Tuesday December 18, 2018

Grace is the reason why we celebrate Christmas; without grace there would be no Christmas. Yes, it is true that Jesus is the reason for the season, but had Jesus arrived without grace we would all be lost. Grace is God’s gift of unconditional love and it is an unmerited and underserved favor. Grace is always more than we deserve and greater than we can imagine. For this reason, I find that words alone are insufficient to define its meaning and significance so sometimes grace is best understood through an illustration.

Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denariiand gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ – Luke 10:34-35 NIV

In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus tells the story of a man who had been the victim of a robbery. The man was severely beaten and left naked and dying along the roadside. Many prominent and upstanding members of society passed by and chose to cross over to the other side of the road doing nothing to help the victim. But a traveling foreigner from Samaria saw the victim and had compassion on him. This man disinfected the victim’s wounds, bandaged him up, then placed him on his own donkey and brought him to an Inn and took care of him.

If this story had ended here it would be a great story. But this is not a story about a good and compassionate man. This is Jesus illustrating for us the story of grace. As I stated previously, grace is always more than we can earn and greater than we can imagine. The next day, after the Samaritan had taken care of the victim, he went back to the innkeeper and told him to continue looking out for the victim. He left also his credit card with no limitations; “whatever he needs, charge it to my account, I will pay for it.”  Compassion caused the Samaritan to rescue the victim but grace abundantly and extravagantly took care of all the victim’s needs.

Jesus is the reason for the season and because of his grace, we celebrate.