23rd October 2012

There is one of those RAOK projects being promoted in our city at the moment. Random Acts of Kindness – where one person quietly and secretly pays for the meal of an unsuspecting patron, who then discovers the kindness when they arrive at the cash register to settle their account. I’m sure the RAOK is appreciated and replicated, as it should be. It’s a lovely thing, and evident in the life of the Master.

On one seemingly-random occasion, John tells us in his gospel, Jesus visited a pool that was surrounded by a crowd of disabled persons. He found there an invalid who had been pool-side for 38 miserable years, hoping for healing in waters that he believed were magical. And Jesus suddenly and randomly did a “grace-and-run”. “The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there” (John 5:13). I wonder how many of these “grace-sorties” Jesus actually did!

But the greatest of his grace-acts was not done randomly or secretly, but done deliberately and on purpose, in fulfilment of ancient prophecy and in response to our deliberate act of sin. The Cross was not done as a “slip in, show grace, and slip out”, and the benefits of the Cross are neither foisted upon us against our will, nor bestowed without the guarantee of a grateful response, but carried carefully in the hands of the Spirit of grace, and applied intentionally and generously, leaving more than just the blooded-imprint of the Master’s hand, but the growing influence of his character, and the genuine desire to engage deliberately in random acts of kindness.

DM, 23^rd October 2012