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AMAZING … OR, “CHEAP” GRACE
I may be opening a can of worms here but I recently chanced upon a rather learned treatise on what the author calls “CHEAP GRACE” that left me a bit bedazzled if puzzled. Having emerged from two successive recollections which focused on God’s unconditional love (courtesy of Fr. Fullenbach, SVD), and having descended from what I thought was Mt. Tabor (Tagaytay, actually) and the holy presence of God (Mk.9:5), I felt my religious sensibility and sense of security somehow challenged. The preacher warns that “just as many have taken justification of the sinner and redirected it to mean justification of sin and the world, so the ‘costly grace’ of God has been turned into a form of ‘cheap grace’ without discipleship.”
“The only man who has a right to say he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ. Such a one knows the cost of the call to discipleship and that it is only by grace that he can sustain it… The church today has gathered around the carcass of cheap grace like turkey vultures to drink the poison which has killed the life of following Christ. We have come to hunger more for His forgiveness than His Lordship and Leadership because we see the first as making less demands upon our personal lives. Cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without demanding repentance, baptism without discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, the cross, Jesus Christ living and incarnate.”
The author then defines “Costly Grace” as “the treasure hidden in a field. For the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is a pearl of great price to buy which will cost us everything. It's the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble. It is the call of Jesus at which a disciple leaves his nets and follows. It is grace which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. Costly because it costs a man his life, it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. Costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, costly because it cost God the life of His Son: "You have been bought with a price" and what has cost God so much can't be cheap for us. It is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. It is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ, but it is grace because "My yoke is easy and my burden light."
The author then defines “Costly Grace” as “the treasure hidden in a field. For the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is a pearl of great price to buy which will cost us everything. It's the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble. It is the call of Jesus at which a disciple leaves his nets and follows. It is grace which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. Costly because it costs a man his life, it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. Costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, costly because it cost God the life of His Son: "You have been bought with a price" and what has cost God so much can't be cheap for us. It is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. It is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ, but it is grace because "My yoke is easy and my burden light."
While the discourse makes for good reading, my problem is that I come out of it feeling like a condemned man, without the promised redemption and bereft of any right or hope for God’s mercy. For all along I thought I was, by God’s grace, already saved, that God loves me and, like the father of the prodigal son, is blind to all my faults, failures, inadequacies and imperfections.
With all due respect, the trouble it seems is that when these professional theologians, doomsday evangelists and Bible-quoting preachers start laying down their ex cathedras, getting into the nitty-gritty and heavy definition of terms, us poor laymen, for all of our piety, get strewn all over the wayside and made to look and feel like bumbling barbarians and sinful pagans. One can only hope that this is not a preacher’s dishonest way of attracting attention and getting the congregation to sit up and take notice. It’s no wonder then we have thousands of sects and denominations within the Christian world alone. Great schisms and wars have been provoked by what from hindsight would now be seen as silly if petty definition of terms or honest differences of opinion or points of view.
One can only hope that it is not pride or megalomania that drives a theologian to insist only on his point of view over something which is universally considered as transcendental or mystical, i.e., that no living creature has actually seen, felt or experienced what it is that we humans insist on talking about so authoritatively.
As far as my limited knowledge goes, grace is a boon, a gift or blessing that is completely undeserved. That’s why it’s called grace, for goodness’ sake. It’s like winning in the lotto, or the repentant thief (traditionally St. Dismus, Lk. 23:43) stealing his way to heaven. It does not require any prior knowledge, skill, merit or effort on our part to deserve it.
Debating about grace vis-a-vis discipleship is like any argument involving faith and good works, justice vis-à-vis God’s divine mercy and compassion. It can only lead to eternal conflict and confusion, discussion and dissension. Out of desperation for an apparent fragile doctrinal position, one apologetic Episcopalian/Anglican bishop was heard on TV repeatedly insisting that: “what’s important is we are agreed on the essentials.”
We can’t ever seem to get it, can we?
Is it faith we need or good works or both? Which is greater and who is greater in heaven, faith, hope, love, or all of the above? Define love. What is faith? Isn’t hope similar to faith? St. Paul says “the greatest of these is love,” (1 Cor.13) yet he goes on to enumerate virtually all the other known virtues in a vain effort to define and describe what he really means by “love.”
