Grace Unsettles Us
Grace is almost universally attractive. Yet, have you ever noticed? Grace is unsettling. Grace exposes us to meaningful relational risk. The opposite of a society build on grace is a meritocracy. It runs on transactions. And, well, transactional relationships have very clear rules, based on performance and payment. While on the other hand, unmerited love and kindness seem too good to be true. It's unsettling.
The nature of grace makes it very hard for Paul's Jewish Roman readers to accept his message. That's what makes it hard for many of us. Grace is almost universally attractive, yet it's unsettling.
Let's think about this ...
When we give grace, we fear someone may take advantage of our generosity.
When we receive grace, we fear hidden motives or coercion, or we feel unworthy for having not earned it.
When we see someone else get grace, we fear losing blessing, or perhaps we get jealous, or feel overlooked.
That's what I mean by unsettled. There's a lot of fear wrapped up in our relationship with grace. But we are still drawn to grace … almost instinctively. Transactional spirituality or religion is much more comfortable than grace. Moralism––the belief that doing good leads to good––makes sense to us. It's clean and calculated. Grace––unmerited love––turns our world on its ear. This is what Paul's Jewish readers have to navigate through his letter, especially chapters 9-11.
Paul zeroes in on this unsettledness in Romans 11:1-6. As he does, our own discomfort is exposed. Here’s what he says,
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
He talks about his story, theology, and history. He confronts our unsettledness. Grace is not the disregard of truth and justice. Grace is the exchange of burdens. The giver of grace takes the burden of guilt and shame from the receiver of grace, and leaves with them the light burned of love and forgiveness. That’s Paul’s story. That’s foreknowledge. That’s what Elijah had to face. You see, grace is where justice meets generosity, where truth meets love. That's what I think we fear. I think we fear that grace is going to unjustly cost us. We fear that grace withholds from us. But the gospel of grace is literarily the announcement that a cosmic cost has been paid for us. Within the person of Christ we do not see fear and absence and judgment. We see the incarnation of grace and truth. We hear a gentle whispers, Jesus Christ.
