Tue, Apr 21, 2009

Law vs Grace

I was listening to Joseph Prince this morning and he mentioned something that struck me like a grandfather clock. As usual, Joseph Prince was delving deep into the awesomeness of God's grace. He compared the story of the rich man who approaches Jesus and quizzes him about eternal life, and the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector who climbed to tree so he could get a good view of Jesus. If you know the stories well enough just skip them and go straight to the point. If not, have a quick read!

Jesus and the Rich Man

Once a religious leader asked Jesus this question: "Good Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?"

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked him. "Only God is truly good.But to answer your question, you know the commandments: 'You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother.'"

The man replied, "I've obeyed all these commandments since I was young."

When Jesus heard his answer, he said, "There is still one thing you haven't done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

But when the man heard this he became very sad, for he was very rich.

Jesus and Zacchaeus

Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.

When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. "Zacchaeus!" he said. "Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today."

Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. "He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner," they grumbled.

Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, "I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!"

Jesus responded, "Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man[a] came to seek and save those who are lost."

In the gospel of Luke these stories are situated one chapter after another, and I think this was not just coincedence. If you take a look at the approach of Jesus in both, you'll see 2 very different responses from each of the other characters.

Jesus essentially shows the law to the rich man. He tells him that he loves money too much. The rich man realises he will never be able to earn his way to heaven and goes away sad.

To Zacchaeus, however, Jesus shows grace. Jesus just says "Hey let's hang out!" to Zacchaeus and he complies with great excitement and joy, and then before long he's giving away half his wealth and repaying the people he's cheated in the past.

I really like this comparison. It's so easy to look at the law, realise how short we fall and to go away sad like the rich man. But when we see a perfect guy like Jesus wanting to hang out with us sinners, we're overloaded with his grace and cannot help but to follow Him. Very cool!