Grace and Truth

Back in the Sermon on the Mount we hear Jesus say numerous times those words, "You have heard that it was said.....But, I say to you..."   Jesus was making it clear that He had not come to abolish, or do away with the law, but to offer a way of life that went beyond it.  Toward the end of the Prologue in that first chapter of John, there is another word which calls attention to the difference between the law giver and Jesus.  Verse 17 says, "The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." 

 

The law serves us a guide, but it is often applied without any measure of grace.  When Jesus became "flesh and dwelled among us..." (John 1:14),  the era of the Kingdom was ushered into our midst.  The Kingdom of God is different from the era of Moses.  In the time of Moses and beyond, the central factor in faith was the law, but with Jesus and the Kingdom the central factor of the era of Moses was upended by grace and truth.  With the law folks got what they deserved, but with grace folks received not according to what was deserved, but according to mercy.

 

Not many people really want to live in a world where people get what they deserve.  We may declare that such is the way life should be, but only a fool would choose a world where there is no margin for error, no opportunity to do things again, and no forgiveness.  Grace changes the landscape of life.  Jesus is the One who has brought this grace and truth into the world.  Jesus is the One who has changed the way we are ultimately able to live.  Grace.  Grace and truth.  May our world be filled with these gifts of the One who lived with God and was God and became flesh to live among us.