“It’s not fair!”
Ever heard that from your child? Ever uttered it yourself? I have. On both accounts.
One of my absolute favorite quotes is from a Relient K song (yep, I know this dates me) –
But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair.
“Be My Escape” by Relient K
How epically true is this?
Grace is by definition free and unmerited favor. And this word has been on my heart all week long. I think God knew I needed to write about grace today.
When I think about the cross and the brutal way that Jesus died, unfair is the understatement of the universe.
His body, bruised and broken.
His blood, mercilessly spilled.
His spirit, given up.
And for what? Jesus was completely guiltless. (John 19:4, I Peter 2:22) Purity and perfection incarnate was brutally murdered at the hands of a remorseless crowd of sinners.
Unfair.
And here I am… one of them. One of the mockers. One of the sinners. One of the lowly humans that Jesus died for.
Unfair.
I read the story yesterday morning to my kids about Jesus praying in Gethsemane right before Judas betrayed him.* He didn’t want to die. He didn’t desire pain and suffering in the most humiliating of ways imaginable. After all, he hadn’t done anything wrong! All of that is totally unfair. And yet, he valued his Father’s will above everything else. He loved his Father, and the Father loves us.
Can you imagine someone loving you that much?
It’s honestly tough to wrap my mind around even though I’ve known and loved Jesus for most of my life.
So why did Jesus go through with it?
He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began– to show his love and kindness to us through Christ Jesus. And now he has made all of this plain to us by the coming of Christ Jesus, our Savior, who broke the power of death and showed us the way to everlasting life through the Good News.
II Timothy 1:9-10 (NLT)
Grace.
Grace is why.
Grace is why Good Friday was so awful…and so beautiful at the same time.
Jesus’s death on the cross acted as the ultimate gift bestowed upon humanity – me… you…us… – a salvation we did not deserve, and instead he took away what should have been our punishment. (Romans 6:23)
This hymn penned by Julia H. Johnson has also been on my mind all week:
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord
Source
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled
Grace, grace, God’s grace
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within
Grace, grace, God’s grace
Grace that is greater than all our sin
Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace
Freely bestowed on all who believe
You who are longing to see His face
Will you this moment His grace receive?
Grace, grace, God’s grace
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within
Grace, grace, God’s grace
Grace that is greater than all our sin
The beauty of grace is that it makes life itself unfair! The very life I live. That vast, sweeping, holy sublimity of grace lies in its very unfairness.
It was unfair.
And…Jesus paid the price instead. God gave his only Son. (John 3:16)
That was it.
It is finished.
And now….
We will have hope.
And that is beautiful.
Have a blessed Good Friday.
a fresh brewed faith 