Peter, Lorraine, and Grace.

Lorraine Hansberry’s play “Raisin in the Sun” tells the story of an African American family in the 1960’s. The mother inherits $10,000 from her father’s insurance policy. She sees the chance to escape the ghetto life of Harlem, with a little house and flower boxes out in the countryside. The brilliant daughter sees in the money a chance to live out her dream of going to medical school. The older brother’s plea is difficult to ignore. He begs for the money so he and a friend can go into business together. He tells the family that with the money he can make something of himself and make things good for the rest of them. He promises that if he can just have the money, he can give back to the family all the blessings that their hard lives have denied them.

Against her better judgment the mother gives in to the pleas of the son. She has to admit that life’s chances have never been good for him, and he deserves the chance that the money might give.

As you might suspect, the so-called friend skips town with the money. The desolate son must return home and break the news that the family hopes for the future have been stolen. Their dreams of a better life are gone!

The sister lashes into a barrage of ugly epitaphs and calls him every despicable thing you can imagine. Her contempt knows no limits.

When she takes a breath amidst her tirade the mother interrupts by saying, “I thought I taught you to love him?”

               Beneatha, the daughter responds loudly, “LOVE HIM? There’s nothing left to love!”

               The mother responds, “There’s always something left to love, and if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothin.  Have you cried for that boy today? I don’t mean for yourself and the family because we done lost all the money. I mean for him: for what he’s been through and what it done to him. Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most: when they done good and made things easy for everyone? Well then, you ain’t through learning, because that ain’t the time at all. It’s when he’s at his lowest and can’t believe in his self ‘cause the world done whipped him so. When you start measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he done come through before he got to wherever he is.”

That’s grace! Love given when it isn’t deserved. Forgiveness given when it hasn’t been earned. It is the gift that flows like a refreshing stream that quenches the fires of angry condemning words. How much more loving and forgiving is the Father’s love for us? How much more amazing is the grace of God for you and I.

Jesus’ death was not the result of a panicking, cosmological engineer. The cross was not a tragic surprise. Calvary was not a knee jerk response to a world plummeting towards destruction. It wasn’t a patch up job or a stop gap measure. No, the death of the Son of God was anything but an unexpected peril. It was part of a plan that had over 300 prophetic prophecies as its foundation. It was a calculated choice. It was “the Lords will to crush him.” The cross was drawn into the original blueprint. It was written into the script because God “knows the end form the beginning.” He is outside time. The moment the forbidden fruit touched the rebellious lips of Eve, the shadow of the cross appeared on the horizon. Between that moment and the one where the man with the mallet placed the spike against the wrist of God, the master plan was fulfilled.

This is the same grace that Peter experienced at Galilee. It is the same grace that all of us can experience on our journey to eternity.