again, the professor replied, “No, that’s still too cheap.”

By this time, the woman was a little irritated, so she finally said, “Ok, fine: what am I worth to you?” And the professor simply responded, “I couldn’t possible pay you what you’re worth, but let me tell you about someone who already has,” and he began to tell her about Jesus Christ, the Cross, and Calvary (Rome Sweet Home).

The Value of a Life

The value of a life isn’t set by the lowest bidder; it’s not like a contract for constructing a building or repairing a road, where the one who offers to do it the cheapest wins. On the contrary, the value of a life is set by the highest bidder: it’s more like an auction. Even if absolutely everyone else in the universe values that life at fifty dollars, or even less, it doesn’t matter: it doesn’t affect the value.

The value of that life is set by the one person who pays the price for it, and the price for us was paid when “God so loved the world,” He sent the most precious, the most valuable, and most beloved thing He had, “His only-begotten Son,” into the world to suffer and die for us. That is how much a life is worth.

This truth seems so simple, and yet it’s often a struggle to believe this ourselves or to convince others of it. Truth be told, this struggle has always been going on. Even in the 400’s, St. Peter Chrysologus asked his listeners this question: “Why, O man, are you so worthless in your own eyes, and yet so precious to God?” The devil can’t destroy God, so he tries to destroy man who is made in God’s image.

Budgeting for Heaven

Most people, be they single, parents, or whatever, make budgets to plan out their finances; this is the logical thing to do since it ensures that there will be money for the most important things. How often, though, do people make a supernatural budget? How often do people prioritize the spiritual things in life, giving value to what is essential?

A serious inventory of the spiritual life not only provides us with a goal to strive for but also keeps us moving forward towards that goal. Only in this way, I think, will we be able to participate fully in the divine economy, giving value to what God values and rejecting what the world holds up as important when it is not.