Jesus is Our Grace

Jesus is Our Grace.

“For God so loved the world (Kosmos) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes into (eis) Him, should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into (eis) the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. The one who believes into (eis) Him is not judged; but the one who does not believe has been judged already, because that one has not believed into (eis) the name of the only begotten Son of God.”  (John 3:16-18).  

Grace is an undeserved gift of divine favor. Jesus is the Father’s undeserved Gift to us, to the world. What did we do to deserve this indescribable gift? Nothing. Can we do anything to earn this gift? No. We have no claim to Grace or to Jesus Christ. He is a free gift for the salvation of the world. When we believe into Him and are united in Him, we then receive all the spiritual blessings that were reserved for Him. Jesus is the only One who actually deserves divine favor and grace, God’s acceptance and love. So when we are inside Him, or as St. Paul would often say “in Christ,” we receive the grace due Jesus. By being in union with Christ, we are then in a position to receive the grace due Him. The blessings received by Jesus from the Father are offered to those who are “hid” in Him, a mutual indwelling, a double union with the Son of God… He in us, we in Him. Our union with Jesus through faith provides the divine favors of forgiveness, salvation and eternal life. The grace of Christ provides the divine acceptance needed to become children of God Himself. In Christ too, we receive the undeserved gift of the power needed to walk in obedience to God.  “So then, be empowered by the grace that comes from the Messiah Jesus.” (2 Timothy 2:1). We didn’t earn that, we don’t deserve that, but we can only receive God’s special grace when we are inside the Gift of Grace in Christ.

“Jesus, the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth… From His super-abundant fullness we have all received grace in a place of grace already given, gift heaped upon gift, one spiritual blessing after another, one undeserved divine favor on top of another. From Christ’s full supply, we endlessly receive one grace stacked on top of another grace. For the Torah was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:15-18).

GRACE in the New Testament: The Epistles often repeat something like, “The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.” The Greek word here for “grace’ is the tremendously rich word of “charis,” which is usually pronounced “care-iss.” This important biblical word, used over 170 times in the New Testament, was at one point a general term adopted from Greek mythology, and could mean goodwill, loveliness, charm, sweetness, favor, and that which gives delight. But St. Paul especially expanded its meaning to point to God’s undeserved favor on us; His unearned gift of extravagant good will; His gratuitous, unmerited kindness; His unexpected spiritual blessings that bring us delight and pleasure; God’s indiscriminate free gift of acceptance with no strings attached. This is the basic concept, but Paul used “grace” as a word that summarizes all the blessings that God offers to us. “Grace and peace” is found in his closing remarks or benediction often enough. This biblical grace is an absolute truth, and so grace exists whether or not we choose to accept it. Grace is intended to be a personal experience that is lived into and fleshed out. Grace is the exhale after the inhale of Jesus into one’s life.

Jesus and ‘Charis.’ The Lord was certainly full of grace and truth, but it’s interesting He only used the word “charis” in one passage, Luke 6:32-35. But His use of the word here provided the best picture yet of what He means by grace. “If you love those who love you, are you expecting some kind of special favor (charis)? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, why should you get a special blessing (charis) for that? Even sinners do that. Or if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, why should you expect a special commendation (charis) for that? Even sinners lend to those who will repay in full. Rather, I tell you, love your enemies. Do what is good, and lend to others expecting nothing in return. Then your reward from heaven will be very great. And you will be acting as children of the Most High, for He is gracious even unto the ungrateful and wicked.”  

Jesus is Grace in the Flesh. He was grace-in-action, handing out undeserved favor everywhere He went, in everything He did. Jesus embodied God’s quality of grace, and is in fact what grace looks like to those who wonder. He didn’t have to pronounce the word charis, He literally was and continues to be charis. Consider His many parables that have the thread of undeserved favor and grace:

