Scripture: John 9:1-41
 
​The story goes that two dads were watching a basketball game.  One of the dad’s was mostly quiet and respectful.  The other dad though was not.  He was yelling a lot.   As the game drew into the last quarter, the quiet dad finally said to the loud one, “Which one is your son?”  The loud dad, was drawn out of his hyper-engagement at the game and somewhat surprised asked, “why?”   The quiet dad calmly replied, “I want to tell him how rubbish he is.”  This understandably set the loud dad off and he said, “You can’t do that, he is only a kid!  How would you feel if I said that to your kid?”   The quiet dad firmly pointed out, “You’ve been doing that all game.”   Thoroughly confused the loud dad asked, “Well which one is your kid?”  The quiet dad answered, “The referee.”   

Youth sports has a growing problem, and that problem tends to be the parents.  Incidents of parents acting badly at these event has been steadily on the rise.   It is not just how these parents act towards the referees or the coaches.  Sometimes the bad behavior is how parents speak to their own kids.   From the sidelines, they yell at them, they criticize their every move, and constantly berate them for not doing better.  This is not hyperbole, but this is personal experience.  I am at the stage of life where I attend youth sporting events, and the way that I have seen some parents yell at their own children is heart breaking.  

Now of course, these parents will claim they mean well.  They will claim they are simply trying to motivate their children, they are trying to coax the best out of their children, and they are trying to push their children to reach their potential.   However, publically yelling and shaming a child is not the way to do it.  In what will come as a surprise to no one, study after study has shown that yelling at children and especially shaming children has the opposite effect.  The number one response that it creates is stress and an increase in cortisol levels.  This can decrease the ability to make split second decisions, and can actually lead to a decrease in performance and more mistakes in team sports.  When shaming someone does work, it is never because the shame has motivated them to do better.  It is because they respond in a way to make the yelling and shaming stop.   

 This morning’s scripture show that shame has always been a misused and abusive tactic.   This morning’s scripture also shows how Jesus deals with those who seek to shame.  He ignores them, and he heals.  Where others offer criticism, Jesus offers hope.   Jesus healed the man of his blindness but he also healed him of his shame.    We often pray for the sick and trust in God’s healing, but this scripture reminds us that Jesus heals more than the just the physical conditions.  Jesus heals our emotional wounds and cures our spiritual blindness.    

Even more so than today, shame was a large part of the culture in Jesus day.  Honor and shame were much more codified.  In the Middle Eastern culture of the first century honor and shame were like an invisible currency.  It was not seen, but everyone was aware of it. Everyone had an intrinsic understanding about how an individual should be held in honor or in shame.  It was believed that those who should be the most ashamed, the shame manifest itself in physical ailments.   This is why the scripture begins with the disciples asking if it was the man’s sin or his parents’ sin that caused him to be blind.   The belief was that this man had done something so shameful, that God blinded him or his parents had been so sinful that he was born as a living testimony to their shame.   Jesus quickly contradicts this way of thinking, says it was neither, and heals him of his blindness.  Jesus does more than heal him of blindness though.   This man had spent his entire life being ashamed of who he was.  He had been told by other that he should be ashamed of something he could not control, and now that mark of shame was gone.   Jesus had done more than just restored his eyes.  He had restored his heart and soul.      

What happens next is absolutely fascinating.  His neighbors do not recognize him.  The man is no longer the blind, shame-ridden beggar they are used to.   Not a single thing about his physical appearance changed.  Yet, they do not recognize him, because they had only defined him by his shame.   They could not see the man without seeing the shame they had prescribed to him and once that shame was gone they literally could not recognize him.    From a literary stand point this is a brilliant piece of irony.   Now that the blind man can see, he can no longer be seen.  Some of his neighbors seem to be genuinely disturbed and upset by this so they take him to the authorities.  They specifically take him to the religious authorities, to the cultural authorities.  This is because the issue is not that the blind man did anything legally wrong, but he upset the status quo, being able forced others to change how they view him because they could no longer define him by the shame they ascribed to him.   

