Grace Beyond Understanding
#BeUMC - Part 1
Sunday, June 25 , 2023
Luke 23:32-43
“One of the criminals hanging next to Jesus insulted him: ‘Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!’
Responding, the other criminal spoke harshly to him, ‘Don’t you fear God, seeing that you’ve also been sentenced to die? We are rightly condemned, for we are receiving the appropriate sentence for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong.’
Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus replied, ‘I assure you that today you will be with me in paradise.’”
Luke 23:39-43 (CEB)
This week’s message and blog post comes from special guets preacher, Rev. Tangela Cameron.
Listen here:
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God’s love is the center of the gospel. It is the crux from which everything else radiates, because without God’s love for humanity, there would be no Jesus, no Bible, and no Christianity. It is the center. Yet, the depth of God’s love is deeply perplexing. Everything about it is counterculture to our world.
This scripture is one of my favorites, and I find myself turning to it often as I work with my hospice and palliative care patients. A lot of questions arise at the end of life. There are not as many “whys?” as one might expect, but there are often questions, concerns, and worries around forgiveness. Primarily forgiveness from God, but also from family, friends, and others. My family raised me in the Baptist tradition. My experience with Baptist theology was fear-based. I remember others in Youth discussing baptism and how important it was to ensure we “didn’t go to Hell”.
I am not convinced that fear endears one to God. In my personal experience, choosing the route of fear, “turn or burn” theology, has driven more away from God/the church than towards. I came to The United Methodist Church as a teenager and remained United Methodist, because in my opinion, the theology showed me God’s truth: grace born out of love. Recently, a patient told me he did not “deserve” forgiveness. I did not ask, nor did he disclose, the things he thought were so heinous they would prevent God from extending mercy.
Regardless, it really did not matter what he did or did not do, because God did not set parameters of deservedness on grace or love. Instead, Jesus looks into the face of this criminal (or rebel, in other translations) next to him, who one might say is the least likely to understand what is happening amongst them and pronounces eternal forgiveness and restoration.
Grace does not make sense, because it is not about deserving anything. Grace is an outpouring of God’s love. Why? Because, God chose to. That is the one and only answer. Thanks be to God that God pours forth that which none of us deserves by any human measure. May we go forth and share likewise with the world.
Consider this: How does this passage stretch you? Are the merits by which we disperse grace and mercy to others of humanity’s scale of worthiness or are they of God?