Preparing for Easter: Are Grace and Truth Incongruent?
Today’s Reading: John 1:1-18
Prior to serving in vocational ministry I worked in college athletics, coaching distance runners in Track and Field and Cross Country. If you know anything about runners, many of them have an appetite like a bottomless pit! One of the athletes I worked with swore by a favorite late-night snack that left many of her teammates feeling anything but hungry:
Oreos topped with Cheese Wiz.
What an incongruent pairing!!
Many people feel the same way about grace and truth, yet John reminds us here in the opening words of his gospel that Jesus brought these two elements together in unity.
Jesus came to be the light of the world – the perfect representation of the character and will of God. He illuminated the sinfulness of men and the holiness of God with perfect clarity. He was full of truth.
But in embodying the truth, Jesus was also full of grace. He came not to condemn the world, but to save the world. To heal, restore, and gather the lost. Jesus was full of grace.
Though these two concepts may appear incongruent in our human understanding, they stand in unity in the life of Jesus Christ and, ultimately so, in His work on the cross on our behalf.
In the words of the Apostle Paul:
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” – Romans 3:23-26
As we prepare our hearts for Easter, let’s begin by thanking God for the beautiful, sacrificial gift He has given to us in Jesus - the one who brought the light of truth into our broken world and gave Himself to meet with grace any one of us who will turn to Him in our need. He is our hope, now and forever.
