THE GREATEST GIFT
2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23; Ephesians 2:4-10; John 3:14-21
A man saw his five-year-old tearing expensive wrapping-paper and sticking it on an old box. He yelled at her for wasting paper.
The next morning, she gave him that box and said: “This is for you, Daddy.” The father was embarrassed by his earlier reaction.
He opened the box, found it empty, and yelled again: “Don’t you know, when you give someone a present there’s supposed to be something inside the package?” The little girl’s eyes became little pools. She said: “Daddy, there is something inside. I blew kisses into it; I filled it with my love.”
The father was crushed. He hugged his little girl, and he asked her to forgive him for his anger. He kept that love-filled box by his bed for the rest of his life. Often, he’d open the box, take out an imaginary kiss, and remember the love of the child who had put it there.
In a very real sense, God our parent has given each of us a gift-box filled with the greatest gift of his unconditional love.
The First Reading tells us that God manifested his love through his patient faithfulness towards his unfaithful people. He persistently sent his messengers to them and consistently went after them because he loved them.
The Second Reading and the Gospel remind us that God shows his love in the ultimate gift: the sending of his only Son.
The text from John reads: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This is the core of the Gospel: God took the initiative to love us; he sent his Son… for one reason: he loved us. It tells us of the width of God’s love: he loved the world. Not just the “chosen people”, not only those who loved him.
The greatest gift of all is for you and me. All you and I must do is to accept the gift.
Do I accept the gift of God’s love? Do I believe that God loves me so much that he sent his son to be my redeemer? How do I respond to his love?
When someone gives a gift, it is not polite to ask: “How much did it cost?” In this case, the Bible tells us how much God’s gift cost. It cost God his only Son.
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