Great Scot December 2019 Great Scot 158_December_ONLINE | Page 8

CHAPLAIN
THE EXTENSION OF
GOD’S GOOD GRACE
REV DAVID ASSENDER
SCHOOL CHAPLAIN
8
Biblical graciousness would have to be one of the
highest of all character traits, but the most difficult to
undertake. Grace does not wait for someone to prove
themselves before favour is shown. It does not require
anything of anyone before it is offered. True grace
extends itself toward its potential recipient regardless of
the likely response. It is selfless, costly and risky, but by it
we understand the essential nature of God’s love for us.
In 1947 a Christian conference was organised that
brought together young people from across the world.
The Dutch participants asked to meet with German
prisoners of war who had fought in the Netherlands.
One such prisoner went to the meeting full of fear,
guilt and shame, feelings that intensified as the Dutch
Christians spoke of the pain Hitler and his allies
had inflicted, of the dread the Gestapo bred in their
hearts, of the family and friends they had lost, of the
disruption and damage to their communities. Yet
the Dutch Christians did not speak out of a spirit
of vindictiveness, but of grace. They came to offer
forgiveness. It was completely unexpected. These
Dutch Christians embodied the love that a German
soldier had recently read about in the story of Jesus
that a prison chaplain had given him, and it turned his
life upside down.
That German soldier was Juergen Moltmann, who
would go on to become one of the greatest theologians
of the 20th century. Years later, with the message of
the loving, crucified God still indelibly printed on his
heart, he penned these words:
‘But the ultimate reason for our hope is not to be
found at all in what we want, wish for and wait for;
the ultimate reason is that we are wanted and wished
for and waited for. What is it that awaits us? Does
anything await us at all, or are we alone? Whenever
we base our hope on trust in the divine mystery, we
feel deep down in our hearts: there is someone who is
waiting for you, who is hoping for you, who believes
in you. We are waited for as the prodigal son in the
parable is waited for by his father. We are accepted and
received, as a mother takes her children into her arms
and comforts them. God is our last hope because we
are God’s first love.’ (Juergen Moltmann, The Source
of Life: The Holy Spirit and the Theology of Life, Fortress
Press 1997)
Great Scot Issue 158 – December 2019
A Christian is a Christian by the sheer grace of God
alone. Salvation is something that can only be received
because it is a gift. The Bible goes so far as to explain
we cannot earn it because in one sense we do not even
desire it. Nevertheless, as Moltmann indicates above,
God waits, hopes and anticipates our need of him.
This is biblical graciousness drawing us in.
In Romans chapter three, the apostle Paul describes
our problem like this: ‘There is no one righteous, not
even one; there is no one who understands, no one
who seeks God.’ Then, in chapter eight, he clarifies,
‘ ... the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not
submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.’ And then, in
John chapter six, Jesus offers the solution this way:
‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent
me draws them …’ The reason we cannot earn our
salvation is because we can’t even want it. God has
to open our heart to it if we’re ever going to receive it.
Which means it’s all of grace: he loves us even if we
don’t want it.
In Deuteronomy chapter seven, God comes to
Israel and says, ‘Israel, I didn’t love you because you
were the greatest of all nations. Because after all,’ he
says, ‘you’re the least of people. But I set my love upon
you and therefore I redeemed you.’ God draws us in
with a love that says, ‘I love you not because you’re
serviceable to me, I love you not because you’re this or
that; I love you simply because I have set my love on
you.’ A commitment to love keeps both arms of grace
extended; waiting, hoping, anticipating and drawing
us in. That’s the mark of biblical graciousness.
Of course, God’s arms of transforming grace
are extended to us like this through Jesus. But, as
Moltmann experienced, he understood this only when
followers of Jesus extended grace to him as a mark of
authentic Christianity. Faith cannot just be a personal
thing. The expression of our faith is needed so the
world might experience God’s grace for themselves.
To be a person of good grace is to reflect the love
of God himself. As Jesus said, ‘By this everyone
will know that you are my disciples, if you love one
another.’ (John 13:36)