Supersized Grace

According to the Chicago Tribune, you will shortly be able to purchase an ice cream sundae for just shy of a hundred bucks. It will be double the size of the present offering at Margie's Candies which is made with 25 scoops of ice cream topped with bananas, nuts, whipped cream and chocolate. Their new serving of this lavish dessert is sure to flummox any daring sweet-tooth and leave even the most ardent sorbet addict with a cold in the head.

When I first moved to America everything seemed huge. Cars, houses, skyscrapers and people all dwarfed anything I'd seen on my little island. However, as I acclimatized, our “vast mansion” and “huge bus” became just a home and a car. I often dread trying to squeeze back into a semi-detached (duplex) in England, and get by with a get-you-there hatchback.

There is something I admire about the lavish portions of American products. Yes, it can be all about greed and oneupmanship, but there is a bounteous joy that comes with making an ice cream of such gargantuan portions.

Jesus was also not the type to be frugal with his servings. When attending a wedding in Cana, Jesus marked his entry into the ministry of miracles by turning pots of water into wine. Jesus produced far more wine than was needed—we can quibble the alcohol content another time—to demonstrate a lavish outpouring of grace. His gift to the wedding foreshadowed his gift to the world – his life. On the cross Jesus lavishes on us such a portion of grace that we cannot consume it all. We overflow with the bestowal of love given to us as scoop after scoop is dolled out on our plate.

“So we are made holy because Christ obeyed God and offered himself once for all” (Hebrews 10:10).