Tuesday, December 3

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Tuesday, Dec. 3

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I used to love to collect books; old books; out of print books; and I would spend hours poring through used books stores to find them.

Well, my brother Joe did the same thing for a while, and one day he called me all excited about his latest find. He had discovered a copy of an out-of-print book by one of our favorite authors, Frederick Buechner, entitled “The Faces of Jesus.”

It was a beautiful book; filled with artistic renditions of Jesus from cultures all over the world, along with Buechner’s extraordinary prose. It was a great find and I was envious! So I spent most of the next year trying to find my own copy of “The Faces of Jesus”; but with no luck.

Then at Christmas later that year, almost a year later, the gift my brother gave me was “The Faces of Jesus.” But he didn’t give me another copy that he had found somewhere; he he gave me his one copy; for all I knew the only existing copy of that book in the entire midwest.

In the 20 years since then we have found a number of other copies of “The Faces of Jesus” and the book was even reprinted in a soft cover edition, but I still have the copy that he gave me, and I treasure it, because it was an extravagant gift; an extravagant gift given out of scarcity.

And such was the gift God gave long ago:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son...

Do you see it? Our of his great love God gave his “one and only.”

One of the determining factors in the value of a painting, or an autograph, or a book is how many of them are in existence? 

One of my sons likes to collect baseball cards. He knows that the fewer of a certain card that are in circulation the greater the value. The most valuable baseball card to collectors is the Honus Wagner 1909 card; with only 57 cards known to exist. And if there were only 1 such card, it’s value would be astronomical among collectors.

The Bible teaches that when God wanted to give the greatest gift he could give the world, he chose to give a “one of a kind” gift.

There was only one Son of God; only one baby born to a virgin.

There was only one who was called the Word become flesh; only one that is called Emmanuel. 

There was only one who fulfilled the word of the prophets; only one who would live a sinless life. 

There was only one who would heal the blind and cause the lame to leap for joy; only one who would preach good news to the poor.

There was only one who would turn water into wine and feed the multitudes with a few loaves of bread and fish.

There was only one who would say “Not my will but thine” and go to the cross to atone for the sins of the world.

Only One.

And that One God chose to give.

To you and to me.

Pastor Brian Coffey