The Rev. Dr. Patricia Ramsden                        First Presbyterian Church

The Cross As Grace                                                4/3/11

 

            Grace is a daffodil blooming through the last snow of winter.

            Grace is the smile of a new born babe lying in its mother’s arms.

            Grace is the beauty of the dawn after the darkest night.

            I love all of those images, but, I’m sorry, that’s not grace.  In some ways, they even cheapen grace with sentimentality and reduce it to sweetness and light. 

            Grace --- God’s eternal love and forgiveness --- is anything but sweet.  It is hard and enduring.  It is obstinate and implacable.  It refuses, absolutely refuses, to turn its back on us, even when that is what we want most of all, even when we scream for it to go away and leave us alone in the middle of the night, saying we want nothing to do with God or His love.  Still God is there.  Grace is there, even when we deny it, even when we curse it, even when we do our worst against it. 

            Grace is a love beyond understanding, a love beyond imagining, a love of such depth that it will endure the deepest, darkest pain of human devising and keep on loving even as we walk away. 

            So does God stay because all He sees in us is the child He created us to be, the child He wishes us to be?  Because His vision is of that fresh faced, innocent and laughing child? 

            No.  God does not stay because He sees us through rose colored glasses, denying the facts of our lives.  No.  He knows exactly who we are with all our sins and foibles.  He sees the darkness and loves us anyway. 

            How do I know this?  Read the scripture.  Look at the men and women whom God loves and who are giants in the faith. 

            There is Moses, a murderer.

            David, an adulterer.

            Mary Magdalene, a prostitute.

            Martha, a workaholic.

            Peter, a beloved friend who denies Him.

            Judas, who betrays Him.

            Jewish leaders, who plot to kill Him.

            Roman soldiers, who pound nails into His flesh.

            God loves them all.  God died for them all.  Just as He died for us.

            Beyond all imagining, in the midst of hatred and torture, in the middle of hell here on earth, God’s love spoke and said, “Forgive them.” 

            That is what we find so difficult to accept.  That is what we rail against.  We don’t want love as a free gift, thank you very much.  We want  to earn it.  We want to deserve it. 

            Ask most people what you have to do to get to heaven and we have a list.  Buddhists have an 8 fold path.  Hindis have Karma.  Jews have a covenant and the Torah.  Muslims have the law of the Koran.  Only Christians talk of God’s unconditional love.  Only Christians speak of unimaginable grace.  Only Christians point to a crucified Savior, murdered for the high crime of loving. 

            And yet, ask us the way to heaven, and even as God’s love passes through our lips, we spew out a list:

            You must repent. 

            You must be baptized.

            You must attend church.

            You must do this and this and this and this.

            Ask God, though, what the way to heaven is, and all He says is “Welcome home.  I have been here before you even asked the way, and I AM the way.”

            So does God’s grace come at no cost at all?  No.  Here is the eternal contradiction, the dilemma of righteousness.  Sin claims its cost.  And its cost is death.  Its cost is hell.  And it is a living death, a living hell. 

It is the hell we experience in the middle of the night as we lie awake wondering if anyone could love us if they only knew, the hell of knowing  we don’t even love ourselves.  It’s the hell that says I’ve gone too far to turn back now.  I can’t pay the price of love.

And we are right.  We can’t pay the price.  We can’t get out of the darkness, whatever the darkness might be, by ourselves.  God knows that too.  He knew it from the beginning of time when Adam first hid from His love, afraid of what he had done and of what the ultimate price would be. 

God knew we could never pay that price and so He paid the ultimate price of sin Himself.  He died for us.  He went through hell for us.  He stretched out His arms upon a cross and said, “This is My love.  This is My grace.  This is my life, given in your place.”   “For God so loved the world that He gave His only beloved Son.”

When Pilate looked at Christ and said “Do you not realize that I have the power either to free you or crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You have no power over me....  Do you think I cannot call upon my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels…. I lay down my life, only to take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” 

Jesus chose to die for our salvation.  He was held on the cross not by the nails in His feet and hands.  He was held on the cross by His love for you. 

The question now is will you accept His gift of love?  Will you open your heart to love and grace and undeserved acceptance?  Will you turn toward heaven and hear God’s voice as He says, “Welcome home.  I’ve been waiting for you.”