Here have a gift - please - take it!

In Isak Denisen’s short story Babette’s Feast there is this lone line that sums up the old sisters lives: 

Did she believe that they would allow her to spend her precious money on food and drink – or on them?

Babette has just won the lottery and wanted to use that money to throw a grand feast. At this suggestion the Norwegian stoic sisters throw up their hands, as if to say – how can any extravagance be wasted on us? 

How many times have we done the same thing when someone offers us a truly grace filled gift, that is, a gift that we have not earned? What do we say? O you should not have! or I did not get you anything. or I could not accept this! All these answers shame the bearer of the gift. The intention, I suppose, of our answers is to show a kind of humility. But, it is a false humility. At best it is a form of cover for our surprise. What would it be like if we had instead just said, "Thank you?"

God, in offering his only son, is a lot like Babette. Here, God says, have this gift, have this gift of amazing grace. And we too often shame the gift. We sometimes speak the same words as the sisters, "Does God believe that we would allow him to spend his precious Son’s life on forgiveness and reconciliation – directly to us?" We would not have such a thing! 

But, such a thing is given. God's only Son sent into the world, not to condemn it, but to save it. To save you. To save me.

The table is set. Wine is poured. Bread is broken. The meal is offered.  Free, unmerited, unhindered, waiting for you. Will you accept it and say thank you?