Unmerited

My son is on the verge of being a threenager, so often, he'll tell me exactly what his plans for the day are, and when they conflict with mine, he'll tell me "I said yes/no," "I do it myself!" or he'll completely ignore me. What I say I want from him is the furthest thing from his mind when he has his heart set on something. Occasionally, that leads to lots of yelling, some tears, maybe something broken and always ends the same way, "I'm sorry Mama." To which I reply, "I don't want you to be sorry, buddy, I want you to listen."

There's actually a joke right now going around on Facebook, that says, Other Moms: "Oh my God, honey are you ok? Let's clean that up. I'll take care of you." Me: "Maybe if you listened to me when I told you not to do that, you would be perfectly fine right now." Let's me know I'm in good company. More often than not, we'd rather our kids listen and obey us than be sorry and have to work out the consequences for their actions. For some reason though, we shy away from this idea when we think about God and whether or not He has expectations for our behavior. We think of the Father  and picture Him being a really nice guy who as long as we apologize when we goof, or miscalculate or whatever word we use to diminish our offense, everything's cool.

But the truth is, everything isn't cool. Jeremiah 25 talks of the cup of God's wrath, which He told Jeremiah to give to the nations he was sent to. The product of our selfishness and idolatry and the evil it created on the earth required a response from the Father, which the prophet writes, "This is what the Lord Almighty says: You must drink it! See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword on all who live on the earth, declares the Lord Almighty." (Jer 25:28-29) Even His chosen city of Jerusalem, filled with His beloved children, were not exempt from the judgement of their wickedness.

This week, Holy Week, there seems to be a focus on cups in the scriptures we're reading. Jesus, taking the Passover, saying the cup of Redemption was the new covenant in His blood, saying He was redeeming the world with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, (Exodus 6:6-8) and the cup of Restoration, which Jesus said that He would not drink with his disciples until it is anew in His kingdom. We also read about a cup tonight, Good Friday, where a sponge was put inside a vinegar mixture and then put to Jesus lips when he said, "I thirst." After drinking He said, "tetelestai" which means, "It is finished." (John 19:28-30)  What a friend explained was finished was that cup of wrath, which even though He asked for an alternative plan, Jesus drank to the dregs, so that we wouldn't have to.

All year long, we speak of grace as the free, unmerited gift of God, manifested in salvation and the bestowal of blessings. Only those I've known who've suffered understand grace's costly nature. The Father, who dearly loved the world, sent His Son to his ungrateful children, who don't want His protection, His provision, who want to live life on their own terms, deciding they were worth cracking His heart open for the world to see, lifted on a cross, to consume our punishment Himself for the sake of creating and maintaining a relationship with us.

We live in the light of the resurrection, only pausing to consider the cross on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, where we still make it a point to mention the story changes in just a few days. It's uncomfortable to think about how we've needed the cross, how we stand guilty without it, how our righteousness is like filthy rags before His holiness. It feels like legalism to let the weight of our poor choices and hypocritical nature sit before us, but only then do we understand the true nature of grace. The Father is not like me, who looks at His creation and says, "Well, if you would have listened to me, you wouldn't be in this mess." He knows we can't fix this, and the only way for us to be free of the bondage we're in is to extend Himself in ways unimaginable. I would encourage you today and tomorrow, to sit in knowing how undeserving and costly His grace really is, and let the fact we get all of it anyway transform your heart. It is His kindness that leads us to repentance, and love that leads us to obedience. (Rom 2:4; John 14:15) A blessed weekend to you all.