The man who was blind is taken before the Pharisees, and I have to wonder if this induced a lot of anxiety in the healed man.   It would have been the Pharisees who taught this man that his blindness was because he was steeped in sin.   It was the Pharisees who would have ascribed shame to this man and encouraged others to do this same.  The interaction with the pharisees is kind of fun to read, because he kind of takes the pharisees down a peg or two.  He does this by ignoring the haters and proclaims what he knows to be true.     He was blind but now he can see.  He was ashamed but now he has a new lease on life.    The blind man recognizes Jesus as the one who healed him and recognizes that only one from God can do that.  

The pharisees in this scripture get a little agitated by that because the truth telling forces them to be confronted by their spiritual blindness.  They claim to be the religious experts of their day, but they cannot see the work of God right in front of them.   Again there is a deep irony present in that the blind can see what the expert cannot.   The spiritual blindness of the Pharisees was put before them, and the Pharisees were confronted with a profound truth.  They had the option of accepting the truth, recognizing the good news of Jesus, and changing their views or digging in their heels and lashing out.  Predictably they chose the second.   Jesus had healed the blind man and freed him of shame.  Since the Pharisees could no longer shame him, they just lashed out insulted him, and ultimately threw him out.  

Jesus healed a blind man on more than one occasion.   Throughout the gospels Jesus heals a variety of individuals of many ailments.  Jesus is a healer.   Just like this morning’s scripture Jesus often heals more than a physical ailment, he often heals a person’s spiritual state as well.     As we consider this morning’s scripture there are two ways that we should consider how Jesus can bring about healing for more than just our physical bodies today

Jesus healed the blind man not just of his blindness but of his shame.  We may not have a culture that is so deeply based in honor and shame as the culture of the 1st century middle east, but there are still a lot of people who have a sense of shame loaded onto them.  While I know there are always exceptions, there is a high chance that at some point in our lives every single one of us has had people try to speak negativity into our lives.   We have all experienced someone else measuring us up to their capricious, subjective, and impossible standard to then only be told we are found wanting.   In some way all of us have been told we are not good enough, smart enough, thin enough, talented enough; we have all been told by someone that we are not enough.    Unfortunately, all of us have had someone wield shame like a clumsy club to whack us to where they think we should be.  

​There are many of us who have been told lies about who we are, who have been shamed by those we trusted, and then we have internalized those lies.   There is research to back this up.  It is estimated that in any given day 80% of our self-talk is negative.   We have allowed the shame that other people prescribed to us to define us and we repeat it to ourselves over and over again.    I am telling you all of this, because if you are someone who has been shamed, those voices are not worth listening to.  I am telling you this because those voices that have told you that you are not enough are misguided at best and terrible, awful lies at worst.

I am telling you this because shame is not the end of our stories.  Shame tells us that we are not enough, but grace tells us that we are enough as we are.  Shame constantly tells us we need to measure up or else.   Grace tells us that we do not need to measure anything because we are loved without condition.   Shame by its very nature is designed to throw shade on others, but Jesus heals us because he is the light of the world.    Jesus is a healer.  Jesus does not just heal physical ailments but he heals hearts and souls.   He can heal us of our shame with the truth of his grace, love, and acceptance of us.   

The second way that we need to consider how we can encounter Jesus as a healer has to do with spiritual blindness.   Specifically, this scripture challenges us to consider how we might be spiritually blind.   The religious leaders were so spiritually blinded that they could not see the work of God in front of them.   They could not see the mark of grace upon the healed man.   A man who had been healed by the literal power of God was before them.  Yet, all they could see was a man who had been blind and was still worthy of being shamed by them.

 Unfortunately, in the body of Christ, in churches, there is much spiritual blindness and this blindness has led to so many painful stories.   There are stories of those dealing with mental illness such as depression being made to feel like they do not fit in because their life is not as blessed as others sitting in the pews.   There are stories of those struggling with addiction, unable to share their struggle and get the support they need because they only find shame and judgement in churches.  There are stories of people who in trying to be their most authentic self are trying to find a place to belong but in church all they experience are people so busy hating the sin that they make no time to love the sinner.  All of these are stories of how churches have been blind to the people that God has put right in front of them.  

