{"id":546,"date":"2021-03-02T08:20:47","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T13:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=546"},"modified":"2021-03-02T08:20:47","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T13:20:47","slug":"grace-mercy-and-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/02\/grace-mercy-and-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Grace, Mercy, and Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Throughout Lent, we\u2019re exploring the parables of Jesus \u2013 the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God\u2019s rule on earth. <\/strong>

The late author and theologian R.C. Sproul was fond of telling about a particular time he was teaching an introductory college course on the Old Testament.  The class was populated by about 250 freshmen. 

Sproul announced that each student would be responsible for writing three short papers over the course of the semester.  These were to be the approximate length of book reports.  But they had to be submitted on time for credit to be received.  The first paper had to be on Sproul\u2019s desk by noon on September 30; the second by noon on October 30; and the third by noon on November 30.  Papers submitted after those deadlines would automatically receive an F. 

\u201cDo you all understand what I expect?\u201d he asked the students.  They nodded enthusiastically.  \u201cSimple stuff,\u201d they agreed. 

But when September 30 arrived, 25 of those students were shaking in their shoes.  Their papers weren\u2019t finished.  These were freshmen, still making the transition from high school to college.  \u201cPlease don\u2019t give us an F on this paper!\u201d they pleaded.  \u201cCould you give us one more day?\u201d

Sproul relented.  \u201cJust don\u2019t let it happen again,\u201d he warned.  \u201cDon\u2019t worry,\u201d they sighed, \u201cwe\u2019ve learned our lesson.\u201d 

But when the second deadline arrived, October 30, there were now 50 students gathered outside Sproul\u2019s door.  Once again they were nervous.  \u201cPlease give us a break,\u201d they pleaded.  \u201cWe\u2019ve got midterms and projects that are due in other classes, and it\u2019s homecoming, after all.  Could we have one more chance?\u201d

Sproul gave in.  \u201cI\u2019ll grant an extension, but don\u2019t let this happen again.\u201d  For the next 30 days, Sproul would have won Most Popular Professor in a landslide.  His students sang, \u201cWe love you Dr. Sproul, oh yes, we do.\u201d 

Then November 30 arrived.  This time a whopping 100 students were delinquent in submitting their reports, and their attitudes were strikingly cavalier.

Sproul asked, \u201cWhere are the term papers I requested?\u201d  \u201cDon\u2019t worry, Prof,\u201d they answered.  \u201cWe\u2019ll have those in your hands in a couple of days.\u201d  Sproul, however, took out his little black grading book. 

\u201cJohnson, where\u2019s your term paper?\u201d  \u201cI don\u2019t have it, sir.\u201d  So Sproul marked an F next to Johnson\u2019s name.  \u201cGreenwood, where\u2019s your paper?\u201d  Greenwood gulped and said, \u201cIt\u2019s not finished yet, sir.\u201d  So Sproul put an F next to his name, too.

Sproul recalls that the entire class came unglued.  \u201cThat\u2019s not fair!\u201d  Sproul looked up.  \u201cWhat was that?\u201d he asked.  \u201cWe said, \u2018What you\u2019re doing is completely unfair!\u2019\u201d 

Sproul looked over at the first student he had singled out and said, \u2018Johnson, did I just hear you say that what I did was unfair?\u201d  \u201cYes, sir,\u201d said Johnson, who plainly was exasperated.

\u201cWell, I don\u2019t ever want to be thought of as an unfair or unjust professor.  I\u2019ll be glad to give you justice.  As I recall, you were late the last time a paper was due, weren\u2019t you?\u201d  Johnson nodded.  \u201cAll right, then I\u2019m going to go back and change that grade to an F, too.  Is there anybody else in the class who wants justice?\u201d  Sproul looked around.  Amazingly, there was nobody else in the class who wanted justice.  But plenty of the students were nostalgic for his grace.

