Elena Schweitzer / Depositphotos.com
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – It is Good Friday, the day Jesus Christ went to the cross for you and for me.
Radio commentator Paul Harvey used to tell a story similar to this. Today I am paraphrasing.
A minister walked into church to give his Good Friday sermon. He arrived holding an old, rusty birdcage. The cage door was open. It was empty.
“I want to tell you how I got this birdcage,” he told the congregation.
“I was walking to church this morning, when I came across a boy in an alley just a few blocks from here. This birdcage was filled with a dozen or so field birds. I could tell he was up to some kind of mischief. So I asked him, ‘what do you have there?’ And he said ‘I caught these birds behind my house.’
‘And what are you going to do with them?’
‘Oh, I’m gonna shake this cage and scare them. Then I’m going to kill them. I’ll either throw rocks at them, or feed them to my cat.’
‘And I asked the boy, how much do you want for them?’
‘He said, ‘Mister, these birds are worthless. They aren’t colorful. They don’t sing. They’re just field birds.’
‘How much? I asked again.’
‘And the boy said, ‘$5… no $10.’ So I reached into my pocket and gave him a ten dollar bill. He took the money and left the birds and the birdcage with me. And when he was out of sight, I opened the cage and let the birds free.’
Jesus was walking. And he came upon the devil holding a cage. It was full of human souls, not much different than yours or mine.
Jesus asked, ‘what are you going to do with them?’ And the evil one said ‘I’m going to tormet them, and scare them, and watch them turn on one another. And them I’m going to kill them and take them into hell with me for all eternity.’
And Jesus asked, ‘how much do you want for them?’
Satan said, ‘They’re worthless. They sin, and disobey, and do evil over and over again. They can’t be taught. They’re wicked.’
Jesus asked again, ‘how much?’
And the devil named the price: ‘All of your… blood.’
Today is Good Friday. It is the day the Jesus Christ poured out his blood so that you, and I, might be freed from our sins.
Thanks be to God.
Chris Conley
Comments