Last time we determined that man is in fact of greater value than a sheep or any other animal for that matter. We looked at some of the reasoning for that conclusion beginning with the way Jesus asked the question. We also discussed briefly the impact that the teaching of evolution has had on this type of value comparison. But just saying man is better doesn’t really answer the question. Jesus asks them ‘How much’ better a man is. When someone is using logic to reason there are certain things that are taken as assumptions. In other words, there is a common understanding that must exist before the argument can be made. In this case there are several assumptions that Jesus has made before asking the question. He assumes that the group knows what a man is and knows what a sheep is, and more importantly he assumes that the people all accept as fact that a man is better than a sheep. His question wouldn’t make sense otherwise. So, if we get to the point where we can agree that man is better than a sheep (or another animal), then we can begin to deal with the actual question.
If you had to put it into dollars what would you say? How much is a sheep worth? How much is a man worth? Different people will give different answers to the question, and, of course, if he could a sheep would probably disagree with the assumption that man is better. How can we even begin to determine which is better or of greater value and by how much? There is only one standard that Jesus was considering at the time in question. It wasn’t how many good things they were each capable of or how many evil things either. A sheep can do wonderful things like providing wool for clothing or meat to save someone from starving. That is no less than many men do, and some men never do that much good. Jesus was not basing his question on this. If we base it on how much evil one had done compared to the other, then we would probably agree with the sheep that he is better than man. No sheep ever stole or murdered or abused little ones. This is certainly not the basis Jesus used.
Jesus is not comparing their actions or their thoughts or anything of that sort, because if that were the case we could all point to people, like Hussein, who are so awful that many don’t believe they deserve to live. In fact, Jesus himself spoke of some of these in Matthew 18:6, and said that it would have been better for Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him, if he had never been born in Mark 14:21. Jesus is instead referring to something about the fact that a man is a man. There must be something about being a human being that gives us greater value. There must be something of intrinsic value in the human race. But what?
What separates us from the animal kingdom? It is not a physical feature like our hands: raccoons and other animals have similar structures. It is not our ability to use tools: monkeys can learn to do that. It is not our ability to communicate: many animals communicate with each other and some like parrots have even been taught to talk, count, and distinguish colors and shapes. It is not our intelligence: some people are born mentally handicapped or become so through disease or accident, but we still consider them human. It is not our emotions: animals get angry, sad, happy, etc. just like we do. We have covered any argument the evolutionist could use and rejected them all. No wonder they don’t understand that man is better than the animals. There is only one thing that truly separates man from animal and it can’t be seen or tested or examined by science or the five senses. Every human being no matter how high or low the intelligence, no matter how physically capable or incapable, no matter how good or evil; every single one of us has a soul.
Even though someone recently tried to auction off his soul on the internet, the fact is that just one soul is of greater value than all of the sheep that ever have and ever will live on the earth. Jesus asked another question in Matthew 16:26, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” The answer is simply ‘nothing’. Did you know you were that valuable? Do you really believe you are that valuable? If we would spend our time trying to understand what Jesus wanted us to see in the question he asked in Matthew 12:12 maybe we would not take so many risks with our lives and especially our souls. If we come to grips with our value as humans created in the image of God with a soul that will continue for eternity, then, maybe we will stop selling ourselves for drugs, alcohol, money, cars, houses, etc. Next time we ask “what will you give in exchange for your soul?”
If you had to put it into dollars what would you say? How much is a sheep worth? How much is a man worth? Different people will give different answers to the question, and, of course, if he could a sheep would probably disagree with the assumption that man is better. How can we even begin to determine which is better or of greater value and by how much? There is only one standard that Jesus was considering at the time in question. It wasn’t how many good things they were each capable of or how many evil things either. A sheep can do wonderful things like providing wool for clothing or meat to save someone from starving. That is no less than many men do, and some men never do that much good. Jesus was not basing his question on this. If we base it on how much evil one had done compared to the other, then we would probably agree with the sheep that he is better than man. No sheep ever stole or murdered or abused little ones. This is certainly not the basis Jesus used.
Jesus is not comparing their actions or their thoughts or anything of that sort, because if that were the case we could all point to people, like Hussein, who are so awful that many don’t believe they deserve to live. In fact, Jesus himself spoke of some of these in Matthew 18:6, and said that it would have been better for Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him, if he had never been born in Mark 14:21. Jesus is instead referring to something about the fact that a man is a man. There must be something about being a human being that gives us greater value. There must be something of intrinsic value in the human race. But what?
What separates us from the animal kingdom? It is not a physical feature like our hands: raccoons and other animals have similar structures. It is not our ability to use tools: monkeys can learn to do that. It is not our ability to communicate: many animals communicate with each other and some like parrots have even been taught to talk, count, and distinguish colors and shapes. It is not our intelligence: some people are born mentally handicapped or become so through disease or accident, but we still consider them human. It is not our emotions: animals get angry, sad, happy, etc. just like we do. We have covered any argument the evolutionist could use and rejected them all. No wonder they don’t understand that man is better than the animals. There is only one thing that truly separates man from animal and it can’t be seen or tested or examined by science or the five senses. Every human being no matter how high or low the intelligence, no matter how physically capable or incapable, no matter how good or evil; every single one of us has a soul.
Even though someone recently tried to auction off his soul on the internet, the fact is that just one soul is of greater value than all of the sheep that ever have and ever will live on the earth. Jesus asked another question in Matthew 16:26, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” The answer is simply ‘nothing’. Did you know you were that valuable? Do you really believe you are that valuable? If we would spend our time trying to understand what Jesus wanted us to see in the question he asked in Matthew 12:12 maybe we would not take so many risks with our lives and especially our souls. If we come to grips with our value as humans created in the image of God with a soul that will continue for eternity, then, maybe we will stop selling ourselves for drugs, alcohol, money, cars, houses, etc. Next time we ask “what will you give in exchange for your soul?”
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