In the ‘Scandal of Grace’ we receive God’s mercy in spite of ourselves. It is described in the words of verse 30. We never get what we deserve; we would die if we did. God seems to love us NO MATTER what we do or how far away we walk.
It’s the true Never-ending Story of how we say we want to go it alone and do our own thing. God is waiting when we come back ashamed, asking for help finally. He gives us the Hebrew ‘hesed’ or mercy. In the Old Testament it is translated ‘steadfast love.’
God’s integrity outshines our integrity—the equivalent of our little lighthouse to God’s sun. Speaking of lighthouses, that is a powerful image to help us understand what God does in the bigger picture.
Once there was a farmer who sold his big farm in the mountains of Virginia. He built the best lighthouse anyone had ever seen in amongst the mountaintops. His son is a searcher and rescuer so he knows eventually his son will come back to him. Meanwhile his land abuts Skyline Drive and well, he ends up meeting and taking care of all the hikers that come through.
The light turned round and round at night and sometimes neighbors said he kept them awake. He was always waiting, this father—keeping an eye out for his son. The child wanted to find his fortune and went all over the world.
He will come back for the grace found there in his father’s open and loving arms. As he waits the grace was found by so many sons and daughters that there wasn’t nearly enough room in the lighthouse. There were tents all around it and other fathers asked if they too could use the lighthouse keeper’s plans.
Finally that son comes up the driveway, looking weary and worn. His father does forgive too easily once the child is on the way. He embraces the heck out of him and then sits down on the porch to listen to the tales of what happened. There is celebration and hope that one mere lighthouse on the rocks was almost too little to hold. The light shining from each person there made it so that other lighthouses popped up among the rocks.
It may be beyond this world to meet that lighthouse keeper but we keep traveling and tell the story of his son who did not disappoint him but died for us all.
“for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.”(Rom 11:29) Never are they taken away from the child of God. She/he will always come back to the lighthouse. It is a scandal that Grace always abounds in the Father.
Even in the desperation of a Palestinian woman on her knees, begging Jesus to heal her daughter crying “help me” we see that Jesus has grace and sees her faith and answers it. “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” Grace granted, again.