(P)The...
Illustration
(P)
The contrast of the rich who put large offerings into the treasury and the widow who put it all in is the contrast of what Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace" and "costly grace." Helmut Thielicke was riding in a taxi and became involved in a deep conversation with the driver. The driver Thielicke calls a "neopagan," one who knows his life is empty without some touch with God but who is not ready for a baptismal plunge.
Thielicke says to him: "Let me tell you straight, will you, what is the matter with you. In the first place, you don't feel well about it at all, but like an old campaigner and taxi driver, you naturally won't admit it. And, believe me, you won't get anywhere on the road you're going. What you're trying to get is an all too cheap peace. All this stuff you do costs you nothing ... You want to get as much as possible for the lowest possible price. First you want inner composure, what we just called 'peace.' But more than that, you want eternity and you want to get by the Last Judgment. Or are you going to say that all these dodges, your talisman, your astrology, your respect for Friday and the thirteenth of the month, are going to pass you through unscathed and get you off very cheaply? After all, you can go on living with these things without changing at all!"
-- Anton
The contrast of the rich who put large offerings into the treasury and the widow who put it all in is the contrast of what Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace" and "costly grace." Helmut Thielicke was riding in a taxi and became involved in a deep conversation with the driver. The driver Thielicke calls a "neopagan," one who knows his life is empty without some touch with God but who is not ready for a baptismal plunge.
Thielicke says to him: "Let me tell you straight, will you, what is the matter with you. In the first place, you don't feel well about it at all, but like an old campaigner and taxi driver, you naturally won't admit it. And, believe me, you won't get anywhere on the road you're going. What you're trying to get is an all too cheap peace. All this stuff you do costs you nothing ... You want to get as much as possible for the lowest possible price. First you want inner composure, what we just called 'peace.' But more than that, you want eternity and you want to get by the Last Judgment. Or are you going to say that all these dodges, your talisman, your astrology, your respect for Friday and the thirteenth of the month, are going to pass you through unscathed and get you off very cheaply? After all, you can go on living with these things without changing at all!"
-- Anton