These are stories of when the people of God chose shame over grace.  They are all stories of how our spiritual blindness has impacted us.  Spiritual blindness is when we look upon others and instead of seeing the potential for God’s amazing grace, we instead only see reasons for shame.   This morning’s scripture challenges us to look deep into our hearts and ask how we might be spiritually blind.  How do we miss our opportunity to join in God’s work of bringing about reconciliation, healing and love in the world because our own bias and prejudice blinds us to where God is at work?   If we can find a blind spot in our compassion for others, then let us pray that the Spirit will open our eyes that we might see. 
               This morning’s scripture is one of the dozens of instances in the gospels where Jesus is the healer.   Jesus is still the healer today.   He does not just heal our bodies, but Jesus heals our souls as well.   If you have been hurt or shamed by others in life, then may you come to Jesus, because Jesus heals our hearts and souls. May the voice that you listen to the most be the one that says “You are enough” and then proved that on the cross.  If we have spiritual blindness, then may we come to Jesus because Jesus restores sight to the blind.  May we have eyes to see and open hearts to love.  May we see the people God is placing in front of us and may we love them like Jesus loves us.   May we be cured of our spiritual blindness so that our testimony is I once  was blind but now I see. 
 

Scripture:  Romans 5:1-11

I know there are some people who manage to read a book or more a week, and while I do not think that I will ever get to that level I do read quite a bit.   This will come as a surprise to no one, but my favorite genre of books to read is science fiction.  Famed Christian author C.S. Lewis, who is known for writing the Chronicles of Narnia, also wrote a trilogy of science fiction books often referred to as his space trilogy.  These books are less known than his other works, and lately I have been reading them for the first time.  Unfortunately, I am also learning that there is a reason why these books are not as well known, but I have also found the experience of reading them fascinating because these are science fiction from another era.  In these books a human from England visits Mars and Venus to find planets with atmospheres, water, and alien life.  Today we know that in their current states, both planets are unable to sustain life as we know it.  However, C.S. Lewis wrote these books in the 1930s, and at that time this was not a known thing.  In the nineteenth century it was thought that there was a good possibility that both planets could support and house life.   By Lewis’ time, it was believed the odds of Mars having life was not very likely, but speculation of Venus having life, and even being a swampy rainforest like world, persisted into the 1960s.  

Based on the data available at the time the scientific minds of the late 19th and early 20th century theorized that alien life on our closest planetary neighbors was possible, and those theories fueled the speculative science fiction of the first half of the 20th century.   As more data became available the understanding and theories changed, and this is exactly how it should work.   Our beliefs should be informed by data, evidence, and proof.   While the scientific method has given us a reliable framework to do that, the reality is that seeking data, evidence, and proof to inform our belief has always been a feature of the human experience.   This morning’s scripture points to that.   In this morning’s scripture, Paul points to proof that we can assurance that forgiveness and reconciliation with God is real.  His proof is the death of Jesus.   This morning’s scripture can challenge us to consider how we might be able to add to the proof that God’s love can and has changed everything. 

This is the third week that we are focusing on a scripture from Romans, and three selections have come from the same section of Romans.   As a reminder, the book of Romans is a methodical book.  Paul does not make his points quickly in Romans.  He takes his time unpacking them, constructing an effective argument and then building upon that argument for the next point he seeks to make.  The primary point that Paul is making in this section is that sin separates us from God.   The Jewish law found in the first five books of the bible, can inform us what is sinful, but the law does not have the power to save.  It is not our actions that are credited as righteousness, it is our faith.  Specifically, it is our faith in Jesus Christ, because it is Jesus who was the gift that reconciles us to God.   It is Jesus who undoes the power of sin that entered the world.  As Paul wrote in the scripture we read two weeks ago, “For just as through the disobedience of one-man [Adam] people were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man [Jesus] many will be made righteous.”

