"Recently, 12 American tourists on a B'nai B'rith trip to South America were killed when their bus fell down a mountainside. A reporter asked a rabbi if he questioned why God allowed such a bad thing to happen. The rabbi answered, I do not question God for the bad things that happen, just as I do not question God for the joyful things that happen. What a rare breed. A man who did not believe he deserved an answer.
It is no small irony that though we often live life pursuing what we may falsely or rightly believe we deserve, the holiest holiday on the Christian calendar celebrates not getting what we deserved.
We deserved something all right. Wrath. We richly deserved the penalty for sin, self-centeredness, arrogance, pride, greed, gluttony, hard hearts, mean spiritedness and all the rest. But, the thing is, we didn’t get it.
Christ did.
He took what I deserved, every lash, every hit, every piercing. He took what I had coming. He paid the price I deserved to pay, was crucified, dead and buried, and on the third day rose again.
They say a good way to distinguish between grace and mercy is to remember that grace is getting what you didn't have coming, and mercy is not getting what you did have coming.
Easter is the celebration of mercy.
The next time I open my mouth about something I deserve, may God freeze my speech mid-air and bring to mind the joy and thanksgiving of not getting that which I deserved the most of all."How could I forget the meaning of Easter, how could I have taken that for granted?
Thank you Lord for Your forgiveness, and for giving me what I don't deserve, and for holding back what I do deserve.
Let that truth sink in.
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