Philippians 3:10: “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings.” A few days ago, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was the successful bidder who paid a record $450.3 million for Leonardo da Vinci’s 500-hundred-year-old painting of Jesus Christ called the Salvator Mundi. Salvator Mundi is Latin for Savior of the World. The purchase set off one of the art world’s greatest mysteries. Why would an Islamic billionaire purchase a portrait of Jesus Christ? It risks offending the religious sensibilities of his Muslim countrymen. Muslims teach that Jesus was not the Savior of the world but just a prophet. It appears that the decision is all political and personal ego building in the changing landscape of Saudi Arabia and the art world and not for art itself.

The new buyer can look at this painting of Christ twenty-four hours a day and still not know the real Christ who must be in our hearts and not just a picture that catches our eyes. Can you imagine the security that will encircle this work of art? When we let Jesus Christ encircle our hearts, we have all the security that we will ever need, and we can see Him from the inside out. While this rich man may have a portrait of the Savior of the World, he needs to know personally and have a relationship with the real Jesus Christ. We must know Him and not just look at Him as if in a portrait or painting that only has material value. One day, this most expensive painting will lose all its value and be burned up. However, the real Christ will forever be eternal for those of us who will soon celebrate His birth. Christmas is more valuable than the painting called, Salvator Mundi.