Lose That You May Find (Part 4)

Thursday, Mar. 26, 2009 Posted: 11:02:01AM HKT

10. The river of God's grace
So how might we better understand, encounter, and identity God's grace? I have already alluded to a number of helpful models, analogies and metaphors. What I now mention, in seeking to bring this discussion to a closure, will only build upon and further clarify what I have already mentioned. Another biblical metaphor of God's grace is that of the flowing river. We find the image in John 1:15: “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” The verb is not quite past tense; it is rather what we call an active indicative verb, conveying a continuous motion. God’s grace is still flowing! Yet even more illuminating is the term “upon.” We can translate “upon” as, “instead” or “after.” The image is that of one measure of “grace,” constantly being displaced by another measure of grace. It is just as when we watch the river’s flow of running water. New water displaces the water that was there a moment earlier. “Grace takes the place of grace . . . ever new . . . ever fresh.” Grace then, is like water. And the water constantly flows downward, never upward.

To further help us appreciate the contours of God’s grace, I will draw attention to a recent living example of the "grace-lived" life: Brennan Manning. Manning is the author of the emerging classic, The Ragamuffin Gospel. Critics have come to hail Manning's book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, as a classic meditation, one of the best ever, on the grace of God. The subject of the whole text is grace, God's grace. Yet it's not just an exposition of God's grace. It is rather a meditation on what a "grace-lived" life looks like and implies, in our 21st century first-world material and consumer and success-driven ethos.

Here is how Manning defines grace: "Grace is the active expression of his love." Manning’s title to his meditation, The Ragamuffin Gospel, directly infers his definition of grace as the “active expression” of God’s love. The word “ragamuffin” is rare. However, its meaning refers to a ragged, poorly clothed person; or a disreputable person. Manning came up with this peculiar title for his book from listening to a young lady describe her first ever reading on the life of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. The young woman said, “Wow! Like Jesus has this totally intense thing for ragamuffins.” For there in the Gospel, as Manning was himself reminded, “Jesus spent a disproportionate amount of time with people . . . [like] the poor . . . the hungry, sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors . . . the downtrodden, the little ones, the least, the last . . . . In short, Jesus hung out with ragamuffins.” If we want to receive God’s grace, we must take our place, not at the high seat, but at the lowest seat at the table. For only there, can we then hear the word, “Friend, come up higher” (Luke 14:10).

We can argue that Manning’s “storied” thesis is actually to some extent a more updated version of Bonhoeffer’s classic, The Cost of Discipleship. Contrary to popular Protestant thinking, God’s grace is far more that a purely transactional status God bestows upon us at the “new birth.” That is “cheap grace.” Conversion to Christ involves repentance; a willful turning towards a whole new paradigm on life. And with and through that turning, comes a whole new kind of lifestyle, that will create a definitive counter-cultural witness to our consensus around us, tangibly evidenced by how we create and expend our wealth. Manning’s Ragamuffin Gospel reflects the gist of Manning’s life teachings. What Manning has taught through his whole life's existence, is a profound theological exposition into the meaning and very expression of God's grace.

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Rev Monte Lee-Rice
The Christian Post (Singapore) Guest Columnist