Restoration
Posted April 21, 2006:
The Greatest Sign of Love
by a staff worker.
Those of you who are under twenty or not from North America might not know about this, but in the 1960s, at virtually every big sports event, there was a guy who held up a sign. He must have had money because he always had a front row seat. Just as the camera was panning the crowd, he would hold up his sign, a big one, that said, “John 3:16.”
People thought he was what used to be called “a crackpot.” Today they’d just say he was “sick” or a religious fanatic.
Were some of those millions of people watching those sports events over the years, live and on television, curious enough to get a hold of their Bibles or find one somewhere and read that Scripture verse? Did some ponder it? Did many? Did a few? Did any? I don’t know, but if they did, perhaps it changed their lives.
For what that unknown man was proclaiming, in his own unique way, is the greatest truth the world has ever known. God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. (Jn 3:16)
The symbol of that truth, that profound reality, is the cross. We hang it around our necks, we put it on books, we put it on buildings, we put it in our homes. Wherever it is, it is a proclamation of our faith.
And we make the Sign of the Cross. We make it before and after our prayers, when we enter and leave the church, at specified times during the liturgy, when we pass a church, and at so many other times. Whenever we make it, even when we make it carelessly, out of habit, without thought, it is a proclamation of our faith.
The cross is the greatest symbol of love that we will ever see. The Sign of the Cross is the greatest sign of love that we can ever make.
Who has experienced perfect love on this earth? We know of one person who has— one human being—and that is the Mother of God. She experienced perfect love; so she can love perfectly.
But the rest of us go around looking for love, grabbing for love. We grab each other, we grab things, we grab money and power and control. We do this because we are not convinced in the deepest part of our being that God so loved the world that he sent his only Son to die for us, to die for me.
We are never completely convinced of this, but even as we begin to be convinced of it— convinced that God loves us beyond our wildest imaginings—we can begin to stop grabbing. We can start letting go, and we can really begin to be free.
Jean Fox, former director of women at Madonna House, used to say that, after her conversion, she would take just one line of Scripture. She would say it over and over in her mind and stay with it and work on living it. Only when it had deeply entered her heart and she had begun to live it would she go on to another line.
What if we did that with John 3:16? Who knows how our lives could be changed?
If you enjoy our articles, we ask you to please consider subscribing to the print edition of Restoration; it's only $10 a year, and will help us stay in print. Thanks, and God bless you!
