Everybody, Always

about than I ever have. Jesus’ invitation to us wasn’t complicated. He
said to go find people who are hurting and lonely and isolated—the ones
who look wrong or did wrong—and learn from them what your faith is all
about. Did the people in our jails make big mistakes? You bet. Is it easy
to see their biggest failures? Of course. I’m not sure why Jesus said we
should visit people who had failed big like my friend with the bracelet,
but I wonder if it’s because He knew we’d fail too.
When we get to heaven, I would have thought Jesus would want to
talk about our terrific organizations or what nice people we were or the
positions we held. Maybe these things will come up, but I doubt it.
Instead, He said He will want to know how we treated the ones who had
failed the worst.
I get dozens of calls these days from jails from all over the country,
and I never refuse them. I think the prisoners are passing a Love Does
book from cell to cell. Each time I take a call, I get a charge on my phone
bill for $ 9. 95. I don’t take the calls because I’m looking for new friends. I
do it because Jesus said we were supposed to, and I came to play, not to
watch.
In The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously said we
make grace cost too little. I once heard my friend Mike Foster say we
make grace cost too much. Honestly, I don’t know which it is. Maybe
both these guys are right. I haven’t really tried to figure out what grace
costs. But someday I know I’ll get to talk to Jesus about it, and my guess
is He’ll tell me grace costs about $ 9. 95.