Outed by Grace
It’s a skill we learn as youngsters and carry forward into all of life’s endeavors: hiding the truth about ourselves and our actions, lest we lose advantage or be condemned. And so, for example, a toddler learns to sneak the forbidden treat, clumsily at first, to his parents’ great amusement, and then with ever greater cleverness, to his parents’ great distress. But then the parents ply the skill too, and often without any self-awareness, so woven is it into the words and ways of humanity.
It’s a skill that will be totally obsolete in the Kingdom, where all will be in the light. So said Jesus: Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.
Being hauled into the light and broadcast from the housetops is a horror in this world. And so those who have shown up on Epstein’s client lists are horrified to have their predatory dalliances revealed. That same dread of discovery comes to government officials who have been outed for elaborate trips and flights on the taxpayers’ dime. Examples are rife.
In our day, shamelessness is having its moment. But it’s not enough to banish the fear of being found out that lurks in every heart. Such is life in our broken world.
But life works differently in the Kingdom. There the one who brings ALL to light is the same one who already knew us in full, and yet remained ready to lay down his life for us – scandals and all – so that we might live in his grace. And though his Kingdom has not yet fully come, we who live now for Jesus can already begin to live in his light. God is gracing us to live with him in a transparency that brings a freedom that the world cannot give.
May our lives so illumined point to him and welcome others to step into his light.