March 14, 2017

I love oxymorons -- here's one of my recent favourites.

Scandal of Grace.

The phrase "Amazing Grace" is very common -- and Scandal of Grace, ironically, more accurately  captures the meaning of Amazing Grace. Something is amazing if if it is unfathomable.
Unfathomably good -- unfathomably excellent -- unfathomably bizarre. It's so unfathomable that it is scandalous.

I often don't listen as closely as I would want to to the lyrics of a song -- unless something jars out as unacceptably crude. I really wanted to withstain from every post being too preachy, but today, I'm just struck by just how it is not possible to separate my thankfulness from who I believe, is the creator of all things to be thankful for.
 
In the words of the writer of the song, Scandal of Grace:
Jesus' message was scandalous from day one, that's why He ended up on the Cross. To this day, the message of grace is scandalous because it rages against conventional wisdom. We live in a culture where you do the crime, you do the time. The message of Jesus is you do the crime, and He pays the ultimate price so that we can live a life not only set free from our sin, but enabled by His grace to play a part in His incredible plan and purpose and bring His Kingdom to earth, here and now. That's the message of Zion."

This is a load of Christian jargon -- but in a nutshell--
We are all sinful people. The word sin might mean something incredibly loaded to you -- but in short, it's anything from a little white lie, pride, to self-contempt,...very human things precisely because we are human.
Yet we believe in Justice, so how does that work?
Well in order to be Just -- a price needs to be paid for your sins -- and the scandalous grace of Christ is that He comes to take your sins upon the cross.

Embrace this new (not Gossip Girl) meaning of scandalous...