VULGAR GRACE

The Apostle Paul wrote, “The Lord said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’”  (2 Corinthians 12:9a)

In my office at the church, I have the following quotation hanging on my wall, 4 foot by 3 foot. It has become a sort of life mantra for me. I made it so large because I tend to forget this simple yet profound message about my being going before my doing. It’s a quote from Brennan Manning’s book “All Is Grace.” This ragamuffin follower of Jesus penned this weighty reminder for hard-headed, performance-addicted people like me:

“My life is a witness of vulgar grace – a grace that amazes as it offends. A grace that pays the eager beaver who worked all day long the same wages as the grinning drunk who shows up at ten til five. A grace that hikes up the robe and runs breakneck toward the prodigal reeking in sin and wraps him up and decides to throw a party no ifs, ands, or buts. A grace that raises bloodshot eyes to a dying thief’s request – “Please, remember me” – and assures him, “You bet!” A grace that is the pleasure of the Father, fleshed out in the carpenter Messiah, Jesus Christ, who left His Father’s side not for heaven’s sake but for our sakes, yours and mine. This vulgar grace is indiscriminate compassion. It works without asking anything of us. It’s not cheap. It’s free, and as such will always be a banana peel for the orthodox foot and a fairy tale for the grown-up sensibility. Grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try to find something or someone it cannot cover. Grace is enough. He is enough. Jesus is enough.” 

-- Jorge Acevedo in “Everybody Needs Some Cave Time: Meeting God in Dark Places”

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HOW FAR CAN GRACE REACH?

“Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save…”  (Isaiah 59:1)

There are days when the distance feels real. Distance from God. Distance from who you hoped to be. Distance from the life you imagined. Sometimes it’s failure that convinces you you’ve wandered too far. Sometimes it’s shame that whispers you’ve crossed a line you can’t return from. Sometimes it’s simply the slow drift of a tired heart.

But grace has a longer reach than your longest detour. Grace is not limited by geography, history, or the mess you made yesterday. Grace does not check how far you’ve run before deciding whether to chase you. Grace does not measure the distance -- it closes it.

The prodigal son tried to rehearse his apology, but the Father ran to him before he could speak. Peter denied Jesus three times, but grace restored him with three invitations to love. Paul persecuted the church, but grace turned him into its greatest preacher. Every story in Scripture shouts the same truth: You are never farther than grace can reach.

Lord, thank You that Your grace reaches farther than my failures, fears, and wanderings. Draw me close again. Remind me that no distance is too great for Your love to cross. Help me accept that and live today as someone found, forgiven, and held by grace. Amen. 

-- SOUND BITES Ministry™

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WE MATTER TO GOD

Jesus said God is like a shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep inside the fence to hunt frantically for one stray; like a father who can't stop thinking about his rebellious ingrate of a son though he has another who is respectful and obedient; like a rich host who opens the doors of the banquet hall to a menagerie of bag-ladies and bums.  God loves people not as a race or species, but rather just as you and I love them; one at a time.  We matter to God.  In a rare moment when he pulled back the curtain between seen and unseen worlds, Jesus said that angels rejoice when a single sinner repents.  A solitary act on this speck of a planet reverberates throughout the cosmos. 

-- Philip Yancey in “The Bible Jesus Read” 

#5209

VIGOROUSLY PURSUING US

“So he got up and went to his father. 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 Prodigal Son, Luke 15:20 NIV)

Our God is not patiently standing by and waiting for us to offer love; He is actively and vigorously pursuing us… He is the father running down the trail to embrace the prodigal son even before the boy can speak his act of contrition. He is the mad farmer showering a full day's wage on men who hadn't even worked. He is Jesus forgiving the sinful woman even before she spoke her sorrow. He is the king lavishing a banquet on beggars. These are all symbols of a God whose love for us is so active, so strong, that by human standards He would be at least, said to be mad. 

-- Andrew Greeley, quoted by Joni Eareckson Tada in “Glorious Intruder” 

#5194

THE HANDS OF GOD

“But while [the son] 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. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”  (Luke 15:20b-24 NIV)

Henri Nouwen wrote a beautiful book in 1992 called “The Return of the Prodigal Son”. It is a sustained reflection upon what Rembrandt did with Jesus’ story in Luke 15. The painting, which hangs in The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, portrays an aged, nearly blind father embracing his ragged son come home. The left hand is strong, muscular. The right hand is soft, tender, like a mother’s hand. The light is focused on those hands, which Nouwen describes:

“From the moment I first saw [the painting], I felt drawn to those hands. I did not fully understand why. But gradually over the years I have come to know those hands. They have held me from the hour of my conception … They have protected me in times of danger and consoled me in times of grief. They have waved me good-bye and always welcomed me back. Those hands are God’s hands.” …

All of us are like that son, needing more desperately than anything else the strong and gentle embrace of the hands of God. We must be those hands for each other -- not someday, but today.

