We sometimes picture Jesus as being very solemn and serious. We are not sure He laughed very much. Recently, I was watching one of the old movies about Jesus. I don’t think the guy who played Jesus smiled the whole time. I think the Lord probably laughed a lot. When Jesus came to your house, it was probably more like a celebration than a solemn time. If you were a sinner expecting wrath and shame and the Lord blessed you with the exact opposite, it would not be time for a solemn assembly. It would be time for a party. The Pharisees accused Jesus of being a glutton and a drunkard (Luke 7:34). Why do you think they called Him such things?

Who might such a party bother? If you were a torah keeper, and you saw a person whose life was a mockery of Torah getting an even greater blessing than you, you might get upset. If you expected sinners to get what they deserved, you might even find Jesus disappointing.

Yet, unexpected blessing and getting the opposite of what you deserve is at the heart of the kingdom of God. To most this is reason to rejoice. To the self-righteous this is reason to cry foul.

Let me ask you a question. If you stood before God someday, and a wicked man got the same blessing as you, how would you respond? Would that be reason to accuse God of being unfair, or would it be a reason to love God even more? If we see God’s grace as reason to fall on our knees and worship the Lord, we have begun to understand the nature of the kingdom of God.