What had happened to those students over the course of the semester?  They had gradually come to assume that grace was something they deserved.  Remember what Henry Higgins sings in the musical My Fair Lady<\/em>?  \u201cI\u2019ve grown accustomed to her face.\u201d  Those students had grown accustomed to Sproul\u2019s grace. 

That is precisely the experience of many people who contemplate the work of God in their own lives.  We are so used<\/em> to hearing the good news about Jesus that it hardly moves us anymore.  We\u2019ve adjusted ourselves to the miraculous way that God\u2019s grace comes to the rescue, even at the last minute.

I never thought I would get over the wonder of being married to my wife.  But I did \u2013 although not nearly as fast as Mary Sue got over the wonder of being married to me.  I never thought I would stop being thankful for the first house we lived in.  But I did.  I became accustomed to the grace of having our loan approved, and my mortgage payment became a burden instead of a privilege.  I never thought, when I first made a commitment to Jesus, that I would ever get over the feeling of awe that God actually loves me and wants me.  But I did.  And there have been plenty of days in which I\u2019ve thought, \u201cCome on, God, can\u2019t you answer my prayers a little faster<\/em>?\u201d

Three key biblical ideas are closely related to each other:  justice, mercy, and grace. 

Justice<\/strong> may be defined as getting what we deserve.  The world cries out for justice.  Abraham asked God, \u201cWill not the Judge of all the earth do right?\u201d (Genesis 18:25)  The implied answer is, “Of course.”  But when we plead for justice we must be wary of the consequences.  If we beg God to rid the world of every shred of evil at 9:00 pm today, not one of us would still be around at 9:01 pm. 

Mercy<\/strong> is not<\/em> getting what we deserve.  Ephesians 2:4 tells us that God is \u201crich in mercy, because of his great love for us.\u201d  Good health, good friends, and the fact that spring is less than three weeks away are reminders that \u201chis compassions never fail.\u201d (Lamentations 3:23) 

Grace<\/strong> is getting what we don\u2019t<\/em> deserve.  There\u2019s a reason that we sing \u201cAmazing Grace.\u201d  Grace means that God\u2019s presence, God\u2019s love, and God\u2019s forgiveness cannot be earned.  They cannot be deserved.  They can only be received.  No wonder the apostle Paul begins and ends all 13 of his New Testament letters with a reference to grace. 

Wouldn\u2019t it be wonderful to live in a world in which grace and mercy are the only considerations? 

At first blush, that sounds great.  But as anyone who has ever tried to advocate for the poor, referee a kids soccer game, or resolve conflicts between nations has discovered, we cannot live without justice.  Accountability matters.

Perhaps we should rephrase our question: Wouldn\u2019t it be wonderful to live in a world in which all three of these realities are perfectly expressed in the actions of a gracious, just, and merciful God? 

Jesus says, “That’s the kind of world that really exists.  That’s the kind of God who’s really there.”

Jesus teases out these truths in a remarkable series of stories.  He capitalizes on everyday scenes in first century Israel \u2013 farmers casting seed, fishermen pulling in their nets, a woman kneading yeast into a batch of dough.  He then describes something that would have been familiar to everyone within the sound of his voice: day-laborers toiling in a vineyard at harvest time.  His listeners would know all the characters of such a setting by heart. 

But in the Parable of the Workers, in order to describe the incomprehensible depth of God\u2019s grace, Jesus does something that none of his listeners would have expected. 

He blows up the rulebook for \u201cthe way things ought to be.\u201d

If it\u2019s been a while since you\u2019ve encountered the story in Matthew 20:1-16, there\u2019s a good chance it still has the capacity to blow your mind.

We\u2019ll dig into it together tomorrow. 
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Throughout Lent, we\u2019re exploring the parables of Jesus \u2013 the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God\u2019s rule on earth.  The late author and theologian R.C. Sproul was fond of telling about a particular time he was teaching an introductory college course on the Old Testament.  The class was populated by… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[101,180,183,177],"class_list":["post-546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-grace","tag-justice","tag-mercy","tag-parables"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":548,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions\/548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}