The Myth of Grace

In this post I want you to suspend all you think you know to be…

I’m going to make the brash assumption that as you grew up, just like I did, there were a number of stories that influenced your perspective on life. These stories, their characters, the escapades they endured, the obstacles the hero overcame and the prize which was gain as the result helped shape and mold you, in a small to large fashion, into who you are today. I’m not talking about stories you read out of the bible – while noteworthy in their own right – I’m talking about stories like the mighty Cassey at bat, Robin Hood, King Arthur and the knights of the round table, John Appleseed, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey; even Indiana Jones and Harry Potter.

While each of these stories, and any which you may have feasted upon that I haven’t mentioned, have grand narratives that a person can get lost within and emulate, we recognize, hopefully, they are merely make believe, fiction, fantasies. They can be described, and often are categorized as myths.

According to Wikipedia, Finnish folklorist Lauri Honko offers a widely cited definition for myth:

Myth, a story of the gods, a religious account of the beginning of the world, the creation, fundamental events, the exemplary deeds of the gods as a result of which the world, nature and culture were created together with all parts thereof and given their order, which still obtains. A myth expresses and confirms society’s religious values and norms, it provides a pattern of behavior to be imitated, testifies to the efficacy of ritual with its practical ends and establishes the sanctity of cult.

Honestly, that sounds good for some of the older stories, but how can you apply this definition to stories like Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, or any of a broad swath of narrative which inspire us to reach beyond ourselves in order to pursue a higher calling? Finally, what in the world does all of this have to do with grace?

For a number of months now I have been deeply embedded in a field of study which I can truly say has redefined my entire understanding of the grace message. To this end I wish to offer a definition of what I believe will facilitate my point from here on. What is a Myth?

A myth is a narrative, using limited language to define or describe an alternate reality. It is not a make-believe story, a parable or allegory created to make a point. It is an event which defies descriptions or articulation yet succumbs to the constraint of language to create a stepping stone into a realm beyond perception.

This is the nature of grace. We don’t have a clue, still to this day, what Paul was trying to describe to us. Yes, we’ve taken two thousand years to break it down, parse away the chaff and arrive at we think is the truth, the kernel that contains all Paul meant. We still miss it despite all the efforts of the greatest theologians of the past and present to enlighten us. Why?

Paul experienced an alternate reality, possibly many times, which he grappled with trying to describe, using the limited language he possessed, for those of us who haven’t experienced it yet. If you question my assertion of this, look at the following to gain a possible understanding:

I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knows;) such a one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knows;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. (2Co 12:2-5)

Paul is talking about himself in this passage, yet he can’t seem to reconcile what occurred was to him – and this is after fourteen years! In the terms of today, this is the description of a near death experience. Paul is attempting to convey what happened to him when, in one of his many deaths (2 Cor 11:23), his spirit ascended into the heavens. What Paul witnessed there he has offered to us throughout his writings apparently being careful not to divulge what he heard. Paul’s entire message is the articulation of what he experienced in one, or multiple, near death experiences. This includes grace.

People have often expressed their difficulty in understand what Paul is trying to say throughout his writings. Duh! Only a dead man can understand what he means. If you’ve had a near-death experience, then probably there isn’t any issue – it probably feels just like being home. However, not many of us have had the luxury of experiencing this type of event in life, so we must muddle through as best we can, hoping that a revelation will open up the alternate reality Paul encountered for us. Until then, grace will forever be a myth, an articulation of an alternate reality using the limitation of your present language. Unless we recognize and accept this simple truth, grace will seem make-believe, a simple fantasy.