--  James C. Howell in “Yours Are the Hands of Christ”


#4752

THOUGHTS ON REPENTANCE

“So [the son] got up and went to his father. 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.”  (Luke 11:20 NIV)

“Like the father of the Prodigal Son, God can see repentance coming a great way off and is there to meet it. The repentance is the reconciliation.”  (Dorothy L. Sayers)

“Today we need to learn what it means to repent, to convert, to seek forgiveness; to learn how merciful the Father is to those who truly come home and ask His forgiveness.  Unfortunately today there are all too few who come home; and if they do they come home to argue with the Father, and defend their way of life rather than to recognize it as sin.  Or worse they stay at a distance, like the proud elder brother who values earthly goods more than the love of anyone, and in the midst of moral and even physical ruin remains defiant to the last. It is always the time for the alienated, the prodigal, the lost to come home, to recognize the Eternal Love of the Father who did not spare His only Son, that we might be forgiven and have a new life in Him.”  (Rev. Mark A. Pilon)


#4610

A COMMUNITY OF CELEBRATION

“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. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”  (Luke 15:20-24 NIV)

When we as failers fail and then come to our senses, we should be eager to return home to our Christian community because we know what to expect.

We do not expect a chorus of “I told you so’s.” We do not expect a group of accusers and theology monitors. We do not expect to jump through hoops to prove we’re repentant. No. We expect a party.

That is what Christians do with failers. We are irresponsible just like Jesus. We do more than instruct, we surprise. We do more than pray, we party. We do more that correct, we dance. And we do more than love, we celebrate.

Just like Jesus. 

-- Michael Yaconelli in “Reckless Grace,” Discipleship Journal, No. 109


#4430

THE HEALER, NOT THE ENABLER

Many times I have treated God the Father like the prodigal did.  I have cried out for the quick fix.  I have demanded that God bail me out, fix me up, and move with power on my behalf.

"Lord, just solve this problem; I don't want to wait.  I need help now!"

In the parable, the father did not go drag the son out of the pigpen.  And God will not do that for us, either.  Because He loves us so deeply, He will give us the dignity of choice.  God's purpose in our lives is to heal us, not enable us.

-- Ted Roberts in Pure Desire

#3804

THE JOY OF THE PRODIGAL

I became aware that my whole life was consumed with doing rather than being. I knew what it meant to believe in Jesus, I didn't know what it meant to be with Jesus. I knew how to talk with Jesus, I didn't know how to sit still long enough to let Jesus talk to me. I found it easy to do the work of God, but I had no idea how to let God work in me. I understood soul-saving, but I was clueless about soul-making. I knew how to be busy, but I didn't know how to be still. I could talk about God, I just couldn't listen to God. I felt comfortable with God's people, but I felt uncomfortable alone with God. I was acquainted with the God "out-there," but I was a complete stranger to the God "in-here." I could meet God anywhere... except in my heart, in my soul, in my being.

It took only a few hours of silence before I began to hear my soul speaking. It only took being alone for a short period of time for me to discover that I wasn't alone. God had been trying to shout over the noisiness of my life, and I couldn't hear Him. But in the stillness and solitude, His whispers shouted from my soul, "Michael, I'm here. I've been calling you. I've been loving you, but you haven't been listening. Can you hear Me, Michael? I love you. I've always loved you. And I've been waiting for you to hear Me say that to you. But you've been so busy trying to prove to yourself that you're loved that you haven't heard Me."

I heard Him, and my slumbering soul was filled with the joy of the prodigal son. My soul was awakened by a loving Father who had been looking and waiting for me.

-- Mike Yaconelli, Youth Specialties

#3803

PRODIGAL GRACE

Grace strikes at unexpected times, [Paul] Tillich suggests: when we are in pain, feeling restless, empty, alone, estranged, or when we feel disgust, weakness, or hostility.  It strikes us when other things don't work, when we feel directionless and useless, when compulsions reign, and darkness overshadows.  When the ordinariness of life grinds us down, or the vacuity of the world's promises leaves us empty, when we finally realize our churning and churning is taking us nowhere fast, in such moments, grace comes to us like a wave of light in the darkness, and we perceive a voice saying, "You are accepted."

"We don't know the name of it at the time; there will be much to learn later," Tillich writes.  We don't have to promise anything at the time, for in that moment we are fundamentally the recipients of promise.  We don't have to give anything; only to receive what is given.  Our only and singular task is to accept that we are accepted.

You are loved.  You are loved. You are loved.

Can you accept that?

-- Robert Schnase in Five Practices of Fruitful Living


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