Surprised by Grace (13): Exception or rule

It is often puzzling.
To the point of inequitable.

The bandit who prayed to Jesus just before he died got a ticket to paradise.
He hadn’t done anything to prove his confession was genuine.
No penance.
No good works.
Not even the test of time.
He never earned admission.
Grace surprised.

Often people feel shortchanged feeling the robber got scot-free at the last moment. Some even suggest they could too squander and be bad the whole life and just pray at the final second.
Those who insist on justice would counter with arguments that invariably divide heavens like airline seating, into various classes.
So comical.

But apart from all these ludicrosity, there is one person really laughing to the bank.

David.
Sure, he has the famous Ps32/Ps51 confession. That was heartfelt and touching.
Sure, he suffered the death of his son from the Bathsheba relationship.
Sure, he endured son’s mutiny and lost his throne.
Sure, he lost his beloved Absalom.
Sure, he even witnessed in shame his concubines in bed with his son.

But for all his losses, hurts and shame, David did end up with Bathsheba, had Solomon with her, and lived a full life.
On top of that, David enjoyed a recognition that’s unparalleled, amongst Jews and Christians alike.
Only a small minority of scholars cast doubt on his character, but hardly anyone doubted David would be barred from heaven.
He monopolised the eternal throne, at least in type.
All that to say that David got out unscathed. Tragedies fell on others.

But one might argue David harboured irremediable emotional and psychological injuries.
To that most would rebuff, “big deal”, and would readily exchange with their current life’s sufferings.

All that said, the more excruciating sense of inequity gets to be pointedly painful when it is impossible to point to any good deeds that David even did that would qualify as “penance” that has been come to be expected in the prevailing system as “fruits of repentance”, that demonstrates his heart or justifies the good deal David received.
Zilch.
None.
Nada.
David’s treatment breaks all rules and norms.

The easiest solution is that it is an exception.

But exception often proves the rule.
Grace caused the exception?
Or Grace proved the rule?

Are you surprised?

David praying the Lord. A Georgian miniature, 16th c.jpg (Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)