We sing about “amazing grace,” “wonderful grace of Jesus,” and “the glories of God’s grace” for good reason. God’s grace is amazing, wonderful, and glorious. But sometime, I would like to write a hymn called, “A little too much grace for us to handle.”
That’s why Jesus told this parable in the first place, after all. The Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling about the fact that Jesus ate with sinners. Jesus gave his intimate meal-time companionship to people who didn’t deserve the ground Jesus walked on! This was too much to handle. They thought that Jesus should take a stand for morality and purity by refusing to eat with these people, but Jesus shocked them with his extravagant grace.
To really drive the point home, Jesus told the Pharisees and scribes a now-familiar parable: the story of the prodigal son. In this story, the younger of two sons demands his inheritance from his father, telling him in effect that he considers him to be dead. He takes off to another country and wastes the money.
When a famine arises in that country, the son is left with nothing. The reasonable ending to this story, the ending that we could handle, is the ending that the son imagines. His father is a reasonable man, and maybe he will take him back in as a servant and give him something to eat.
But this is a parable, and parables have a way of completely sidestepping our expectations. Verse 20 says, “But while [the son] was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.” And then he proceeds to throw a huge party for him.
This is too much grace for just a prodigal. The son says it himself, “I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” (vs. 19 and 21) For the older brother, this is a little too much grace to handle. He protests by refusing to join the party, so the father pleads with him to come inside.
The story ends here, and we never find out how the older brother responds. I would like to think that Luke is including us, the readers, in the story at this point. We are often greeted with a grace that is too much for us to handle. Our expectations about other people, about the church, and about the way that God works in the world are often surpassed by a God whose grace is too much for us to handle. Will we, cast as the older brother, remain outside the party, unable to handle this extravagant grace? Or will we grow to accept the outrageous things that God does, and join in the celebration over the lost and found brother?
Many of the challenges that we encounter are in places where the grace of God seems mysteriously absent. In these places, we continue to struggle and pray that God will work. But perhaps there are other challenges that we encounter in places where the grace of God is all too present. This grace is sometimes so extravagant that it is too much to handle. Let us grow to accept and acknowledge this grace, because God is inviting us to come inside and join the celebration!
As I write this in May, I don’t know what’s going to happen at Synod 2007. Perhaps a decision will be made in which you feel that the church “squanders its money in a far country,” like the prodigal son. In that case, take heart! We still worship a God who is gracious, and we still worship a God who will continue to surprise us with divine grace in the future. Perhaps a decision will be made in which you feel the extravagant grace of God working in our church. In that case, come inside and join the celebration!
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, your extravagant grace shocks us, your prodigal children. Thank you for this grace, and give us more grace to accept the marvelous ways that you work in the world. Amen.
