Almost every year on Good Friday, Paul Harvey would this story:

A preacher was walking down the sidewalk one day between his church and the corner market.  In a little alleyway, he saw a young boy with several little birds in a beat-up cage.  He watched for a moment as the boy rattled the cage and tormented the poor creatures.  Then the pastor intervened and asked the boy about the cage of birds.  The boy told him, “I’ve been catching these little birds for about a week now.  I’m going to play with ‘em for a while and when I get tired of ‘em, I’ll probably give ‘em to my cat.”  The pastor looked again at the cage and asked, “How much do you want for those birds?” 

The boy looked sideways at the preacher and said, “Why in the world would you want to buy these birds? They aren’t tame, mister. They’re just plain ol’ field birds. They sure aren’t pretty to look at and they can’t even sing.  They just chirp and squawk and make a mess of things.” 

The minister assured the boy that he really did want to buy the birds from him, so the boy finally said, “How ‘bout a quarter a piece and I’ll give you the cage?”.  The minister agreed and he paid the boy a dollar and a half for the cage full of birds.  He promptly took them to the park across the street, opened the cage, and watched as they flew away to the safety of a nearby tree. 

              The next Sunday, the preacher told his congregation a story: 

One day, the Lord looked down and saw Satan and his minions hard at work. 

“What do you have there?” God asked. 

“We’ve got this whole world full of people that we’ve captured with every kind of bait and snare.” 

“What are you going to do with them?” asked God. 

“I’m going to torment them, disappoint them, and hurt them for the whole of their miserable lives. And then when I’m tired of them, I’ll just toss them into the fire.” 

“How much do you want for them?” asked God. 

Satan looked at Him sideways and said, “Oh, I don’t think you want this bunch.  They aren’t very smart – they keep falling for the same old tricks.  And they aren’t very strong – it only takes a little pressure to crush them like eggs.  I think I’ll just keep on playing with them.” 

God asked again, “How much?”. 

Seeing that He was serious, Satan said, “Alright, let’s see how much you really want these wretched little souls.  I don’t want treasure, or power, or mercy. Instead, I want a chance to torment you like I’ve tormented them. I want you to experience unimaginable pain.  I want every drop of your sweat… every tear you can weep… and every drop you can bleed.” 

And God said, “DONE.”

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” – John 1:14