Tuesday, May 05, 2009

When does grace become cheap grace?

I received a link to a book excerpt today. This section jumped out at me:

Fred Craddock tells about teaching a class on the parables some years ago. His students gravitated heavily toward these reversal parables where the offer of grace is extended to the wayward son, the publican, the servant who took big risks, and the eleventh-hour workers. The students frowned on punishing lazy stewards or slamming the door in the faces of the poor girls who forgot to fill their lamps with oil. These seminarians, says Craddock, had come to expect grace, and hence it was no longer grace, or if it was, it was cheap grace.

Craddock told them a story. There was a certain seminary professor who was strict about due dates for papers. Due dates were announced at the beginning of the semester, and failure to meet them resulted in an F for the class. In one class, three students did not meet the deadline. The first one explained, “Professor, unexpected guests from out of state came the evening before the paper was due, and I was unable to finish it.” “Then you receive an F,” said the professor. The second student explained, “On the day before the paper was due, I became ill with influenza and was unable to complete it.” “Then you receive an F,” said the professor.

The third student, visibly shaken by the news about the fate of the other two students, cautiously approached the professor’s desk. Slowly he began, “Professor, our first baby was due the same day the paper was due. The evening before, my wife began having pains, and so I rushed her to the hospital and shortly after midnight she gave birth to a boy. So I couldn’t complete the paper.” The professor listened with interest and after a long pause said, “Then you receive an F for the course.”

The news spread rapidly throughout the seminary. A large delegation of students came to the professor to protest. “Why have you been so cruel and harsh?” they asked. The professor replied, “At the beginning of the semester I gave my word concerning papers. If the word of a teacher in a Christian seminary cannot be trusted, whose word can you trust?” The students were then dismissed.

After telling the story, Craddock asked his students if they thought it was a parable. He says most of them were angry not only with the professor in the story but with Craddock for telling it. They insisted it was not a parable. What do you think? Maybe when grace is expected or presumed or taken for granted, it ceases to be grace.

<idle musing>
I think he is onto something there. If we expect or presume on grace, it is no longer considered a gift, but an obligation. Something to ponder on for a bit...
</idle musing>

3 comments:

Andy said...

I don't think the professor's "parable" holds up. I'd like to think there is a difference between Grace concerning a sin issue, and grace concerning an arbitrary rule.

Would we give our blessings on other seminary students who...

...ignored their guests to write a paper? (Maybe; they were unexpected guests, after all.)

...finished his paper while deathly ill? (Yes, surely this would receive praise.)

...who stayed home to write a paper while his wife was in the hospital having a baby? (Well?)

Don't be ridiculous, you say? Now, why would you say that?

jps said...

Andy,

Part of the parable is that they knew from the beginning of the semester when the paper was due.

Lest you think this type of thing doesn't happen, let me share a story...Once upon a time there was a student (we'll call him James) who took a class on the Minor Prophets. At the beginning of the quarter, the professor announced that a paper was required for an "A" in the class; the due date would be the last Monday of class before the exam. Being the typical college student, he delayed writing the paper until the last week before it was due, planning to finish it over the weekend. Unfortunately, unexpected guests arrived that weekend and the student was unable to complete the paper. Said student went to the professor and begged for an extension. The extension was denied. Why? Because James had the whole quarter and delayed until the last minute—just like the 10 virgins who didn't bring enough oil...

James

Joel and Renée said...

good things to think on...
-Renee