One of the toughest concepts that we Christians face is the concept of Grace. As human beings, we are currency-based creatures. From the time we're small, we're well aware of the concept of what's "mine" and what's "yours" and that to get what's "yours", we must give you something in return. Even as much as we like to talk about how parents love their children unconditionally, we know it's not the truth. There's times when the best of mothers want to toss their screaming newborn out the window and when the most marvelous of fathers want to whack their kids with a bat. We don't like to admit it, but we are, in fact, human.
And being human is the primary problem. Again, we're currency-based - we exchange money for goods at the store. We trade CD's. While sophists and pseudointellectuals like to glorify the wonders of socialism and communism, there's a reason that a society based entirely on everyone sharing everything has never worked, and will never work in this poor world. Remember what we learned about the Fall last time: its effects were TOTAL, and that also includes our economic systems.
And yet, God does not work on such human systems. For no other reason that He wanted to, He has chosen to give us Grace. It's actually a scary concept. In fact, I would wager that the vast majority of people on the planet are repelled by the concept of grace. Our first thought is, "What's the catch" - because while we may not admit it out loud, at our core, we're well aware of the cost and value of something, and when we're offered something for nothing, we usually know that there is a cost somewhere along the line.
And yet, here it stands: offered to us. Truly unconditional.
It is into this picture that I bring an episode of "CSI". Yes, THAT CSI - the one in Las Vegas. The one without the fashion-model posing by David Caruso. The one with William Petersen as Gil Grissom, bug scientist extraordinaire. In a recent 2-part episode, "A Bullet Runs Through It", there is a large shoot-out between gang members and police officers. In the course of the shootout, a young boy and a police officer are both shot (the officer is killed). In the aftermath, there are two beautiful scenes that illustrate two different takes on salvation.
The first take I'd like to focus on is Gil Grissom's. He is the eternal skeptic, and although his former Christian faith has made for some interesting discussion over the course of the series, he remains, at his core, agnostic. He is given the responsibility to talk to the public at a community meeting about the evidence and give his scientific opinion of what has happened. While he peppers his speech to the gathered people with phrases like "God's House", his speech centers around nothing more than the evidence. At the end, the boy's father asks him to tell him who shot his son, and Grissom tells him that his boy was shot by a gang member. The father is devestated - as he should be, because at its core, Grissom's speech illustrates the single biggest problem with a science-based belief system, and ultimately with a currency-based soteriology: ultimately it is hopeless. It provides no relief - even when preached in "God's House" - to people who are in desperate need of more than scientific answers and an exchange of goods.
Ultimately, hopeless.
Even more telling is Grissom's lack of answers for Det. Sofia Curtis, who believes herself to be responsible for the police officer who was killed. When she expresses her sadness and hopelessness, Grissom has nothing to offer. Sofia cannot turn anywhere for help, because she's not allowed to speak to another officer - and this includes her own mother. Ultimately, there is nothing for Sofia other than people reminding her of rules and regulations that give her no comfort, nowhere to turn, and no hope. It is a perfect example of a works-based gospel that requires this currency exchange of behavior or rite in exchange for absolution - and it is a complete and utter vacuum.
Let us compare and contrast this with the final scene. Over the course of the program, we discover that the police officer was shot and killed - accidentally - by another police officer, Detective Jim Brass. Jim's an interesting character: he's a short-tempered alcoholic hero cop whose own daughter refuses to have anything to do with him. When the news comes down, he's told that he was the one who did it. He doesn't make any deals. He knows what story the evidence tells, and he knows that he is responsible for the death of an innocent man. He is guilty without doubt or question.
In the final scene, he attends the officer's funeral. The reaction from those in attendence is perfectly understandable: he has committed the ultimate sin in their mind - he has carelessly killed his brother in arms. When he sits down, the other officers in attendence get up and move as far away from him as possible. One officer speaks to him, if only to admonish him for even daring to show up. Brass is without recourse, when the time arrives: his judge enters the room - the dead officer's wife, Tracy. Brass arises and approaches her. He stutters, but his sorrow is obvious and his guilt is only invisible to the blind. She hold up her hands....
And she hugs him. She holds him. She comforts him. Not a weak, emotionless "that's okay" hug, but a hold-on-for-dear-life bear hug.
What a wonderful picture of the Grace that God grants us in Christ! There is no earthly reason for Det. Brass to be hugged, forgiven, welcomed, or tolerated -and yet this woman chooses to express a level of undeserved, unrestricted, unconditional, irresistable Grace. There are no strings. There is no logic. There is hope. There is healing. There is love. It cost her the most precious person in her life, but that person's death enabled her to share this Grace freely to a man who couldn't even mutter the words "I'm sorry".
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the Gospel... that we are guilty and hopeless and have no business even being in the presence of God, and yet His Grace makes us able, forgives us, and shows us the Love that is unexpected, uninvited, and so desperately needed to heal our hearts.