Costly Grace - Costly Words

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 38; PM Psalm 119:25-48; 1 Kings 9:24-10:13; James 3:1-12;  Mark 15:1-11

It’s September, which means my weekly reading class is beginning again—a rhythm that always offers me food for thought and often gives shape to my own practice of self-reflection. This month we are reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Written in the midst of Nazi Germany, the book is an exploration of what faith demands from our life. At its very beginning, Bonhoeffer draws a sharp contrast between “cheap grace” and “costly grace.”

Cheap grace, he says, is forgiveness without repentance, baptism without discipline, communion without confession. It is grace as an idea, a cover for our own complacency, a way of saying “God forgives” without changing anything in our lives. Costly grace, on the other hand, is grace that demands something of us. It is freely given, yes, but it calls us to repentance, to amendment of life, to discipleship that costs us comfort and control.

I’ve been thinking about this in light of my sermon two weeks ago on the bent-over woman in Luke’s Gospel. Grace lifted her up after eighteen years of suffering. Grace liberated her, and we are called to extend that same liberating grace to others. I still believe that to be true, but Bonhoeffer reminds me: grace is not only gift, it is also calling the demands our life be liberated from complacency. It requires something of us—our honesty, our repentance, our willingness to change.

That brings me to James today. James writes about the power of words, reminding us that the tongue is small but mighty, capable of blessing or cursing, of setting the whole forest aflame. What Bonhoeffer calls “cheap grace” often comes through cheap words, words of easy forgiveness, shallow promises, or careless speech that cost us nothing. But “costly grace” shows itself in costly words, words that heal, words of apology, words of truth spoken in love, words that sometimes demand our humility or our courage.

If grace lifts us up, then our words are often the way God chooses to carry that grace to others. The challenge is that it costs something to speak words of blessing rather than words of destruction. It costs us something to speak truth in love instead of shallow comfort from our own complacency.  It costs us patience, humility, and attention. Yet James insists, these small words carry enormous power. 

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  How does the reflection of cheap vs. costly grace resonate with your own faith journey?