(Please read part 1 below)
What was God going to do with them? The detective investigated, examined evidence and clues, consulted experts, theorized, followed leads – but he was stumped. He couldn’t solve the mystery. So, finally, he just watched. He set up a stake out and watched. He watched what God did.
God sent his Son. Christ came into the world of the woman and the teenager and the man. He became like them, a human being. But he lived a different kind of life. Not a self-centered religious life. Not a self-centered everything-is-okay life. Not a self-centered violent and immoral life. Jesus lived a God-centered life in the flesh, and he promised that anyone could live that way if they would follow him. Then he died – died as if he was that woman, that teenager, and that man. As he died, he took on their problem, their self-centeredness, their separation from God as his own. It was as if Jesus was pridefully religious without knowing God. It was as if he accepted everything as okay and not faithful to the truth. It was as if he was violent, immoral, and God-and-people-hating. The detective watched the Son of God offer his life for all people. He was astounded. Then he was absolutely stunned when God raised his Son back to life. He saw God’s grace attack and shatter the barrier between him and the woman, and the barrier between him and the teenager, and the barrier between him and the man.
The detective tailed Jesus and again he was astonished by what he saw. Jesus reached out to all three people. He relentlessly pursued each one. He confronted each with powerful grace.
Jesus’ grace broke the woman. He sent his grace to her in the form of pain. People disappointed her and turned against her. Bad circumstances took away her happiness and comfort. She struggled. She ached. She agonized. Her pain became too much for her religion. Commandments and ceremonies and doctrines and prophecies didn’t give any peace. She needed God, not God-stuff. Her religion crumbled at her feet and she looked up, and there was Jesus.
Jesus’ grace shocked the teenager. He sent his grace to her in the form of failure. She had some tough decisions to make. Her choices were based on what seemed okay to her. They failed. Her life filled with problems and a big load of regret. She was startled that it didn’t work out the way she planned. She didn’t need a great-guy God. She needed a rock-solid-truth God. Her everything-is-okay-fun crumbled at her feet and she looked up, and there was Jesus.
Jesus’ grace enlightened the man. He sent his grace to him in the form of loneliness. When the man had violated and run over everyone, he was alone. At first he felt like a winner – the solitary conqueror. Then he realized all he had was himself. He looked around at what he had done and saw destruction. He looked within at what he had done to himself and saw destruction. He was isolated and forlorn, deserted and dejected. His self-sufficiency crumbled at his feet and he looked up, and there was Jesus.
The detective watched in wonder as each of the three individuals reached out to Jesus. He pulled them close to himself, embraced them, and they became pure and clean. He put his Spirit in them, and the Spirit pierced into their souls, changed them, reprogrammed them with the “boundless riches of Christ” – love, joy, mercy, power, wisdom, on and on – endless resources, a superabundant life from Jesus, and they started to actually resemble Jesus. And he brought the three together – they learned how to love, how to accept and care for each other, how to share equally as God’s heirs. He invited them to join him on a new adventure: changing the world. And Jesus brought them to his Father and theirs. And they stood in God’s presence – free and confident and alive.
Stunned, the detective reported his findings to the angels. They gasped in amazement and fell to their knees. Overwhelmed, astonished and trembling, the detective joined them and worshipped God: “To the Father, to the Son, and to the Spirit be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever!”
Case closed.
No one, not even angels, could imagine what it would take to bring self-centered humans of every kind back to God. It’s beyond our understanding. Only God could do it. And God did it. “Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan! Oh, the grace that brought it down to man! Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary!” (AT CALVARY, Wm. R. Newell) The mystery of Christ.
This story is a picture of Ephesians 3:2-12. Verse 12: “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” The way to get to God has been made by Christ. You don’t need anything else. You don’t have to have a system of right beliefs. You don’t have to have a special building. You don’t need to say the right words. You don’t need to get rid of bad behavior. You don’t need to be acceptable to everyone else. You don’t even need the best attitude. All that is required is in Christ. You need to have faith – belief, trust, heart-surrender – in Jesus Christ. So every day of your life you can approach God – you can meet God, you can get with God, you can walk with God, you can live in relationship with God – freely and confidently.
If the life you’ve built is starting to come apart, crumbling at your feet, look up.