(…continued) There are many reasons why the unconditional grace of my college professor is not the same thing as the unconditional grace of God. At its most basic level, a college class is like a business transaction; you do the work, and you get the reward. It is not the place for unconditional grace.
At its most basic level, the Gospel offers a relationship. God is our father and we are his children, and we know how that works in our earthly families. Those relationships work best when the love is unconditional. That doesn’t mean there are no requirements, but it means that even if the requirements are not met, the love is still there.
I never had a relationship with that college professor. Not once did I ever talk to him. I could have had a relationship with him. He might have been an interesting fellow. I was blessed with some good relationships with several of my other professors, and in those relationships, I learned even much more than was required. But there was no relationship with the ‘automatic A’ professor. I never gave it a chance.
God is not giving out ‘automatic As’; rather, God offers a relationship of love that will last forever. This relationship is offered without requirements, “not by works, so that no one can boast.” But a relationship is made up of so much more than requirements. There is love, trust, faith, hope, promises, and yes, things to do. But the things to do are not to earn the relationship, but are done because you are already in the relationship. There is no contract. The Gospel is indeed a gift; a gift that is received in a relationship; a relationship that changes our approach to the things we ‘must do.’
Our own relationships provide daily illustrations of how this works. Here is a story from my life.
It was the summer after my graduation from high school. My brother and I were driving milk truck for my dad. My father and mother were going on vacation for a week. My younger brother and sister were going along. My brother and I would stay at home and do the milk routes. Along with doing the routes, dad gave us a long list of other things that needed to be done. His idea was that we would be kept so busy that we would not have any time to get into trouble. We had other ideas. As soon as they left, we were on the phone making plans with our friends; plans that my parents would not approve of; plans that left little time for work. We did get the milk picked up and hauled to the creamery every day, but that was all we got done. All week we did not do one other thing on that list of work dad had given us. This was our first taste of total freedom from parental control and we weren’t about to waste any of it doing dad’s busy work.
My brother and I enjoyed our freedom that week that our parents were on vacation. But as their return date drew closer, I found myself dreading the time we would have to face Dad and tell him that we did not do anything. I did not look forward to seeing him because it wasn’t all ‘busy work’ that he gave us to do. Much of it had to be done, and now, since school would soon be starting, it would have to be done by him alone. We started feeling bad those last few days before they returned, but still not bad enough to do anything about it. We were having fun and so we just kept goofing around right up until their return. When they came back, we welcomed them home and asked about their trip. Then Dad asked how the work went, and we had to admit that we had done nothing. Dad’s deep disappointment in his two capable, but irresponsible sons made us ashamed of ourselves. So ashamed, in fact, that it never happened again. There were other chances, other vacations, other times when we were home alone, and other job lists. Never again did we want to see that look of disappointment and feel that shame, and we never had to. From then on, we would always get the work done. And then we did not have to dread, but instead could look forward to our parent’s return; because then, with pride, we could show them that we had done even more than what was expected.
Our parents’ love was unconditional. Our place in their home was secure; it was not conditioned on getting all the work done. But the work did need to get done, and because of the good relationship we had, from then on, we wanted to make sure we did as we were told.
In the same way, God’s grace is freely given apart from anything we can do; but it still matters what we do.
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In Mark 13 there is a parable of Jesus that describes a similar situation. In the first part of the chapter Jesus is talking about what it will be like when the world ends. Then Jesus says (v. 32-34), “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be on alert! You do not know when that time will come. It is like a man (perhaps a father) going away on a journey. He leaves his house (and probably his business) and puts his servants in charge (or perhaps his sons) each with his assigned task.” Then he has to trust them; but he does tell them to keep watch (verses 34, 35, 37), because they do not know when he will return. So “if he comes back suddenly,” Jesus says (verse 36), “do not let him find you sleeping,” or out running around with your friends and neglecting your tasks.
Luke 18:8b — (Jesus said), “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
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Father of love, hear my prayer. Help me to know your will and to do it with courage and faith. Amen.
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