It is a major understatement to say that my world changed when my son was born. Like many fathers before me, I can remember with total clarity the first time I laid eyes on my child—the first time I held him in my arms—the first time he "urped" all over my shirt. A profound shift takes place when there he is (or there she is), and this little person now depends on you for everything! You look down at that little one, and the phrase "my treasured possession" would certainly be appropriate.
I bring this up because it adds depth to what might be the most well-known verse in the Bible: John 3: 16. Most Christians know that verse by heart, which is a good thing. The only danger is we know it so well that it doesn't touch us anymore. So today I invite those of us who have been blessed to be parents to look at John 3:16 from a parent's perspective. What does it say about God that he "gave His one and only Son"? Even if you're not a parent, but there's someone in your life that you treasure, you can begin to understand the sacrifice God made for you and me.
Now here's the scenario, and you'll have to use your imagination just a little: Let's say that you're having a typical day, whatever that is for you, and you hear a news report about a new flu virus that is starting to affect people in China. Initial reports are sketchy, but it sounds like this is a new strain of bird flu that is pretty aggressive. Within a day or two, the reports start to grow more and more intense. Entire villages are being quarantined; the World Health Organization is issuing measured statements; internet rumors suggest an 85% death rate for those infected.
Within a week's time, the world is plunged into a panic, as infections are reported in an ever-widening area; Officials are fairly sure that some people are carrying the disease on overseas flights, and there's very little that can be done about the virus' spread. Phrases like "the new Black Plague" are being used in media coverage as the rumors turn out to be true: Almost 90% of those who have contracted this virus have died and there are whispers of a 100% mortality rate.
About ten days out from the original report, the first confirmed American cases come to light, on both east and west coasts. National hysteria is just barely being suppressed. And in the middle of all this, you get a phone call from your family doctor, asking you to come in to the office right away.
You do so, and when you enter his office, you are stunned to see a well dressed gentleman flanked by two military officers, and you are invited to take a seat. What your family doctor has to say shakes you to the core. Through a series of routine tests, it has been determined by a team of government doctors and research scientists that your child--your treasured possession—has a one-in-a-billion genetic sequence that holds the key to stopping the deadly virus. From your own child, a vaccine could be produced that could literally save the world. Ah, but there is catch…and you felt there was the moment you stepped in the room. The catch is, in order to extract the gene sequence in a useful way, your child will have to be exposed to the virus, and will, without doubt, die a horrible, painful death. What you are being asked to do is to sign off on this procedure—a procedure that will kill your child, but give life to the world. So what do you say? Will you go through with it?
John 3: 16 tells us that God the Father did just that—and that's the gospel truth! That's the good news we preach and believe in. The deadly virus is the virus of sin, and it infects us all. The virus of sin makes us sick and weak and the mortality rate of this virus remains at 100%.Without waiting to be asked, God signed off on the procedure that would create the vaccine against sin. He gave the green light to the cross; to the procedure that would kill his Son. He went ahead with it, hopeful that there were people who would take this vaccine and live; hopeful that there would be people who would look to His Son and receive forgiveness through His Blood; hopeful that He could still gather a people to himself that would be his treasured possession to live with Him forever.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
He gave his only Son. What could we possibly give Him in return? Amen.
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