Ephesians 1:7, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished on us.

Adam was all ears as Henry talked about how Jesus’ death on the cross opened the door to God’s forgiveness. He didn’t quite understand all the Jewish background stuff about the Passover, and a lamb, and the blood, but it was clear it was all important somehow. What really confused him was the idea of grace. He had heard about some people “saying grace” before meals, but he didn’t know what that was about. He was really looking forward to getting with Ben and the guys to get some clarity on this grace thing.

“What did you guys think of the talk?” Ben asked when the group got together.

“I don’t know about the talk, but Emma was snack!” Peter said.

“Ooh, baby.” Another chimed in.

“Yea, but what about the talk? Why do you think Jesus had to die?”

“He died for our sins,” Nick answered confidently. “We had a problem only Jesus could solve.”

Everybody nodded in agreement.

“I’ve got a question.” Adam interjected. “What’s this grace thing? I get that Jesus died for me and everybody else. Grace seems to be the center of it all. That’s just not a word I hear a lot.”

“That’s a good question,” Ben said, picking up on Adam’s curiosity. “How do you guys understand grace?”

“Unmerited favor.” Nick responded, again with confidence.

“Unmerited favor? What does that even mean?” Pete said with a touch of frustration in his voice.

“Tom, put the phone away. You know the rules. No phones when we’re talking.”

Tom looked at Ben and rolled his eyes as he put his phone down.

“I think grace is like a do-over,” Schuyler offered. “You know, like a mulligan in golf.  When you hit a terrible shot and someone says, ‘hit a mulligan’ try it again, nobody is keeping score, we’re just enjoying our time together.”

“That’s interesting. Any thoughts?”

“I like that idea.” Pete said. “How many mulligans do we get in this life?  Do we have to buy them or earn them?”

“No you goon, you don’t buy or earn grace,” Schuyler said. “But it is like getting something you didn’t earn, for free, just because you’re a son or a daughter”

Tom chimed in, “I hear folks at church say, ‘God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.’ Get it? G-R-A-C-E.”

“What do you think, Ben?” Adam asked.

“Grace is a weird concept, for sure. It was used a lot more often in Bible times than these days. Back in the day, powerful people would “give grace” to their underlings, like money, or food, or a job. A gift. It referred to a benefit or a blessing that poorer people didn’t have but really needed. It was a way for the rich and powerful to get a good reputation in the community. Apparently, that was really important back then.”

“Everybody wants to be on top,” Pete said.

“Also, it was a way for powerful people to increase their power by getting other powerful people on their side. You know, like buying friends.”

“So, God’s like trying to buy our loyalty?” Adam asked skeptically. It didn’t sound like something God would do. It certainly didn’t seem like the Jesus he was reading about in the Bible.”

“Yea, that’s the wild thing,” Ben responded. “Back then the rich and powerful would “give grace” to other rich and powerful people to rope them into their influence. Like the way politicians throw favors around to get votes. The big difference with God, and this is huge, when Jesus died, he wasn’t dying for the influential people. He died for everybody. In fact, it was the poorest and least powerful people who recognized how huge the gift was and responded best.”

“Like Peter, James, and John who were just fisherman.” Nick offered.

“Just like that,” Ben agreed. “There’s an amazing verse in Romans, 5:8,

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

“The passage goes on to make clear that it was while we were really enemies of God, that Jesus died for us.” Ben added.

Adam was focused intently on what Ben was saying. “So, it’s like grace is the heart of everything. Like it’s the foundation. We can’t earn it. God just gives it because he loves us.”

“That’s right,” Ben said, “That’s just who God is.”

Tom’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out.  He got a text:

Ephesians 1:7, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace….