In Lee Chang-dong’s film Secret Sunshine (2007), there's a scene that absolutely floors me, because it captures something so true about the way humanity deals with grace. The scene takes place in a prison, as protagonist Shin-ae (whose son was recently kidnapped and murdered) goes to visit her son's murderer, in prison for life. Shin-ae, a new convert to Christianity, wants to forgive her son's killer. Her friends tell her she doesn't have to see him face-to-face in order to forgive him. But she insists. She wants to see him in person and (truth be told) wants to witness the look on his face when she offers him the gift of forgiveness. And yet when she sits down to confront the prisoner on the other side of the glass from her, Shin-ae finds him unexpectedly happy, peaceful, even joyful. "You look better than I expected," she tells him. She goes on to tell him that she's found peace, love, and a "new life" in God, and that that's why she's here. She's "so happy to feel God's love and grace" that she wanted to spread his love by coming to visit him. But then the shocker. The prisoner has also come to faith in Christ.
"Since I came here, I have accepted God in my heart. The Lord has reached out to this sinner," he says.
"Is that so?" replies Shin-ae, crestfallen and shaken. "It's good you have found God..." she says, very tentatively.
The convicted murderer continues: "Yes, I am so grateful. God reached out to a sinner like me. He made me kneel to repent my sins. And God has absolved me of them."
And this is where Shin-ae begins to wilt, as she's confronted by something she didn't see coming.
"God... has forgiven your sins?" she mutters in disbelief.
"Yes," he replies. "And I have found inner peace... My repentance and absolution have brought me peace. Now I start and end each day with prayer. I always pray for you, Ms. Lee. I'll pray for you until I die."
This hits Shin-ae hard. When she leaves the prison, she collapses, overcome by the horror of an idea she had not considered: that even the killer of her own son could be saved by God's grace, and that God could beat her to the punch in forgiving the killer, offering him the only real absolving he needed. Unfortunately, Shin-ae can't accept this seeming injustice--how can a law-abiding, good citizen like her and a convicted child-killer be on the same leveled playing field in terms of God's grace? She can't take that, and abandons God because of it.
This, I think, is the greatest, most mind-blowing quality of God's grace, while at the same time being the hardest for humanity to swallow: His grace is sufficient for all, and it saves unconditionally, based not on our merits or relative levels of moral stature. We're all sinners, fallen short of the glory of God and alienated from him, and thus we all need exactly the same grace from Him to repair the breach.
I need the same grace as anyone who has ever wronged me.
Trayvon Martin needs the same grace as George Zimmerman.
Jason Russell needs the same grace as Joseph Kony.
Barack Obama needs the same grace as Osama bin Laden.
Mother Theresa needs the same grace as Hitler.
Charlie Sheen, Tim Tebow, Whitney Houston, Joe the Plumber, Kim Kardashian, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Benjamin Netanyahu, the pepper spray cop, Susan Boyle, Madonna, Jerry Sandusky and the boys he molested... All are hopeless and condemned without the exact same grace. That is: the grace of God, freely given through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ, who--though perfect and undeserving--bore our sins on that dreadful but majestic cross.
It's absolutely scandalous, and for many, a pill too hard to swallow. We're prideful creatures, us humans. We want to believe that "right" living warrants us a better standing in God's eyes than, say, the killers and thieves and pedophiles. We don't want to believe that we are in exactly the same predicament and in need of exactly the same salvation as the world's most evil person. We want God to reward us for being good and punish others for being bad. Deep down, pride is what leads many to resist the free gift of grace... because they can't stomach the notion that earning or deserving are not words that exist in God's economy of grace.
But if we can just get over our pride, emptying ourselves in the same way Christ did both in how he lived and died, the "free to all" nature of grace begins to look beautiful rather than horrific (as it did to Shin-ae). Grace becomes life-transforming precisely because it takes us outside of ourselves, freeing us from our sinful chains and narcissistic self reliance, instead focusing our attention on Christ--and what HE did that Good Friday not just for me, or you, or the "good people," but for the world.