A short story based on Ephesians 3:2-12
It was the strangest and most thrilling case he had ever had. He was a detective, a private investigator. Clients hired him to find out things for them, to solve mysteries. This case, however was a mystery that he could not solve. Even though there were a lot of clues, he couldn’t figure out the answer. It was a mystery that was finally revealed to him. He just had to pay attention to the right sources.
The case was brought to him by a group of clients
– “rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” – AKA angels. He was certainly surprised when they showed up in his office. He always thought angels knew it all, or at least could ask their Boss. They acknowledged that they knew a lot, but not everything. Even more amazing – this case was something God wasn’t going to tell them outright. They had to get it from humans. So, they hired the detective.
The case centered on 3 people – very different people – a woman, a teenager, and a man. Different ages, different races, different backgrounds, different lifestyles. Same problem. The detective took the case, and his first move was to investigate the 3 people.
He found out quite soon that the woman was a very religious person. She seemed to know a lot of God-stuff. Commandments, laws, rules – she knew them all and obeyed them all. She did a lot of religious activity. She had been sprinkled when she was a baby, and then she got herself immersed – dunked – just to make sure. She went to church all the time – meetings every week, sometimes almost every day of the week. She prayed a lot, even in restaurants. She tuned in to TV and radio and internet programs that claimed to have the real explanations of God and life. The woman didn’t just read the Bible – she memorized it – single verses and long passages, even the genealogies and some of the study notes! Doctrines, teachings, principles, prophecies – she had it all worked out and was very satisfied with it. She was right and she knew it and she could prove it. She seemed to have this God-stuff all boxed and wrapped in a neat little package. After investigating her for awhile, the detective noticed something rather startling: whenever God tried to get close to her, the woman did something religious and moved away. She acted like she knew all about God, but she didn’t even know he was there.
The investigator checked out the teenager next. That was fun. Fun was what her life was all about! She was a nice kid – not a goody-good, but respectable. She had a lot of friends, and they did a lot of things together. She accepted just about everyone, as long as they didn’t try to push her. She believed that everyone has the right to live the way he wants as long as he doesn’t try to force it on anyone else. Everybody’s values can contribute to the great circle of life – take what you like and have fun with it. She definitely believed in God – thought he was a great guy! Sometimes something serious would come up, and she would think about it and talk to her friends about it, then ask God to bless it and make it all work out for her – yeah, he was a great guy! It didn’t take long for the detective to see that whenever God tried to get close to the teenager, she would run off to find something fun to do.
Then there was the third person, the man. The detective did not enjoy investigating him at all. He was downright raunchy. He was brutal and violent – anyone who crossed him was in danger of serious harm – physical, emotional, whatever it took for him to do them in. He controlled and used people by running over them, by abusing them. The man was very intelligent. His mind was like a cold steel trap. He knew how to bait people – how to manipulate and destroy them – for his personal benefit. Most of the people in his life suffered because of him. He was hedonistic to the core – whatever gave him physical or emotional or mental pleasure was his goal, his game. No restraints or limitations. This man didn’t know if there is a God or not. Actually, he didn’t care. He was going to live his own way no matter what. The detective wasn’t too surprised to see that when God tried to get close to him, the man felt threatened and pushed God away.
The investigation went on long enough that the detective witnessed the 3 people crossing each others’ paths. From time to time, they happened to meet. But they wouldn’t have anything to do with each other. Each one despised the other two.
The angels who hired the detective knew all of this. They had seen it themselves. They wanted to know something else. And here’s where the investigation ran into a brick wall. The angels wanted to know: what was God going to do with those 3 people? How was he going to manage to bring them to himself? They knew he wanted to, but couldn’t figure out how he could do it. If he accepted religiousness, the woman would be okay, but the teenager and the man would be left out. If God just acted like a great guy and made everything acceptable and fun, the teenager would find him, but not the man or the woman. And if the Lord rewarded self-reliance and take-what-you-want hedonism, the man would come out the winner, but the woman and teenager would be losers. In fact, if God accepted any of the 3 the way they were, he would be contradicting his own nature of righteousness and holiness.
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 stakeout and watched. He watched what God did.
God sent his Son. The Son 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 committed 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 witnessed. 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. 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. Guilt shattered her satisfaction. Her religion crumbled at her feet then 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. Guilt shattered her happiness. Her everything-is-okay-fun crumbled at her feet then 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, the last man standing, the fittest to survive. 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, empty. Guilt shattered his gratification. His self-sufficiency crumbled at his feet then he looked up, and there was Jesus.
The detective watched in incredulity as each of the three individuals reached out to Jesus. The woman reached. The teen reached. The man reached. 
Jesus, already reaching, pulled each one close to himself, embraced them, and they became pure and clean. He released his Spirit, and the Spirit pierced into their souls, changed them, reprogrammed them with the “boundless riches of Christ” – truth, 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 really love, how to accept and care for each other, how to share equally as God’s heirs. And Jesus brought them to his Father and theirs. And they stood in God’s presence – free and alive.
Stunned, the detective reported his findings to his clients the angels. They gasped in amazement and fell to their knees. Astonished and trembling, the detective joined them and worshiped God: “To the Father, to the Son, and to the Spirit be praise and honor and glory and power forever and ever!” All of his carefully accumulated answers, solutions, and know-how crumbled at his feet, and the investigator looked up and there was Jesus.
Case closed.
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