December 11, 2015

Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Luke 5:31).

            John expected that the Messiah would separate the wheat from the chaff. He came right out and said that the chaff would get burned up, destroyed. You can understand, then, why Jesus confused him. Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners. He healed lepers, sometimes even touching them. He talked to Roman centurions. All that, and He still kept all manner of faithful Jews near Himself, too—Pharisees, scribes, and run-of-the-mill Jews. Jesus came across as pretty much undiscriminating in the people He hung out with. Far from a separation of wheat and chaff, it sure looked like He was mixing the wheat and the chaff all together.

            Maybe John should have seen it, but, at least as Luke tells the story, he didn’t: God’s grace is not discriminating. Jesus didn’t come for the chosen few but for the world. “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him,” Jesus said (John 3:17).

            That has at least these two implications: first, you should never for a minute doubt that God’s grace is for you. Second, you should never for a minute doubt that that grace is for everyone with whom you come into contact, too. So, receive grace joyfully and spread grace generously.