Does your family have a swear jar? Do you remember those? It is a jar, usually kept in the kitchen or some other common space; whenever a curse word is uttered in the house the perpetrator must put money into it, usually a quarter. It is a tool that some use to help control their language. My family has never had one. which is a shame, because based solely on my own lack of self-control, I could have funded college for all my kids, or bought a beach house.
But the idea of it got me thinking; what if we had to pay for each of our sins? You may not like the word “sin” too old fashioned, that’s fine, call it indiscretions, errors, peccadillos, (a Latin term meaning, ironically, “little sins”). It doesn’t matter what you call it, but I think it points to something we all know instinctively; all wrongs must be paid for; all wrongs must be, somehow, righted.
We all want justice. That’s why we have so many versions of the TV shows “Law & Order” and “CSI” and other shows and movies like it. We do not mind witnessing an injustice, a crime of some kind, because we know that within an hour justice will be served. It is why the Avengers series required an “End Game”, we would have rioted and burned down the studio if they had let Thanos have the victory. My wife gets angry if she sits through a movie that she has been drawn into, only to get to the end and have it stay unresolved. Is she wrong? I do not think so.
We were made to hate injustice, and yet the world is full of it. Some will point to the crushing amount of injustice in human history as evidence that there is no such thing as a just God. If there is, why doesn’t He do something? It is an understandable conclusion and may, on the surface, be intellectually satisfying. After all, Josef Mengele the Nazi “Angel of Death” lived comfortably in South America for three decades after the war and died swimming off the coast of Brazil. Where is the justice in that? He is personally responsible for more injustice than most of us put together. We may be dismayed at the idea of a God who, for His own reasons, delays justice. But is the solution to posit a cold, dead, empty universe where there will never be justice? Thanks for nothing.
Religious people tend to see God Himself as a kind of giant swear jar. Just keep dropping in quarters to keep Him quiet and off your back. Bribe Him, so He ignores all your “indiscretions”. Do this all your life and at the end of the play, if the swear jar outweighs your crimes, you get to go behind the curtain. But how do you know how much is enough? This sounds like servitude and fear to me. Also, a person, or a god, who can be bribed is, by definition, unjust.
The eastern religions have a better approach. More like a philosophy; Karma. Karma is all about balance, cause and effect. Good intent, and good deeds contribute to good karma and happier rebirths. Bad intent, and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and unhappy rebirths. You do not even really need a god for it to be effective. It is a natural law, like gravity. The metaphysical residue of this life effects the nature and quality of our future lives. It is the biblical concept of “you reap what you sow” par excellence. I find the concept of karma comprehensive, simple, elegant, and terrifying.
Terrifying? Yes, because the bottom line of it seems to be that we all get what we deserve. I do not want what I deserve. I would be recycled by the universe forever. And after a billion rebirths, I would still be standing there, holding a full swear jar. There are not enough quarters in America to get me through the year regardless of what comes out of my mouth. Because whatever wants to come out of my mouth comes out of my heart first. I would have to pull a freight train full of quarters into the Eternal Presence just to survive, let alone thrive; that is simply not happening. We tend to want justice for others but not for ourselves. In any given moral behavior, none of us are perfect. And, by definition, half of us are below average. If there is no ultimate justice at the end of it all, what hope is there for the world? If there is ultimate justice at the end of it all, what hope is there for me? I do not want justice, I do not want oblivion, I do not want karma; I cannot use any of that. what I need, is grace.
Grace is unmerited favor and love toward a person who does not deserve it. That’s me. Grace is not about God being kind to good people. Grace is God being kind to bad people. Again, that’s me. On bad days, I feel beyond His grace. On good days I feel I do not need His grace. Both feelings are lies. Grace meets you where you are, but it does not leave you there. I am not what I should be, but I am not what I was, and I am not yet what I will be, because of grace.
What if you could “marry” someone who was so wealthy, and extravagant, and generous, that they had no interest in your truckload of quarters? All debts cancelled. All swear jars forever empty. Instead, they become a vase for flowers, flowers of grace.
I know a man who said, “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” I think he was right. I am convinced that the heart of the universe is a person. And that person is an endless sea of grace that is open to all who thirst. He is not looking for payment from us, for He has already covered that at His own expense. I am banking everything on it; every quarter I have.
If you agree with me, let’s smash all our swear jars and go buy pizza.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me…