 It is in this morning’s scripture that Paul offers his proof.   Reconciliation with God, the forgiveness of sins, it is not something that we earn.  It is a gift born out of God’s love, and God proves this love because while we were sinners Christ died for us.   Paul’s proof of God’s love is that God did not spare Jesus from suffering the ultimate punishment for sin.  We have to remember that Paul wrote this letter, only a couple of decades after the crucifixion.  The death of Jesus was not just a story at the time of Paul.  Witnesses to that event were still very much alive.  It was an event that could be verified by those who experienced it firsthand.   

 The death of Jesus of Nazareth was Paul’s proof positive for God’s love and for grace.   Today, the crucifixion of Jesus still offers compelling proof to the love of God.   First, that Jesus died at the hand of Roman officials, is not something that most historians dispute.   While the gospels and Paul’s epistles were written with an intent purpose of sharing the story of Jesus, they are still primary historical sources.  The bible is not the only ancient source to tell of Jesus.  A Jewish historian name Josephus wrote a work called Antiquities of the Jews at the end of the first century.  One section covered the decades before the writing of the work, and there Josephus wrote:  “About this time there lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed one ought to call him a man.  For he was one who performed surprising deed and was a teacher. . .He won over many Jews and many Greeks. . .And when, upon the accusation of the principal men among us, Pilate had condemned him to a cross.”

While secular historians may not ascribe much theological importance to the death of Jesus, the historicity of the event is not in question.   The death of Jesus is not just a story, it is not a fairy tale or a legend.  It is an event that happened, and it was Paul’s proof because he believed that it was not an accident it was evidence of God’s great love.  

This points to the second way that the death of Jesus is proof of God’s love, and that is that generations of Christian tradition have found truth in Paul’s claim.    The belief that God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While were still sinners, Christ died for us, is a core and essential belief of Christianity.  The belief that through the death of God’s son people were reconciled to God and we have saved through the resurrected life of Jesus are the beliefs which make Christianity unique.   This is core to what we believe, and it has been consistently so.  For instance, our United Methodist Book of Discipline contains our essential beliefs in the articles of religion.  Article VII from the Evangelical United Brethen tradition states: “We believe God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.  The offering Christ freely made on the cross is the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, redeeming man from all sin, so that no other satisfaction is required.”  

 There are a lot of different branches and understandings of how to best follow Jesus, but while the words we use and the aspects we emphasize might be different, nearly 2,000 years of belief, across different cultures upholds that Jesus’s death on the cross is the proof of God’s love, and it is through Jesus that people have been reconciled to God and redeemed from all sin.   Despite all that tradition, upholding Paul’s proof there are still a lot of people that have a hard time believing it.  The reason why many struggle with Jesus’ sacrifice proving God’s love makes me think of the movie Saving Private Ryan.   In this movie a group of soldiers risk their lives to save one other solider, whose brothers have all died.   One of the questions asked throughout the movie is what makes Private Ryan worth the risk and sacrifice of all the others.  At the end, Private Ryan is saved but at a great cost.  As the captain, played by Tom Hank is dying from a German bullet, he grabs Private Ryan and whispers in his ear, “earn this.”  

Do you know how much more comfortable it would be if Jesus said this to us?   We are really good at earning things.   We are really good at having a sense of responsibility and paying back our debts.    Earning something is very comfortable for us, we do a lot better with the idea of earning something than being given something.  The infuriating beauty of this morning’s scripture, of the gospel, is precisely that we cannot earn it.    Christ died while we were still powerless and he died for the ungodly.  
 
We cannot earn God’s love and salvation, but surely, we must respond to it.  Out of great love God sacrificed his son.  Through Jesus we are once again connected to God.  The wrongdoing, the sin, the evil that we are guilty of no longer separates us from our creator, because Jesus’ death satisfies the penalty we have earned, and Jesus’ resurrected life frees us from death, wins the victory, and provides reconciliation with God.  If we truly claim that kind of love in our life, then it must be life changing, we must respond and change in some way.   We cannot pay God back and earn it, so how do we respond?   Through Jesus we have been forgiven and God’s love has been proven, so perhaps the way that we can best respond is to forgive and in doing so we add proof to God’s redeeming love. 

