The story was about a very wealthy but miserly man.  He had everything he could ask for except the one thing he wanted, happiness.  Most people hated him because he was so involved money and the pursuit of material things and he didn’t care who he hurt to get them.  In fact there was one thing the Old rich man seemed to love almost as much as his money, and that was his beautiful stained glass window. It was his prized possession and rightly so, it was very old, and worth a few million dollars.     

The wealthy man hated most people but most of all he hated the man and his son that lived in the house behind his property.  The man was a Judge, and was known for his righteous decision in court cases.  The Judge and his son had a wonderful relationship, they were buddies and loved being in each others company.  They were happiest being with each other, and that’s why the rich man hated them so much, they had the one thing he couldn’t buy and that was love.

One summer day while the judge was at work, his son decide to play a game of baseball with his friends out in his back yard. He knew he wasn’t supposed to play there because the rich mans beloved window looked down on to the back yard, but there was no way any of them could hit the ball that far, so he thought his dad was being overcautious.  

It was his turn to bat and the pitcher threw a perfect pitch, the judges son felt a thrill when he heard the ball hit the bat.  He had er hit a ball so perfectly, but his excitement turned to horror when he realized his perfect hit was sailing straight for the Old man’s window.  Everything seemed to go in slow motion at that point. 

His friends running away, the ball smashing the beautiful window.  The judges son could see straight into the hallway of the rich man’s mansion.  Where the widow had been the vocal point of the massive stairway. 

Suddenly the Old man was there, framed by the whole that used to be his beautiful window, looking at the destruction of his prized possession, at first he looked incredulous,  then he spied the judges son holding the baseball bat, and his look of confusion turned to one of incredible anger, he was furious.  The boy knew he was in bigger trouble than he had ever been in his life, but he also had the peace of knowing that even thou he had done something his father told him not to do, his dad would be there to help him out of any situation.

As expected the Old man pressed charges, and the case was up before the judge.  The old man was secretly gleeful to have the judge in the quandary of having to judge his own sons case.  The old man could have gone to another city to have the case tried, but he wanted the judge in this predicament, he thought,  He will either have to judge his son righteously and send him to juvenile hall for a long time. Or he will let him go free, and spoil his reputation for being a good judge.  The Old man’s ight was even more compounded by the fact that it seemed the whole town was there in the court room.

As the case was read it was clear the Judge’s son was guilty.  He had been told by his father not to play baseball in the back yard and he knew it was wrong.  The boy was a little scared, he knew what the consequences were for such a crime, but he also knew his dad would fix it somehow, so he was shocked and horrified when his father started to read the sentence. 

The Judge had tears in his eyes when he said “Son, you will pay the price of two million dollars for the window, or you will go to juvenile detention until your eightieth birthday, when you will be released to the Rich Old mans custody to work for him for the rest of your life. There was a gasp in the court room as he slammed the gavel on his desk.  

Dad nooo, the son wailed.  The Old man cackled,  their was a loud murmur from the towns people.  Then the Judge did something strange.  He took off his robe and folded it neatly on his chair he came down from the stand and put his arm around his sobbing son.  He said when I was the Judge I had to judge righteously, now I am your father and I have sold everything I own to buy your freedom. 

That’s what God did for us.  He gave His all to buy our freedom from sin and addiction.  Because he is a righteous Judge, He has to judge sin, but because He loves us he pays the price only He can afford to pay.  Just as the judges son could never afford two million dollars, we could never pay the price for our sin, but Jesus paid the price and freely gives it to us.  All we need to do is ask and accept.