Jerry Sandusky and Grace

This past weekend Jerry Sandusky’s life fell apart. He was arrested on charges of alleged sexual abuse of several minor (child) victims. This could be the best week of Jerry Sandusky’s life.

To know the details of the charges against Sandusky is to experience outrage and disgust. Over a period of several years, at least 8 young boys were molested by a man who used his connections with The Second Mile to gain access to his victims. The acts perpetrated on the victims described in the grand jury’s findings are sickening.  As a parent, there is little in the way of retribution that I would consider to be too extreme in dealing with this man.  In today’s media rich world, amidst the countless accounts and commentaries of this story I have seen none that express even a hint of sympathy for the man who committed these crimes.  That is as it should be.

As Sandusky sits in jail tonight he knows the truth of his actions. What has previously been artfully sidestepped, ignored and otherwise swept under the rug is now out in the light for all to see. His wife, his family, his neighbors, his friends are all now nauseatingly aware of the darkness living inside the man. That too is as it should be. It is only in the light of the truth that he can acknowledge what he is. And only there can his life be changed.

You and I are not too different from Sandusky. To truly understand the holiness of God is to understand that you, I and Sandusky are all but indistinguishable when standing in the piercing light of God’s presence. Isaiah felt that in full force.    I know a good many people who just can’t fathom that.  I struggle with God about it as well at times.  There is only one way out of that mess.

The good news is this.  The immovable object of God’s judgment meets the irresistible force of God’s grace in the activity of the cross. There all the retribution that you and I and Jerry Sandusky deserve is laid out. There all the love, the grace, the mercy and peace that none of us deserve is so lavishly given.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.