Absurd Grace

It is absurd to think that God is a God of grace. It is absurd because it goes against the basic instincts of life. Grace is impractical and unworkable in life. It is all right to be gracious on occasion, but as a continuing lifestyle it is very undoable.

The concept of grace is a gifting concept. Grace gives free and undeserved gifts to persons. Well and good occasionally, but not all the time. One cannot make grace their basic lifestyle. No one actually knows how to do that.

Jesus taught many ways to express grace in daily lifestyle, but most Christians think he was “just preaching.” He really did not mean to actually live the way he said to live. It would be impossible to practice such idealistic behavior. Grace is absurd.

It is only absurd because it is a totally unfamiliar way to behave. Besides that, it is not reasonable. Legalism is reasonable, grace is not. We do not know how to practice the unreasonable. It is completely foreign to our thinking and behaving.

Legalism is the opposite of grace, and it is very reasonable. It teaches us to treat other people as they deserve, and in the ways which we are treated by them. “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” makes much more sense than does grace.

We are far more at home with philosophies like “I’ll scratch your back if you will scratch my back.” Quid quo pro is our normal lifestyle: “something for something.” We believe that people should get what they deserve in life.

Jesus taught a gracious lifestyle and was met with skepticism on all fronts. No one thought they could make seventy times seven forgiveness work. Nor going to court and giving twice as much to the plaintiff as the court had awarded them (the coat and cloak also).

Grace is just not fair. Treating people better than they deserve is not a sustainable lifestyle. Jesus taught an absurd teaching when he told of a man who hired workers at various time during the day and then paid them all the same at the end of the day. That is just not fair and cannot be a lifestyle example.

He told the story of a father who gave a wayward son his inheritance then welcomed him back into the family as a celebrated member after he had squandered it. That simply is not fair.

Grace is too difficult to administer. It does not operate with “knee jerk” responses to people. In fact, each incident seems to have its own response designed just for itself. It is not just a simple reaction. It requires thought and self-control. That is hard.

Legalism is simple. Little children can figure it out and practice it. You bite me, I bite you back. You take mine, I take yours. That is quick, easy, and understandable. Grace, on the other hand, is not simple. It is difficult.

Whereas legalism is so primitive that anyone can do it, grace is so sophisticated that most do not even care to try living it out. It requires thought, energy, and initiative. It is not simply simple.

When Jesus said, “return good for evil” and “be gracious to your enemies”, he was expressing a simple idea, but a difficult lifestyle. These behaviors must be thought about and deliberately determined. They are not simply emotional responses to other people. They come from a heart and spirit which beat to a different drummer than the ordinary.

It is no wonder that he promised the coming of a counselor or guide after he left and was no longer available for consultation. We would need the help of the spirit of God to lead and guide. Living the life would not be easy or automatic. It would require wisdom and skill and the help of the Father.

If the idea of a lifestyle of grace seems difficult to imagine for Christians, the idea of God being gracious in his lifestyle seems even more absurd. Everyone knows that God must make sure that everyone gets what they deserve. He must be legalistic or the moral world will not run correctly. He must make sure that justice prevails.

If God is overly gracious, everything gets messed up. It is all right for him to act graciously occasionally, but not all the time. After all, he is a “just” God. Just deserts are his responsibility.

Strangely, everything is messed up. Jesus demonstrated grace in all of his relationships, not just some of them. He did not feel the need to condemn everyone who did wrong. The Pharisees did that, not him. And he told Philip that if one observes him they observe the Father. When we see the behavior of Jesus we see the behavior of the Father. That royally messes up all of our philosophical conclusions about how God must be if he is to be God. Everyone knows that God is not like Jesus, except Jesus himself. Now, that is messy.

We cannot begin to make sense of a God who is not legalistic. It is beyond our comprehension. It has far too many implications that go against common sense. That is why the early believers “turned the world upside down.” That is the “foolishness of the cross.”

Jesus was very clear that his teachings about being gracious to everyone instructed us in how to be like the Father. He said that if we give gifts of graciousness to others we are spiritual offspring of the Father.

“You have heard it said that you should be gracious your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I tell you, be gracious to your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you; so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: because he causes his sun to rise on the bad and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” (Matthew 5.43-45)

Yep, everything is all messed up if God is gracious to everyone. We may have to begin again to understand who he is and how he is operating with us.