An example of what it means to do this comes from Corrie ten Boom.  During World War II in Holland, out of Christian conviction, she and her family helped Jews escape the Holocaust.  They were caught and imprisoned for it.  After the war she became a great social worker, author, and a well-known preacher.   In a Guidepost magazine article entitles “I’m still Learning to Forgive” she told a story of living into grace.   The year was 1947 and West Germany was still under Allied occupation.   Corrie ten Boom had come from Holland to try and help the country heal by preaching a message of reconciliation.  In a church in Munich, she preached that God forgives, and when sins are confessed before God it is like they are cast into a deep ocean, gone forever.   After the service a balding, heavyset man in a gray coat approached her.  Fear began to rise in her, because she recognized this man. He had been a guard at Ravensbruck, the concentration camp she had been interred at, the place where her sister died.  The man told her it was a good message, and he added that she was right, he had been a guard at Ravensbruck.  However, he had since become a Christian.  He had asked God to forgive the evil that he had done, and to change his heart.   But then, as he offered his hand he asked her, “Will you forgive me?”

In the article she wrote:   “And I stood there-I whose sins had again and again to be forgiven-and could not forgive.-  Betsie, my sister had died in that place-could he erase her slow terrible death simply by asking?  It was the most difficult thing I ever had to do but I had to do it- I knew that.  And still I stood there with coldness clutching my heart.  “Jesus help me” I prayed silently “I can lift my hand.  I can do that much.  You supply the feeling.”

“And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me.  And as I did, an incredible thing took place.  The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, spring into our joined hands.  And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.  “I forgive you brother” I cried “with my whole heart.”  For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner.  I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then.”

When we were powerless, unable to save ourselves, while we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ died for us.  This proves God’s love, and in the name of Jesus Christ we are forgiven!   One of the ways that we can prove God’s love in this world is that we can forgive others as well.  This does not mean we have to forget, we can still maintain healthy boundaries, but it means we let go of the hate, the anger, and the wrath that has built in our hearts.   It means that, just like God did for us, we choose love for someone who has wronged us.  

One of the main points Paul makes in the book of Romans is that through Jesus Christ we are reconciled to God our creator, and that this is because of God’s great love.   The death of Jesus is the proof of this love; it is the evidence that we can be forgiven.   May you believe and know that God loves you so much that while you were powerless and still a sinner, Christ died for you.   As God did for us, may we be willing to take steps to offer forgiveness to others, not because they earned it but because our hearts are changed by grace and our lives can be proof positive that God’s love can transform everything.   
 
 

Scripture:  Romans 4:1-5; 13-17

For almost a hundred years it was the conventional wisdom and belief that it was not possible for the human body to run a mile in less than four minutes.  We really did not keep track of things like world records until the 1800s. The first person to be recognized as holding the world record for the fastest mile was Charles Westhall in 1855 with a time of 4:28. The fastest runners in the world kept getting the time lower and setting new records, but they could not get a time below four minutes.   In 1945 a Swedish runner seemed to confirm the impossibility of a four-minute mile by setting a new record with a time of 4:01.4.   In the world of sports, it became a given that a four-minute mile truly was impossible.  A four-minute mile was just impossible. . . until it wasn’t.  In 1954 Roger Banister of England broke the barrier and ran a mile in 3:59.4.   He had done the impossible.   Banister’s impossible feat stood in the record books for only forty six days, at which point Australian John Landy turned in a mile of 3:58.  Since Banister first ran a mile in under four minutes, the world record has been broken eighteen times, and currently the record for the fastest mile is 3:43.13, well below what experts once thought was physically impossible. 

