Grace- Cursillo talk

Grace

In the church we use the word “Grace” a lot. We can use it so much that it can be a word that just floats through the air in the background and doesn’t mean anything. … It’s important to take time to think about what we mean by this word.

A lot of our lives are based on the principle of reciprocity. You exchange money for gas at the gas station. You put in a certain number of hours in and you receive a paycheck at the end of the month. Karma is a very natural way to think. You get what you deserve.

I’m sure we are all aware of the parable of the Prodigal Son. This is how Jesus explained grace. We’ll ignore the older brother for now, because that is about how others respond to God showing grace to people they don’t think deserves it. As you will remember, the parable of the Prodigal Son begins with a simple request, "Father, give me my share of the estate.” To us, it seems like the sort of request a spoiled child might make. But, there is a lot more in that request than we realize. In Jesus’ culture, for a son to ask for his inheritance before his father died is almost unimaginably disrespectful. It is an incredible insult. Kenneth Bailey spent a good deal of his life trying to understand the Bible by studying the cultures of the Middle East. He says this,

"For over 15 years I have been asking people of all walks of life from Morocco to India and from Turkey to the Sudan about the implications of a son's request for his inheritance while the father is still living. The answer has always been emphatically the same... the conversations run as follows:

'Has anyone ever made such a request in your village?'

'Never!'

'Could anyone ever make such a request?'

'Impossible'

'If anyone ever did, what would happen?'

'His father would beat him of course!'

'Why?'

'The request means- he wants his father to die.'


This is a deeply offensive request. Not only does he essentially wish his father was dead. He also sells his portion of the land. That might not be a big deal to us. We do that all the time. For him, though, as a Jewish man living in the Promised Land, this land was given to his family by God. You don’t up and sell the land God gave your family. It is to reject your people’s values and traditions. The land isn't just “resources”- It is his family's inheritance from God. ... Amazingly, his father goes along with the son’s request, when all expectations would have pointed to him getting beaten and maybe even disowned.

The son sells his half of the land, takes his money, and leaves. He goes to a 1st century Las Vegas where he lives among the Gentiles and "squandered his wealth in wild living". …



As happens, the money runs out. When he can’t afford the party, the “friends” are no more. Reality starts to settle in. … He gets a job as a pig feeder. It's an awful job for a Jewish boy. It's a job that would make him unclean- literally and religiously. … He works hard, for little pay. Eventually he is desperate. ... Things get so bad that he starts longing for the food he’s feeding the pigs. The prodigal son comes to a fork in the road. Stay and die, hungry for pig slop, ... or take a chance and try to return home.

Of course, he could never return home as a son, but maybe he could return as a servant. At least they ate well. He starts to prepare for his desperate journey. How can he face his father after acting so disgraceful, after turning his back on his tradition and family? On the long road home he rehearses what he will say- "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants." Over and over he said the words, like a mantra, visualizing himself home, but in a different way. Serving at the family table, but not eating at it. Taking orders from his father and older brother, but not as before, now as a servant, as a slave, not as a son and a brother. … "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants."



When he was able to see the family farm, he saw the outline of his father in the distance. Suddenly his father was running- a very inappropriate thing to do for the dignified head of a family. … As the son braces himself for the father's wrath, his father picks him off the ground and throws his arms around him and kisses him. Surprised, the son starts his mantra, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son…"... the father interrupts him; he doesn't get a chance to finish the mantra he has practiced along his journey.

The father commands the 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. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." …

Of course, this is a parable Jesus tells to let us know about the grace of God. It is scandalous love. It is love that even seems to defy justice. It is not what the son deserves. … The son expected what was fair. If any mercy was shown it would have been in allowing his face to be shown around the farm as a slave, but not as a son. … This is about a loving father getting his son back, and so he pours out his abundance on him and throws a party.



There are a number of things going on in this story, but one of the very important things Jesus is saying through this parable is that this is how God feels about you. God sees you as his beloved son. He is like a loving Father who desperately misses his son. He wants you to come home, and the minute he sees you turn towards home, he is running to you. God wants to restore you to full sonship. And your return will be cause for partying in heaven.



The son didn’t deserve any of it. In fact, according to the culture, the father would have been in his rights to beat him and run him off. The grace this father gives to his returned son is completely counter cultural. … The son didn’t earn his sonship back. It was given to him freely by his father. … Pain was involved in recognizing how badly he had gotten it wrong. Seeing your own mistakes is not easy. Apologizing is not easy. Effort was involved in returning home, but that didn’t earn him anything. It just put him in a place to face his father.



Likewise, we don’t deserve anything from God. Grace is undeserved favour. It is the goodness of God that is offered as a gift. … This is God’s basic stance towards us. Our mere existence is grace. We don’t deserve our existence. God doesn’t owe us our lives. Every breath that fills our lungs is grace. Every beat of our heart is a gift. Food didn’t have to taste good. The sunrise doesn’t have to be beautiful. Music didn’t have to exist. All of this is grace. This is the ‘common grace’ we encounter in creation. Every good thing in the world is an expression of divine grace. The fact that the universe doesn’t just stop existing is an expression of God’s grace.



‘Special grace’ is the undeserved favour that God shows to sinners. Specifically, we can say that Jesus Christ is this ‘special grace’. It is the Gospel, which is like a multifaceted diamond. As we turn it in the light we see Christ’s gift of himself to sinners. And turn it again and we see his plan and actions to save sinners. Turn it again and we see Christ working within the sinner to bring them into a new way of being. All of this is God’s work to bring the sinner home and restore them.



Grace is the gift of Jesus Christ, himself. Like any gift, it can be accepted, rejected, or ignored. We must choose to receive the gift. If we do, then Christ, through his spirit, will begin to transform us. … The best thing for us, is to receive Christ as our Lord. For him to be our Lord is to trust him completely. It means to trust him with every area of our life- our mind, attitudes, and emotions; our body; our spirit; our family and relationships; our sexuality; our work; our material goods and finances; our decisions; our death. We all have parts of our lives we are more comfortable turning over. Christ will take up residence inside us through his Spirit. And



In Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis says, 

“ ‘Make no mistake,’ [Jesus] says, ‘if you let me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for. Nothing less, or other, than that. You have free will, and if you choose, you can push Me away. But if you do not push Me away, understand that I am going to see this job through. Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect— until my Father can say without reservation that He is well pleased with you, as He said He was well pleased with me. This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less.’”

And this progressively transformed life will influence every relationship as we become Christ’s light-bearers. It will influence our family and friendships, our work relationships, our church, and the larger society and world. Christ’s kingdom becomes a reality within us, and the kingdom spreads as God works through us, in the lives of those around us.