I have mentioned several times that two of my favorite theologians are Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I say this because both of them have been on my mind lately, each for related but separate reasons.
Rev. Bonhoeffer popularized the theory of “cheap grace”, or rather the grace that has been cheapened by us when we forget the cost involved to procure that grace for us. I have struggled to find a way to make the concept easily graspable while remaining true to what Bonhoeffer envisioned. And then it hit me as I was driving one day between the parsonage in Kewanna and the church in North Judson.
On the highways and byways of this country, I tend to be the driver in front of a long line of vehicles on the road because I do not keep up with traffic. I am basically a cheap person. By doing the speed limit for the road; I use less gas because I am not constantly speeding up and slowing down, I travel at a steady pace; I do not get speeding tickets because I do not place myself in a position to earn one; I pay less in insurance because of my driving record and being both ticket and accident free for a very long time.
Now everyone knows that even when one does the speed limit on the highway, the vehicle may or may not ‘actually’ be going that speed. Depending on tire wear, components tracking speed in the vehicle, and a myriad of other factors, one cannot be assured to be actually traveling the speed limit. And the police know this. That is why, unless you are doing the speed limit and driving recklessly, an officer will allow either a fixed amount or percentage of the speed limit (usually 5 mph or 10% depending on the officer as several have informed me) before they would take action and pull someone over.
That 5 mph or 10% is grace from the police.
How many drivers do you know or have seen on the roads that cruise above 55 mph and do that knowing that the chances for them being pulled over are slim. I’m not talking about those obviously screaming past me like I am standing still. Those who bend the speed limit because they know their chances to get away with it are good.
They have just cheapened the grace offered by the police by taking advantage of it.
THAT is what Bonhoeffer was referring to as “cheap grace”. Jesus died a painful, very human death on the cross for our sin. That sin that separated us from God and because of the sacrifice, made it possible for all who would call on Jesus as Lord to be in a direct relationship with God … a relationship that was destroyed when Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden.
God has worked since then to make a way for us to be back in that relationship. Every time we take that grace and tarnish it because we know that we are already forgiven, we pierce Jesus with another nail or twist that spear thrust into his side just a little bit more. Being forgiven is not some ‘get out of jail free’ card that we swiped from a Monopoly set that we can flash from time to time. Being forgiven means we understand that there was a price paid in advance for what we have just done, and it means we need to try that much harder to be an example made better by the suffering and grace of Jesus Christ.
Part of that grace extends to how we view and treat those around us. Recently, a friend of mine posted a graphic to his Facebook page that later, I reposted to mine. And I think Dr. King would approve because it takes the very grace filled words of Jesus and compares them to the words that have been bandied about in the media, general public, on bumper stickers and just about everywhere one would look. The graphic said:
- Christian Nationalist: “Fight!”
- Christ: “Blessed are the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9)
- Christian Nationalist: “America First!”
- Christ: “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16)
- Christian Nationalist: “Mass deportation!”
- Christ: “Welcome the stranger” (Matthew 25:35)
- Christian Nationalist: “U.S.A.”
- Christ: “Us”
Bonhoeffer gave us the concept that the grace offered to us, from God, through Christ Jesus is a gift that should not be taken for granted. It should not be counted on as a way to avoid the punishment we rightfully deserve. Instead, it should be accepted in the way it was given, in love, and only then offered to others in the way we received it.
I think Dr. King would agree that what we need now, more than ever, is a good look back on where we have been and call on the name of our Lord, Jesus the Christ in search for a way forward to a place where it is not us versus them; or a place where not those with the most win; or a place that seems more like what we hope to find in heaven. We all need to find that place filled with love for each other no matter what anyone looks like, thinks like, or sounds like. A place more like the one Jesus said when he commented that there would be room for all (John 14:2).