Grace: Getting the undeserved

Read Luke 15:11-32

The landowner said, "Are you envious because I am generous?"
-Matthew 20:15 (NIV)

GOD'S method of redeeming the world is not about fairness but about grace, and grace is about getting what we do not deserve. Grace meant that Jesus got what he didn't deserve: death on a cross so that we could see the extent of God's love. Grace also means that we get what we don't deserve: life.

Jesus' parable of the prodigal son is a story of this grace, with three main characters. The story wouldn't make sense without the father and the younger son, the prodigal; and the older son reminds us that grace often seems unfair. The story ends as the father pleads with his older son to come and celebrate his brother's return.

We never find out what the older son does after the party because, I think, the older son's response is our response. We are meant to finish the story in our lives. When someone gets credit for what we have done, when we are overlooked for what we have earned, or when living the right way doesn't seem to make a difference, we can accept the offer to celebrate God's grace. Or we can remain outside and refuse to participate in God's grace which is redeeming the world.

by Matthew Browning (Iowa, USA)