There is an unsettling solution for just about every problem, every mistake, every tough situation, every... well... everything. And the unsetting solution for just about everything is “grace”. So what’s so unsettling about that? Grace means that you’re not awesome.

Grace is the part of the character of God. God is unconditional love! Who wouldn’t love that? Who doesn’t love receiving grace, even it if is just from the people around us? WE all need some grace. But real grace –God’s grace -is never alone. It’s always accompanied by truth. And that’s what makes grace unsettling. When a person receives grace AND truth, it doesn’t allow the person to remain the same. IT changes them into someone new. To kick off this series, John tells us that this IS the point of the Christmas story. And Zacchaeus shows us that the Christmas story is unsettling in the best possible way.

God’s grace means there is unearned, unearnable, undeserved forgiveness for us all through Christ. And what’s more-we all need it! Often, we don’t recognize just what is being offered to us in Jesus, or what He’s really done for us. Without considering where we have been, and where Jesus meets us, we then judge others who we think are “really bad”. We resist the continued gracious hand of Jesus in our own life, as we simultaneously look down on those who are working through mess to find grace. What would it look like if we stopped trying to stifle God’s grace, and started to be moved and broken by the love of Jesus in our lives?

The end times banquet is a theme we see throughout scripture. Isaiah prophesied about this banquet roughly 700 years before the birth of Jesus (Isaiah 25:6-9). It is a beautiful picture of how God will have a feast for people from all over the world at the end of the age. At the time of Jesus, there was much debate over who would participate in this feast. Isaiah’s prophesy became quite unpopular due to his belief gentiles would be a part of the banquet. At a sabbath meal, presumably after worshipping together at the synagogue, a Pharisee asks Jesus his views on who will be present at the end times meal.  

Is your life going according to script? Mary had a script written out for her life. She would get married. Love Joseph. Have babies. But like us, her life didn’t exactly go according to script. And the changes to her script were unsettling. But her response to the new script she was handed is both instructional and inspirational. When life doesn’t go according to script, grace and truth don’t allow us to ignore, self-medicate, or complain about our broken dreams. Grace and truth invite us to lean in to the plans and purposes of a very good God.