Offense-swallowing Grace
I was watching the NHL playoffs a couple month ago, when the Wild were still in it, and I saw the referee call a penalty I had never heard of before.
On this particular play, the initial call was cross-checking, (I’ve seen a lot of that before). But then an additional penalty was called on the guy who had received the cross-check. He had been assessed a 2-minute minor for: “embellishment.”
And the especially interesting thing is that it is not an either/or situation. In this case, the player had been hit illegally, and had also exaggerated the offense. Both can be true, and were true in this particular instance.
The idea of embellishment is going beyond the substance or reality of something. In clothing, an embellishment is something that enhances or goes beyond the basic substance of a dress or uniform. But embellishment can also be an exaggeration of reality, or going beyond the truth of a situation.
It is pretty obvious to see the reality of embellishment all over the broader culture when it comes to either real, or perceived wrongs. But what about in your life? Or in the life of our church body?
If a basketball or soccer game were a visible representation of your hearts response to being sinned against, what would it look like? What would you see? Or if the game represented the corporate or collective responses of our hearts to being wronged, what would we see? Would we see people falling and flopping all over the place? Are we prone to embellishment? To either exaggerate the offense, or at least squeeze every legitimate drop out of it?
How does your heart respond when you are sinned against?
Embellishment can look passive or aggressive. To go back to hockey, it can look like laying there like you got hit by a train, or getting up and throwing punches because you got pushed. Both go beyond the reality of the offense. Both types of responses, even to a very legitimate wrong, are not ways that Christ would have us respond.
The Apostle Paul, when addressing conflicts and lawsuits among the Corinthian church wrote this, which seems radical to us and is worth pondering. He wrote:
“To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?” (1 Corinthians 6:7)
Paul’s counsel makes no sense to a heart that doesn’t know Jesus, that has not comprehended his grace.
They might have responded: “Why not just be wronged? Well, Paul, because it’s their fault! Why not tell them to stop it!”
The radical grace of Jesus changes our whole lives, including our posture towards offenses against us.
Paul is not ignorant here, he knows:
That these are legitimate wrongs
That wrongs come with a material cost (defrauded, cheated)
That they come with hurt and pain. Here he describes it as ‘suffering’
But Paul also knows that the gospel gives us new hearts.
Hearts that are motivated by offense-swallowing grace
Hearts that are not too fragile nor too rigid, but are soft and humble
Hearts that have the strength and will to absorb an offense committed against it
The gospel makes us a person that deep down knows that whatever the offense, we have been forgiven much more by Jesus. We do not ignore the pain, nor embellish the pain, but we absorb the pain, or suffer the wrong, so that we may show Jesus to another person.
Maybe a loose rewording of Paul’s words could be: “Why not rather suffer wrong? As in, why not rather give the gospel to one another?” And the amazing thing is that in giving the gospel to another, we are receiving more of it ourselves.
To the transgressor there is grace and forgiveness extended in the name of Jesus. An up close and in person display of the forgiveness of Jesus on the cross.
And for the transgressed, there is visceral understanding of the pain that Jesus took upon himself and swallowed up on the cross for us. And there, you see afresh the finished work of the gospel for you. Jesus overflows with offense-swallowing grace, and he has poured that love and grace into our hearts. And as you absorb the offense against you, you will know Jesus more.
Church, may we: receive and display God’s offense-swallowing grace.
Would you pray with me.
Father, I can’t help but wonder if Paul had Proverbs 19 in mind which says: “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense." We are far too quick to seek justice or revenge, rather than give forgiveness to one another. Father, we do not know the gospel as we ought, thank you that you have loved us with offense-swallowing, sin-swallowing grace. Remind us afresh of your love, as we confess our sins to you in silence…
Jesus, thank you for your grace that forgives us over and over again. You are so patient with us. Help us now to be a church that is quick to extend forgiveness, happy to show the gospel to one another. Give us humble hearts ready to absorb offenses and extend unconditional love. Help us to be like you Jesus, in your name we ask this, Amen.