Undeserved Love
So the servant came back and reported these things to his master. Then, in anger, the master of the house told his servant, “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.” (Luke 14:21)
The uninvited.
Perhaps that is what grace is.
Or what it feels like.
A random gifting.
I haven’t eaten anything solid in over three weeks and here you are rounding me up to go feast at a banquet.
I have done nothing to deserve it.
That is the heart of the story.
Those who, did, in fact, deserve to go and eat the sumptuous meal all felt that they had better things to do than attend.
Those who didn’t initially deserve the honor of an invitation were gathered and herded into the great room.
Where there were lit candles. And flowers. And music being played.
Did the servants wash the new guests before they sat at the table?
And when was the last time any of them actually sat at a table to eat? And not just squat against a stone wall. Hands out. Crying when even a scrap of crust fell into them.
Grace: The state of being wholly undeserving, yet receiving treasure.
What do we do with such an endowment?
It brings such confusion.
To be in a new place.
To walk on a different path.
It may only last hours—this new experience—but the memory of it will last for the rest of our lives.
This awareness that what we always thought was real is not, in fact, all that there is to our reality.
We can sit at His table.
Just as though it were a normal thing to do.
Just as though receiving the grace of God is a normal part of life.
Well, perhaps it is.