Wednesday December 19, 2018

 

 

If you respect me, I’ll respect you. If you love me, I’ll love you. If you do, I will but if you don’t, I won’t. These phrases sum up the way the majority of the world conducts itself. But there’s a major flaw to this system in that it completely squeezes out the concept of grace. Grace is God’s unmerited and unconditional love, it is always more than we can earn and greater than we can imagine. Grace is a gift we gladly receive when our guilt (sin) is exposed but it is a gift difficult to pay forwards when the guilt of those who’ve sinned against us is exposed.

 

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. – Luke 15:20-23 NIV

 

In Jesus’ famous illustration known as “The Parable of Prodigal Son”, which in reality is the parable of a father and his two sons, the younger of the two brothers asks his father to advance him his inheritance. An inheritance is a gift passed on when a person dies. So, in essence the younger brother was telling his father and the rest of the family that he no longer wanted to be a part of the family. As far as he was concerned they were all dead to him.

 

In this exaggerated illustration of deplorable behavior, the father grants the younger son his request and the young man leaves the family never to return. With his inheritance in his pocket he heads to a major city and wastes all of it on debaucheries and depravities. After some time, he squandered all that his father had given him. He tried seeking the worst Jobs but no one would employ him. He even begged farmers to give him pigs food to no avail. Things only got worse, so the young man decided to return to his family.

 

When the father sees his son coming down the road, he runs to him and when he encounters him he showers him with hugs and kisses. That is compassion. Then the father tells his staff to get the best suit, shoes and jewelry for his son and to prepare a huge party with the best food in his honor. That is grace.

The only problem is that the older brother refused to participate in the festivities. He felt that his brother did not deserve so much compassion, all of the lavish gifts, and a big party. As I wrote at the beginning of this post, grace is always more than we deserve and greater than we can imagine.  Easy to receive but hard to give.