The four-minute mile is often held up as an example of how what we think can hold us back.   Before Roger Banister some of the top runners who trained relentlessly and would run in the best conditions could not get their time under four minutes.  Banister was not a professional athlete.  He only trained part-time while pursuing a degree.   He also ran his record mile in less-than-ideal conditions.   It is often lifted up that the primary difference between Banister and the other top athletes of his day, is that Banister did not believe a four-minute mile was impossible.   Once he proved it was possible, within a few years at the highest-level track events it became standard for the winning time to be under four minutes.   It is often theorized that what kept runners from breaking the four-minute mile was not a matter physicality, it was a matter of belief.  They simply could not achieve what they believed to be impossible.    

 The story of Richard Bannister shows us that when we assume something is true, that belief can have influence over actions. Banister challenged the assumption of the less than four-minute mile, and once we showed it could be done that became the standard.   A similar dynamic is at work in this morning’s scripture.  The Apostle Paul challenges long held conventional wisdom about people’s relationship with God, and in doing so set a new standard for grace.  The new standard that Paul puts forth can continue to challenge conventional wisdom today. 

Last week we also looked at a scripture from Romans, so as a reminder in the book of Romans Paul is addressing the church in Rome that is made up of both Jewish believers and gentile, or non-Jewish, believers.   The primary point that Paul is trying to make in Romans is that despite their different cultural backgrounds all of the believers in the Roman church have the same need for grace through Jesus Christ.   Paul makes this case with a systematic approach that uses the philosophical wisdom and logic of his day.  This morning’s scripture is specifically addressed to the Jewish part of the congregation.  

We know this because Paul focuses on Abraham.  For the non-Jewish believers Abraham would not have had much relevance, but he was incredibly important to the Jewish believers.  We can read all about Abraham in the book of Genesis, and he is significant because it is with Abraham that God makes a covenant.  It is the covenant between God and Abraham that the Israelites traced back to make them God’s People.  Because of the covenant God was the God of Abraham, and as his descendants the God of Abraham was the God of the Israelites.  It was because of the covenant with Abraham that God gave the Israelites the law.  The conventional wisdom of the time at least in Jewish circles, was that they were the inheritors of the covenant.  One of the prevailing thoughts was that because of Abraham, because of the law they had a step up over others in being righteous, in right relationship with God. 

The whole point of this morning’s scripture is Paul pushing back against that, because if it is the covenant made that made him righteous and if it is following the law that saves, then it makes reconciliation with God, salvation, something that is earned.   This is the point Paul makes in verses 4 and 5.  If righteousness is earned, then it is like paying someone what they are owed, but our relationship with God is not something earned by our own merit.  As Paul writes in verse 5: “to the one who does not work but trust God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.”   Paul also states in verse 16 “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all.” 
 
Because Paul was so meticulous in the book of Romans he builds this viewpoint out in detail, and this morning’s scripture is just a portion of the overall section where he makes this point.   In the letter to the Ephesians Paul makes the same point as he does in this morning’s scripture a lot more succinctly.  In Ephesians 2:8-9 Paul wrote, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works so that one can boast.” 

The conventional wisdom of Paul’s time is that it was through Abraham’s actions and making the covenant that he could be considered righteous, and it was the conventional wisdom that following the descendants of Abraham by living into that covenant and following the law would be saved, but in this morning’s scripture Paul challenges this conventional wisdom by pointing to grace not works.  Just like a sub-four-minute mile was impossible until it was not, this view of grace accepted through faith, rewrote the rules.  During the time of Paul this would have been considered radical, it would have been a case of scandalous grace.  Today, the understanding that we are saved by grace through faith and not through what we do or through the covenant that an ancestor made with God, is standard.    Yet, as this scripture points out it was not always the case.   Grace through Jesus Christ rewrote the rules, it made the impossible, possible.   Grace challenged conventional wisdom of Paul’s day, and I have to wonder in what ways does grace challenge some of the conventional wisdom today.   Just like it was in Paul’s day, there are still ways that grace might be a little scandalous.  