Indeed, in utter frustration the Lord Jesus himself, on the very night before he died, gathered his apostles and in effect told them: Look, guys, whether you believe me or not, tomorrow I will no longer be around, so better listen well to what I have to say: “This is all I command you, love one another … as I have loved you.” (Jn.15:9-12; Lk.22:1-38) Can anything be clearer or more explicit than that? In utter desperation, Jesus in effect was telling the twelve, you still don’t get it, do you? Well, forget everything else that I have said or taught you. “THIS IS ALL I COMMAND YOU…” And, all throughout that night, the poor man kept on repeating the same message, over and over again. So why do our teachers and preachers every time they are at the pulpit try to outdo each other by elaborating and making it more complicated by quoting at length from St. Paul (with all due respect, a veritable Johnny-come-lately), from Revelation, Deuteronomy and half a dozen lesser known prophets of the so-called Old Testament? If we cannot take Jesus at his word, can’t we at least settle for St. Augustine who said as much: “Ama, et fac quod vis?” (viagba’s favorite quote).
Every time I attend a Catholic wedding, I am always touched whenever the solemnizing priest comes to that part where, using the prescribed text, he tells the bride and groom (on behalf of the Church and the entire community) “it took a lot of faith in each other, it took a lot of love, hope and courage” for you now to agree and to swear eternal fidelity to each other…in sickness and in health… until death… In other words, what the priest is really saying to the couple is: “You must be crazy, you must be out of your mind, you must be madly in love to be doing this!”
I believe this is what we tend to overlook. I believe this is what St. Augustine meant when he said “Love, and do what you will.” There is no need to over-analyze God. We simply have to love Him. It does not matter how one defines the phenomenon, whether it’s really faith, hope, integrity, courage, patience or anything else. Depending on the passion, the fire and intensity of that love, everything else follows…automatically, freely, naturally, voluntarily and happily. Why else do you think that some martyrs were seen smiling as they were being shot, fed to the lions or being burned at the stake? “For you, Lord, anything!”
Does a parent need to be reminded every Sunday about his obligations to spouse and children? Does he begrudge whatever little mundane chore he has to perform daily for the family? Do we have to be coerced and nagged about parental duties and responsibilities? No, it’s simply magic. What did you see in that lowly peasant girl that made you fall head-over-heels in love with her and vice-versa, enough for each of you to pledge eternal love for each other? What did you see in each other that the whole world seems to have missed? It’s magic when two people fall in love, is that a song or what?
Why does a lover feel like he’s in seventh heaven when he’s beside his loved one? Why are lovers apparently oblivious to time and space when they are in each other’s arms? Mere words are not enough to describe how the lovers feel for one another.
Why is there so much passion generated in a basketball, football or any other game. Why do teenagers fall over each other in the presence of a rock or movie star?
I believe we were programmed to love God even more intensely, more passionately. Just look at all the magnificent churches, mosques, temples man has managed to build all throughout history. God himself demanded no less. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, with your whole soul and with all thy strength…” (Lk.10:27). St. Augustine realized as much: “My soul, oh Lord, was made for thee, and it will not rest until it rests in thee.”
There is hardly any need for a definition of terms, a debate on nomenclature much less a highly divisive disagreement over some vague theological point of view, faith without good works, forgiveness without repentance, grace without discipleship. What is called for is faith in God, love of God, pure, intense and passionate love.
How does one fall in love with God. How does one get to be madly in love with God. Call it what you will. Words fail us whenever we encounter anything that’s too good to be true, it takes our breath away. For lack of a better term, let’s just call it grace, pure and undeserved … amazing grace. JAMES L.
I was gonna go into a treatise myself until I found me in parantheses! You have the last word this time, mon ami: AWESOME amazing grace (enter audio/video, Tom)!
And we wonder how the poor and unlearned "get it" more than we - the supposedly steeped in philosophia, theologia and the teachings of Mater Ecclesia... P.S. There seems to be a spelling and gender mix-up in my fave Augustinian quote ; ) |
Tnx for your comment, Kuya. I do believe you do "get it" and you agree. St. Augustine's advice has withstood the test of time, "AMA, ET FAC QUOD VIS!" Remember our quarter-hour prayer: "O mi Deus, credo in te, O mi Deus, spero in te, O mi Deus, amo te cum toto corde meo..." Nowadays, my own daily prayer and postcommunion prayer is: "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief." (Mk. 9:24). Tnx agn. rgards
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Tnx, Kuya, for sharing your comments which are always appreciated. How candid of you to express your lingering doubts. We all have them. In fact, it's the main problem. We can't seem to trust in God totally. We can't "Let Go, and Let God." We need the grace to take a fall...into God's loving hands. Your suggestion on a coin pressed into a beggar's outstrectched hand is graphic. Maganda. Angkop. Unless we stretch out our hand, God cannot insist on pressing a coin into it. Keep it touch. Tnx. regards
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