You see, what Jesus showed us was this: we all have peace with God
because this God is making us right one day at a time. He also showed us
that we're continuously swimming in the overwhelming grace of this God.
We've been introduced into a faith that works, not due to our own
fledgling belief systems but due to the faith that this God has in
humanity. This God is constantly drawing us into that grace, and we can
celebrate that! When we're hanging on for dear life and all the world
around us is breaking into pieces, and we can manage to just take a deep
breath and whisper "I trust you God with the results," we find that
there's an energy reserve just waiting to be drawn upon. That energy
reserve is this grace that we're talking about - the grace that Jesus
put on display through his words and actions. And when we discover that
gracious energy reserve, we find that we can persevere through the chaos
that once felt hopeless. And that perseverance helps build our
character. And the more our character builds, the more hopeful we become
about both the current situations and the future. And hope is what
keeps us going because the love and grace of God isn't running out, and
it's running through our veins, pumping life into all of our being.
There couldn't have been a better time to have Jesus put this radical display of grace on for the world to see. We were walking zombies, hopeless and without a clue, grappling for whatever would relieve this mess we called life. Hardly any of us would sacrifice our own lives for a righteous person, much less an alright person. But when Jesus went to the cross - that ultimate Roman torture that so many of our brothers and sisters have faced - he wanted us to see what God is like. He wanted us to believe that God is willing to do anything to rescue us from dead end living. Jesus' death was a eulogy to that old way of hopeless living. His blood was a symbol of God's love pouring out onto us - God's favorite creatures. In a way, the blood cried out, "Don't you see it? You don't have to sacrifice anymore! You don't have to keep figuring out new ways to appease the gods! This God loves you more than you'll ever know!" Though we didn't think so, we were once enemies to this God. But we've been made right and are being made right. We're being saved moment by moment because we hold onto the hope that this God is restoring everything to its original intents and purposes. We can celebrate this reconciliation with God. Bring out the food! Bring out the wine! It's party time!
The reality of sin infiltrating the minds of men was inevitable. Our oldest narratives all point to a time when humanity fell. And that sin was like an infectious disease that spread. It crossed borders and generational lines. It didn't discriminate. Everybody got it and has it. This dark cloud started spreading over humanity and no one knew how to get rid of it or bypass it. It was here to stay so it seemed, all the way from Adam to Moses to now. This dark cloud hovered over us, but a long time ago a new story started emerging about a God who was bigger than that dark cloud - a God who was more interested in restoring humanity than punishing humanity (like all the other gods).
Stories started coming out about a God who matched sin with grace, and this God wasn't interested in having humanity offer sacrifices to make up for their wrongdoings. This God was more concerned with working within humanity instead of withdrawing. Over time, people started realizing that this God wanted a relationship with people. And people started realizing that when they tapped into the power of this God, something profound would happen - they would experience an endless supply of grace even though the dark cloud still hung high.
And that's where we find ourselves today - the dark cloud still hangs, but we have an out. We have relief. We have hope. There is never a time when the dark cloud can't be matched with grace and peace through this God.
Even the litany of laws that our ancestors created as a semi-relief from our own wreckage didn't come close to the relief that comes from this God's grace. And Jesus showed us that. The laws only increased our misery. They only made things worse. But all that time, we were blind to the reality of this God's grace. We are awake to that now though. We see it! And thanks to the work that Jesus did, we recognize that no person is left out from that grace
There couldn't have been a better time to have Jesus put this radical display of grace on for the world to see. We were walking zombies, hopeless and without a clue, grappling for whatever would relieve this mess we called life. Hardly any of us would sacrifice our own lives for a righteous person, much less an alright person. But when Jesus went to the cross - that ultimate Roman torture that so many of our brothers and sisters have faced - he wanted us to see what God is like. He wanted us to believe that God is willing to do anything to rescue us from dead end living. Jesus' death was a eulogy to that old way of hopeless living. His blood was a symbol of God's love pouring out onto us - God's favorite creatures. In a way, the blood cried out, "Don't you see it? You don't have to sacrifice anymore! You don't have to keep figuring out new ways to appease the gods! This God loves you more than you'll ever know!" Though we didn't think so, we were once enemies to this God. But we've been made right and are being made right. We're being saved moment by moment because we hold onto the hope that this God is restoring everything to its original intents and purposes. We can celebrate this reconciliation with God. Bring out the food! Bring out the wine! It's party time!
The reality of sin infiltrating the minds of men was inevitable. Our oldest narratives all point to a time when humanity fell. And that sin was like an infectious disease that spread. It crossed borders and generational lines. It didn't discriminate. Everybody got it and has it. This dark cloud started spreading over humanity and no one knew how to get rid of it or bypass it. It was here to stay so it seemed, all the way from Adam to Moses to now. This dark cloud hovered over us, but a long time ago a new story started emerging about a God who was bigger than that dark cloud - a God who was more interested in restoring humanity than punishing humanity (like all the other gods).
Stories started coming out about a God who matched sin with grace, and this God wasn't interested in having humanity offer sacrifices to make up for their wrongdoings. This God was more concerned with working within humanity instead of withdrawing. Over time, people started realizing that this God wanted a relationship with people. And people started realizing that when they tapped into the power of this God, something profound would happen - they would experience an endless supply of grace even though the dark cloud still hung high.
And that's where we find ourselves today - the dark cloud still hangs, but we have an out. We have relief. We have hope. There is never a time when the dark cloud can't be matched with grace and peace through this God.
Even the litany of laws that our ancestors created as a semi-relief from our own wreckage didn't come close to the relief that comes from this God's grace. And Jesus showed us that. The laws only increased our misery. They only made things worse. But all that time, we were blind to the reality of this God's grace. We are awake to that now though. We see it! And thanks to the work that Jesus did, we recognize that no person is left out from that grace
No comments:
Post a Comment