The Story of the Greatest Gift of Love & Life
(2 Chronicles 36: 14-16, 19-23; Psalms 137: 1-6; Ephesians 2: 4-10; John 3: 14-21)
Fr. Nelson Lobo OFM Cap
Introduction: How can we explain the meaning of Christmas in just a few words? Well, the best way I know is found in today’s Gospel: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Many scholars agree that John 3:16 is the Gospel in a nutshell. John 3:16 tells us the Story of the Greatest Gift of Love & Life.
1. The Greatest Love – God so loved the world. It’s truly so amazing that God chooses to love each one of us humans when He has the whole galaxy to love. He loves us even though we are sinners. He even loves those who don’t believe He exists. That is hard to believe, but He does. He doesn’t love their sins, but He loves the person. Every person in the world can be assured of His love. This is the greatness of our God. The unconditional love of God encompasses the whole universe.
2. The Greatest Gift –He sacrificed His One and Only Son for us. I don’t know why our life is so important to God that He allowed His son to go to the Cross for our sins. Parents say the love you have for your children is so great and profound that it could never be put into words. Losing a child to death is so horribly difficult to accept. It’s a nightmare for parents. Knowing those two feelings, and knowing that God chose to allow His Son, His perfect blameless Son to die for us still dumbfounds me every time I think about it. May be this illustration could help us to understand this gift. A gem dealer was strolling the aisles at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show when he noticed a blue-violet stone the size and shape of a potato. He looked it over, then, as calmly as possible, asked the vendor, “You want $15 for this?” The seller, realizing the rock wasn’t as pretty as others in the bin, lowered the price to $10. The stone has since been certified as a 1,905-carat natural star sapphire, about 800 carats larger than the largest stone of its kind. It was appraised at $2.28 million. It took a lover of stones to recognize the sapphire’s worth. It took God the Lover of His people to recognize the true value of ordinary-looking people like us.
3. The Greatest Life – Everlasting life. Life with Jesus is greater than any other life there is. People run after pleasure: drinking, smoking, eating, sleeping around and they call it the “good times” of life. After a while people get fed up and call such experiences empty or nothing. King Solomon called such life as vanity of vanities. St. Augustine after experiencing such emptiness uttered “our hearts were made for you Lord; they are restless until they rest in you”.
Back in 1830 George Wilson was convicted of robbing the U.S. Mail and was sentenced to be hanged. President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson, but he refused to accept it. The matter went to Chief Justice Marshall, who concluded that Wilson would have to be executed. “A pardon is a slip of paper,” wrote Marshall, “the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged.”
2,000 years ago, God the Son – Jesus the Christ issues a pardon but just like in the case of George Wilson the value of the pardon is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. We don’t have to accept the life Christ offers us. We can refuse. His offer is of eternal life. But he who refuses to accept this gift knowing full well that life on earth is temporary is a fool.
Conclusion: God’s Love is a story of the Greatest Gift of love and Life. All we have to do is accept it. The Love is free. The Gift is free. The choice is us to make. Let’s make the right choice with the grace of God. Amen