1. The Wedding Feast (Matthew 22; Luke 14). The king’s servants were sent out to hither and yon to offer random invitations to enjoy his feast. He invited all those who didn’t deserve to enjoy the king’s feast… the foreigners and travelers, the sinners and Gentiles, the ‘poor and maimed and blind and lame.’ Invite anyone and everyone you can get out on the highways and byways, total and complete strangers! I want to fill my house for the feast! Jesus closed the story with these words, “Many are called…” which is a Jewish figure of speech meaning “Everyone is invited; Everyone is called!’” Grace all around!
2. The Prodigal Son’s Father (Luke 15). The astoundingly gracious father in this story accepted the humiliation of being asked for his inheritance before he had even died; he waited patiently while his son was busy squandering away all that inheritance; he waited lovingly on the lookout for his wastrel son to return; he ran out to greet his son, forgive him without any sense of accountability, gave his son the family signet ring and the honored family robe, and threw him a huge village feast to celebrate the son’s return home. The father fully restored his son’s status as privileged family member without the son deserving it in the least. All grace.
3. The Good Samaritan (Luke 10). A dishonored enemy graciously decides to minister emergency aid to an injured Jew on the side of the road. He applied first aid and took him to a nearby inn to continue the rehabilitation process. The hated Samaritan could easily have just passed by that man who probably had life-threatening injuries. But out of sheer grace and mercy brought the man back to life and cared for him. The injured man received the gift of goodwill from a despised enemy!
4. The Wicked Vinedressers (Matthew 21; Mark 12; Luke 20). The heroic vineyard owner patiently remained faithful to the tenants who were caring for his vineyard, despite the tenants beating up one servant after another, refusing to pay the rent, and finally killing the owner’s son who tried to reason with them. The owner demonstrated one grace after another, generously forgiving them time and again and hoping for the best, until the line had been crossed in the owner’s mind. The owner finally replaced these despicable tenants with another crew. Grace, more grace, and more grace, and then finally accountability. Interesting… Are there limits to grace and favor?
5. The Gracious Landowner (Matthew 20). The landowner decides to pay the same wage to those who only worked a little at the end of the day as those workers who worked hard the entire day. This caused much consternation among the all-day workers, understandably, and Jesus had the landowner say at the end of the story, “Look, friend, I’m not being unfair with you! I chose to give the last workers as much as I’m giving to you who received exactly what we agreed to! Haven’t I the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” Jesus then offers the mystifying but gracious words, “The last ones will be the first, and the first last.”
6. The Lost Sheep (Luke 15). As happened all the time apparently, one witless sheep wandered away from the flock and got lost without even realizing it. The shepherd demonstrated what a good shepherd would always do: leave the flock in the care of his assistant and seek out the lost sheep. When a sheep gets himself lost, it tends to just lie down on the ground helplessly and utter a few ‘baaas,’ not doing anything to help himself out of its dilemma. Sometimes the sheep are found in some nearby meadow, but other times it’s stuck in the brambles and thornbushes, and sometimes is hanging on for dear life on a cliff somewhere. The good shepherd is astute enough to notice a missing sheep, then gracious enough to seek out the sheep that is always totally helpless, and then rescues the sheep with no questions asked. Every time, the sheep deserves to be lost, and yet the good shepherd, full of grace, is off to the rescue!
7. The Sower and the Seeds (Matthew 13; Mark 4; Luke 8). The typical farmer back in those days would broadcast his seeds, scattering them everywhere and hoping for the best. He knew full well that some seeds would fall on a footpath and get picked up by birds, other seeds would fall into the gravel and never grow any roots, and some seeds would fall among the thorns and brambles and not be allowed to grow at all. Only a fourth of the farmer’s seeds would actually find fertile soil, grow roots and eventually bear fruit. The sower didn’t think he was “wasting’ his time by broadcasting his seeds. He just wanted as many of his seeds as possible to bring life and fruit to his field. The sower is demonstrating the process of God’s grace in the world… A gratuitous and indiscriminate broadcaster of grace into the world.

Along with His stories, Jesus put grace into action in his miracles and in His ministry. He tended to heal all those who could never pay Him back in any way, free of charge: the crippled, the lame, the blind, the leprous, the helpless. The people didn’t technically deserve their healings, but that didn’t matter to Jesus. His ministry included the untouchable, the rejected, the outcasts, the Gentile unbelievers, the demon-possessed, even the dead! It was all grace, all the time, loving those who may not love Him back… people like Zaccheus, the adulteress, the prostitute, the tax collector, the radical zealot, the children. And it was astounding that Jesus healed and ministered to those who did not necessarily have any faith in Him, including the paralyzed man who was lowered through the roof to be healed, and Jesus accepted the faith of this man’s friends as a substitute! The crippled man didn’t express any faith in Jesus to be healed, but his friends did, and that was good enough for Jesus! (Mark 2). That was pure, unadulterated favor and goodwill.

Blessed and Highly Favored. “God is so rich in mercy and loves us with such intense love that, even when we were dead because of our acts of disobedience, He brought us to life along with the Lord Jesus – it is by grace that we have been delivered… How great is His kindness toward us who are united with the Messiah Jesus. For you have been delivered by grace through trusting, and even this is not your accomplishment but God’s gift. You were not delivered by your own actions, therefore no one should boast. For we are of God’s making, created in union with Jesus Christ for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:4-10).

One More Grace Note. God the Father initiated divine favor by creating this beautiful world, and then by keeping His Chosen People safe through the centuries, and in the fullness of time bringing forth the world’s Savior from those very people. Pure grace and undeserved favor. God then continued His grace by giving us the greatest gift imaginable, His Son, for the world’s salvation. Then Jesus His Son continued God’s grace even further by dying for us on the Cross, thereby attracting all people to Him, drawing all of humanity to His saving grace (John 12:32). The grace of forgiveness is now being offered to the world, because the Deliverer has graciously touched everyone’s spiritual antennae through His death, resurrection and ascension. And now, it’s our turn. Will we respond to His initiative of grace? Will we ask for the grace of God to help us open our hearts to receive our salvation?