Surprised by Grace (31): Not even confession

“Son, you have to say sorry to mom.”
“….”
“Your mom is always ready to forgive you but you must first tell her that you are sorry.”
“Ok…”

We might have played the role of the son in our life.
Or the father.
Or both.

In any case we know that’s how it’s supposed to work.
We have seen it worked so many times that it has occupied the position of the arch rule.
Solid gold rule.
Forgiveness follows confession.
Verbalised or acted out confession, to be precise.

Catholicism adds penance.
Protestants variations of.

But perhaps our faith in this solid gold rule seems to have a fatal oversight:
It works between humans only!

In the celebrated parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15, the solid gold rule is dissolved in grace.

John Everett Millais: The Prodigal Son (The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ) (John Everett Millais, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

“So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way from home his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; he ran and hugged his son and kissed him. Then his son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’” (Lk 15:20-21, NET)

The father (why he stayed home and didn’t go out to look for the son is puzzling and it is explored in “Just asking (17): Why Didn’t He Look?”), who in Luke 15 is almost universally interpreted to speak of the Heavenly Father, threw away the solid gold rule.

Just pay attention to the sequence above.
Father ran-hugged-kissed.
Then came the son’s “sorry”.

Humans demand a verbalised or actioned “sorry”.
God’s grace surprises humans.

 “But hold on!” One would exclaim that in the immediately following verse, the son did effectively say “sorry”.

True.
Also true is that it comes after!

God’s grace reduces it to the periphery.
Not prerequisite, as amongst humans.
After all, the Father ran, hugged and kissed, all expressing how delighted, and ecstatically so, just to see a “son that is lost and now found, dead is now alive”!

Grace needs no confession.
Grace is given freely.
Grace is poured upon, not like wage earned.

Then again the prodigal son did rehearse his confession a few verses earlier.
Except it wasn’t in front of the Father.
Maybe even just rehearsed in his heart.

Alas!
Grace can listen to his heart.
Grace needs no verbalised sorry.

Perhaps Grace won’t surprise if we are prepared to accept that God has no need for humans’ solid gold rule.
God hears the heart’s faintest murmur.

At the slightest tucking at the heart, we can say sorry.
Grace can hear.
No surprises there.