The Scandal of the Grace of Jesus

[James Nored]

Grace.

Giving people good things when they do not deserve. Giving people mercy instead of justice. Letting murderers, thieves, and liars into the kingdom of heaven. Forgiving the same act over and over.

 

It is scandalous.

 

If we were to run our court system, our judicial system, like God does, we would not put up with it. We want liars to be fined. Thieves to be locked up. Murderers to be executed. We do not let these people roam our streets, let alone our homes.

 

But if you are one of those “criminals,” that is exactly the kind of “judicial” system that you want. When you are pulled over by the cop, you want mercy, not justice. And if you were to live under this kind of system, if you were to have the cop send you on your way without a ticket, you would call this good news. Amazingly good news.

 

This, my friends, is what the Bible calls grace--getting good things from God that we do not deserve and cannot earn. And this grace comes most especially through Jesus Christ, who lived and died for us.

 

The apostle Paul, in speaking of his going to Jerusalem where he would face danger, said this: “I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace" (Acts 20:24).

 

Somewhere along the way we forgot that the Christian message is fundamentally a message of good news. A message of grace. Certainly, the world has often not perceived our message to one of good news, but instead, one of judgment.

 

Perhaps we found grace too embarrassing, too scandalous to talk about. After all, if Jeffrey Dahmer can go to heaven, what kind of religion is this??

 

Why do we find it so difficult to talk about grace? Where have we not accepted God's grace for us or others? How do we change this?