In this morning’s scripture, Paul points out that we are saved by grace through faith not works, and as followers of Jesus who seek to model our lives on grace I think there is a piece of conventional wisdom that grace can really challenge.   The conventional wisdom today is that “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”  The origins of this phrase can be traced back to the nineteenth century.  At this time, it was common for saloons to offer a “free lunch” to someone if they purchased a beer.  The food served was often not terribly filling and it had a high salt content, all of which encouraged the patrons to buy more beer.  As an opinion piece from a 1873 Newspaper quipped, “One of the most expensive things in the city- a free lunch.”   The phrase, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch” began as a warning to people to be on the lookout for marketing gimmicks, but even though bars stopped the practice of a free lunch long ago the phrase has hung around. The phrase gained popularity in the 1970s when it was the title of a bestselling book by economist Edwin Dolan.  Today the phrase is often used in economic context to convey the idea that everything has a cost of some sort.
 
  While that is technically true and thinking of hidden or unintended costs can be helpful or prudent, the idea of “no such thing as a free lunch” is often used cynically today.  It is most often used as a criticism of social programs that benefit groups of people more in need of help.  The phrase is often used to justify an argument that I should keep what is mine instead of it being used for the betterment of others or society. The wisdom of today is that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and people are incredibly concerned with others taking advantage of the system and getting something for nothing.   There is a lot of hand wringing today because a lot of people are concerned that someone else is going to get a free lunch at their expense.   But that is not a grace-filled way to approach life, because grace is never earned, it is a free gift without expectation.  
 
 Grace absolutely had a cost.   This morning when we celebrate the sacrament of communion, we remember the cost.  The body of Christ broken for us, the blood of Christ poured out for the forgiveness of sins.   The motivation of Jesus was not “what do I get out of this?”  The motivation was love, and that love for each of us is so strong, that even if you were the only person Jesus could save by his sacrifice, it is still a cost that would be paid without hesitation.   
 
The conventional wisdom of “there’s no so thing as a free lunch” is motivated by a point that put’s self-first, it is a viewpoint that is about keeping what is mine.  Grace is the exact opposite.  It is motivated by being other focused.  It’s motivated by selfless love.   In Paul’s day grace challenged the conventional wisdom by pointing out that grace may be guaranteed to all and today grace challenges us to be focused on others with selfless generosity. 
 
Over the past few years, a number of churches have found ways to put grace into practice.   One of the greatest worries that Americans have is related to expenses from a medical emergency.  Medical debt is an American problem, with one quarter of households reporting they have difficulty paying for medical expenses in the past.   Churches have found ways to address this issue in a way that leads with grace.  A few years ago the mega-church Northview Christian in Carmel, IN paid off $7.8 million in medical debt for almost 6,000 families.  
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The Carmel church did not raise almost $8 million to do this, what they did was buy unpaid debt from medical institutions.  They were able to buy the debt at pennies to the dollar, and then instead of trying to collect the church forgave the debt.   Dozens of other churches in Indiana have also done this as well as hundreds around the country.   They are not all mega-churches with vast budgets.  A Couple of years ago Acton United Methodist Church outside of Indianapolis which has an average attendance of a little over 100 raise around $20,000 to pay off $2 million of medical debt.  
 
The churches do not end up knowing the families they helped, but these families were relived the burden of massive debt because of the kindness of followers of Jesus.  Yes, there is a cost to this kindness, but that should not be a hinderance.  This morning’s scripture helps point out that what makes grace be grace is that it is fa free gift to the receiver, it is never earned or deserved.  But if on the cross Jesus paid it all for us, then grace challenges us today to consider how we might selflessly give out of love to help others.   There are many ways to do this, and paying off medical debt is one way that some churches have found that they can put grace into practice today. 
 
In this morning’s scripture Paul challenges the conventional wisdom of the day by point to grace.   Grace was scandalous then and grace is still scandalous today, because to take grace seriously means we have to admit that we cannot save ourselves and that we are in need of the gift of God’s forgiving love.    Grace is also scandalous because if we are going to live as followers of Jesus, then we must also lead with grace like Jesus does.  This means that focus is on others and motivation is selfless love. So may we lead with grace, because it is grace that saves us.  May we lead with grace because it is due to grace that faith is credited as righteousness.  May we lead with grace, because that is what this world needs now more than ever.