The Bounds of Grace

Jesus keeps inviting—even if we wouldn’t.

What do you even want?!

Jesus forgives a paralyzed man, and the religious experts accuse him of blasphemy. He invites a tax collector to follow him, sits down to a meal at his house with other tax collectors, and the religious experts are scandalized. Then they ask why Jesus and his disciples aren’t fasting like the other righteous types.

It’s as if no matter what Jesus does—heal, forgive, eat, or abstain—someone is there to disapprove. It’s exhausting just reading it. But also, perhaps, rather familiar. Legalism shows up in all times and places.

So annoying.

And yet.

If we’re honest, we might recognize the impulse of the Pharisees. Once saved by grace, we can become strangely eager to protect it—like it’s a resource we have to guard. Grace is indeed precious to those who’ve experienced it, right? A part of us sees God moving in ways we didn’t expect, through sinfulness that feels unfamiliar or even frightening and threatening. Or maybe grace moves through someone I didn’t approve of or understand, and I’m quick to think: Hmm, I’m not sure that counts. Or, More should be restituted here so grace isn’t cheapened. Or perhaps strongest yet, it’s just so hard to see grace be available for some kind of sinfulness that has deeply hurt me or someone I love.

Jesus responds to this kind of criticism with images of newness: new cloth, new wine. It’s as if he’s saying, Of course this doesn’t fit your expectations—it’s new. The kingdom of God doesn’t conform to old frameworks—not even the ones we’ve built for ourselves.

That’s humbling.

But…the invitation to the table is still there. We find our rightful spot when we recognize ourselves not as gatekeeping hosts, but as welcomed guests. Maybe we’ve never sinned like “them,” but we’ve surely sinned. So we return to the table where Jesus eats with the disreputable, the dismissed, the broken—and remember: that’s where I belong, too.

Today is Sunday. Christians all around the world gather together to receive from the same Table, with Christ as host. But how we come to that table—our posture—is everything.

Are we there to protect it?

Or are we there to receive its invitation—sinners saved by grace?

Matthew 9:1-17

Boarding a boat, Jesus crossed to the other side of the lake and went to his own city. People brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a cot. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man who was paralyzed, “Be encouraged, my child, your sins are forgiven.”

Some legal experts said among themselves, “This man is insulting God.”

But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why do you fill your minds with evil things? Which is easier—to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so you will know that the Human One has authority on the earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“Get up, take your cot, and go home.” The man got up and went home. When the crowds saw what had happened, they were afraid and praised God, who had given such authority to human beings.

As Jesus continued on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes. He said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him. As Jesus sat down to eat in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners joined Jesus and his disciples at the table.

But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

When Jesus heard it, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. Go and learn what this means: I want mercy and not sacrifice. I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners.”

At that time John’s disciples came and asked Jesus, “Why do we and the Pharisees frequently fast, but your disciples never fast?”

Jesus responded, “The wedding guests can’t mourn while the groom is still with them, can they? But the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they’ll fast.

“No one sews a piece of new, unshrunk cloth on old clothes because the patch tears away the cloth and makes a worse tear. No one pours new wine into old wineskins. If they did, the wineskins would burst, the wine would spill, and the wineskins would be ruined. Instead, people pour new wine into new wineskins so that both are kept safe.”

Psalm 130:3-4

If you kept track of sins, Lord—my Lord, who would stand a chance?
But forgiveness is with you—that’s why you are honored.

Prayer

God,

Blessings on your Church today.

Wake us up.
Call us.
Receive us.
Hear us.
Forgive us.
Bless us.
Chastise us.
Love us.
Inform us.
Feed us.
Enflesh us.
Send us.

By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.