The Scandalous Grace of Jesus and This Moment We Find Ourselves In
How can we pursue a righteous life that includes modeling the scandalous grace of Jesus in the way he treated others?
The grace of God is a scandal to those whose minds are fixated on judging others. Of course, judgmentalism is a dirty word in Christian circles, so most people who are judgmental do not see themselves as such. Instead, they use language that aligns with Christian ideas of virtue.
“I’m standing for the Truth.”
“I’m standing up for law and order.”
“I’m standing up for the victims of such-and-such.”
“I’m standing up for justice.”
“I’m standing up against those who are [wrong], [evil], [bad], or [choose your negative characteristic].
And so on.
Yet underneath these virtue-sounding statements is a judgmental disposition that such-and-such a group deserves divine judgment, and the sooner the better. Full disclosure, I myself have been sucked into this attitude more times than I’d like to admit. In part because there are some things going on that are really evil. How do we maintain a disposition of grace in a world filled with evil? We are not very good at it. Anytime we inwardly think of letting go of our anger against that group, we face a number of personal doubts:
“Am I just wanting to not deal with the honest reality because it is painful or inconvenient?”
“Am I just minimizing evil because I don’t see it as that bad?”
“If I let go of my attention on this issue, am I now part of the majority of people whose passivity is allowing it to happen?”
“Why should I stop being so judgmental toward this group? If it offends someone, isn’t their offense a sign of their own wickedness?”
And so on.
We are not very good at maintaining a disposition of grace. We tend to either develop a judgmental disposition (calling it something else), or a laissez faire one—judge nothing. This is one way Jesus’ holiness is truly so unique and so beautiful. On the one hand he lived and incarnated a perfect righteousness in his life. Never once did he waiver from right judgment in the condemnation of evil and the praise of righteousness. Yet at the same time he welcomed anyone and everyone who came to him, in ways that scandalized the religious values and expectations of his day.
How can we do this too? How can we hold to righteousness and truth in our moral judgments against a sinful world without developing a judgmental attitude toward other people or groups? How can we maintain a disposition of scandalous grace in a world that is so full of evil?
I’m answering these questions for myself at the moment, so I by no means have it figured out, but I think we need to start trying a lot harder to do it because perhaps nothing matters more in the moment we live in than learning how to hold to our convictions that come from God’s Word, while also loving and welcoming people in ways that scandalize the judgmental, harsh disposition of the culture we are in. Here are a few thoughts I have.
1) Talking to God rather than talking on social media
When we are angry about something going on in the world around us, are we talking to God about it first? Let God have it all. Vent our anger, our sadness, our fear, our worry, our grief, our questions to God in prayer. Get it out this way first of all, rather than sending out something on Facebook or Twitter. This is the first commitment I am making to myself. In other words, my rants on social media don’t display a righteous life, they display a prayerless life. Have I talked to God about it? Have I vented to Him about it? Have I given my emotions to the Spirit? I think there will be real ministry done to my soul in these moments that will transform my judgmental disposition. It is eye-opening for me to consider that God does not consider my ranting on social media to be evidence of personal righteousness, but rather prayerlessness.
2) Listening to those who do not know the scandalous grace of Jesus more so than Jesus himself.
Am I taking in the words and disposition of people who don’t know Jesus, and who have not received His grace, more so than Jesus’ words and example? I’m a conservative, so it is easy for me to read a Daily Wire article or watch a clip from Fox News on YouTube, but these companies do not serve Jesus. Their job is to make money by getting subs and clicks.
There is nothing wrong with this. But if these talking heads on either side of the culture war are dominating my internal world, I am doing the very opposite of what Paul says in Romans 12:1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
I cannot develop a disposition of scandalous grace in an evil world by feeding my mind on those who know nothing of this grace or who have even actively rejected it in their lives. There are far too many Christians on the left and right who talk of nothing but condemnation for those they perceive to be on the other side, even their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Nothing expresses a rejection of Jesus more powerfully than Christians who hold a disposition of condemnation toward other believers because they are not aligned with their political/cultural tribe. This goes for Christians on both sides of the current cultural and political division.
Over the last year I have pulled away from almost all media that is tied into the culture war. Again, part of me wonders if I am being a coward, simply not wanting to deal with the reality of the moment we live in. But if this moment is all about cultivating a spirit of condemnation toward those not like you, maybe it’s more courageous to reject the spirit of the age we live in than to champion one side or the other.
Again, I don’t have the answers. I’m in the same boat as you. I just know that when my life is over and I’m called home, I don’t want to look back at a life that was fixated on judging others all the time and worrying about what they were trying to do that was going to ruin the country. My second commitment is to fill a lot more of my mental life with Jesus’ words and example rather than media commentators.
3. Being with real people who are my neighbors living around me, rather than spending hours on the internet reading about all the bad things the abstract “enemy” is doing to ruin the country and destroy the world.
Just like ranting on social media about politics or cultural issues probably reveals more about my prayerless life than my righteous disposition, it probably also reveals that I do not have many friendships with real people living around me. If I am friends with my neighbors there is a good chance some of them have had abortions, some of them have engaged in sexual activities I would not approve of in the abstract, some of them will be for causes I disagree with. Once these groups or cultural issues are associated with a real person in my life, I am probably going to be less inclined to go on a rant or to thump my chest online. It is probably going to also do a good deal to heal my heart from its temptation to feast on anger, bitterness, and hatred. I can still care very much about abortion, and I do not have to hide my burdens from my friends, but the way I experience and express my burdens about these issues will look a lot different than if my only interaction is with an abstract, dehumanized enemy.
I think this is one reason why the vitriol has gotten so bad over the last 15 years. The iPhone came out in 2007, and it seems like ever since then the hatred, judgmentalism, and division has gotten worse and worse. One reason is that we are spending much less time interacting with real people than with abstract enemies. My third commitment is to spend a lot more time getting to know real people around me and doing what I can to help them know Jesus. At the grocery store, at the gym, in my neighborhood, etc. I think it’s much more righteous to love the real people around me while seeking to embody the character of a disciple of Jesus rather than ranting online or to friends all the time about how evil or wrong this or that group is.
Part of this also means reading a lot less about all the things going on at some point in time or in some place that is not immediately tied to my community. Everyday there is an endless stream of posts about some horrible thing that happened that shows just how terrible my cultural enemy is. But why does this matter to me? Yes, it is good to know what is going on in the world, and so I should interact a little with national and global news, but this is not the same as everyday reading 5-10 stories that exist for the sole purpose of ginning up anger within my cultural tribe against my supposed “enemy.” If I am focused on real relationships with the people around me, I need to get rid of almost all of this in my life. It is bad for my heart and mind, and terribly distorts reality. God gave us bodies because He wants to live finite, embodied lives.
Ingesting all the stories about people and places my body has never been to is almost like self-righteous porn. I read it solely to imagine myself in that place so that my self-righteous anger can get riled up. How can this possibly be in line with Jesus’ words and example? The one who did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant, and being born in the likeness of men, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross in order to save sinners. Whom God, for having done this, has exalted and given him the name that is above every name, so that every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that He is Lord.
Should we be aware of what’s going on in the world? To a degree, especially as it concerns real tasks we are to carry out, including in the civic realm. However, given how much of this is out there and how easy it is to get sucked in, I think most of us would do well to get rid of almost all media except for those that truly relate the news in a balanced, factual manner.
I am thankful for the chance to explore this for myself and I hope you’ve been benefited by it as well.