Prayer on Costly Grace

Read Luke 15: 11-24

¹¹ Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. ¹³ A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. ¹⁴ When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. ¹⁶ He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. ¹⁷ But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! ¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ ²⁰ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. ²¹ Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  ²² But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴ for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

 

Read Hebrews 5:7-10

 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸ Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; ⁹ and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, ¹⁰ having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

John 19: 28-30
²⁸ After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. ³⁰ When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

                Your grace, Lord, and the grace of those who love me, often seem to flow so easily and freely I overlook how much the giving may have cost the giver.  Those who have sent the gifts of love into my life have rarely called attention to their own generosity; they printed the return address on the packages in very small type.

                I want to remember today that grace is hardly ever cheap.  Repeatedly the work of grace weaves the threads of sacrifice.  My life began with a woman's pain in a hospital birthing room.  She said nothing about that pain; my birth was a gift freely given, but it came at the price of pain.  Through the years of childhood and youth, people did things for me so cheerfully and generously I seldom thought of them as representing sacrifice.  Moreover, the generosity that was in my parents has continued to come my way from family and friends, with the cost to the givers so hidden by their love I often did not notice the cost was there.

                I want to remember today the forgiveness that brings comfort back into a strained relationship. It offers the new beginnings I so frequently need. Such forgiveness is not as effortless as it appears to be.  The people I care most about, because they care about me, tend to be so quick with their forgiveness I do not see the pain that surrounds it. Often they are forgiving wounds inflicted by my thoughtlessness, my indifference, my selfishness -- and wounds hurt.

                As it is with them, so too, Lord, with you.  Turn me around whenever I start to turn your grace into cheap grace, whenever I forget that to a God who cares deeply about righteousness, the forgiveness of unrighteousness can never be easy.  When the prodigal son came home, he must have seen in the face of his father the lines etched by pain, grief, and loneliness (Luke 15:11-24).  When the church has thought about forgiveness, it has thought about a cross.

                The grace that sustains and forgives is not cost-free.  Today and every day, help me to remember.

                Amen.