the cost of free grace

I've started reading What's So Amazing About Grace? and The Cost of Discipleship almost concurrently, and something struck me while I was talking to K yesterday about the former book.  In Bonhoeffer's (my new hero, by the way) Discipleship, he opens the book with a huge bang (I had to repeatedly remind myself to breathe while reading chapter 1) about the cost of grace.  He defines "cheap grace" as a mere "doctrine, a principle, a system" and "the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner."  He argues that true, costly grace that "has to be protected from the world" requires utmost obedience and discipleship of the recipient.  Costly grace, which cost the Giver that which is most precious, is not to be taken lightly or carelessly by the recipient.  It's not cheap stuff.

In his quite amazing book (my favorite, along with Brave New World), Philip Yancey paints the beauty of grace by sharing stories- stories of grace given not easily, yet freely to those who don't necessarily deserve it.  His overarching argument is that grace is amazing because it's for everyone, from the most righteous to the not-so-righteous, like you and I.  This seemingly juxtaposed views of grace intrigued me.  On one hand, a martyred pastor stresses the hard-won costliness of grace, while another follower of Christ, 60 years later, emphasizes the fact that it's available to everyone, even to the lowest scum of the earth.

How can something be costly and freely given at the same time?  That's not how this world works.  When something is given for free, it's because it's not worth very much.  Insurance companies give out highlighters and keychains for free because it's a nifty marketing ploy and because it's hella cheap.  But would they ever waive premiums and grant all their customers life insurance for free?  Preposterous!  That may be the stupidest business plan in the history of business plans.  On the flip side, things are often more precious, more costly when they're rare.  That's the whole idea of producing "limited edition" cars, DVDs, dolls, you-name-it, right?  People are willing to pay more for limited edition Hans Solo and Chewbacca figures.  I call that completely absurd, but there are probably things (books, perhaps?) that I'd be willing to pay more for (given that I have that kind of $$ to throw away) because there are less of them in the world.

So then what's up with grace?

...Is it possible that grace is costly precisely because it's freely given and made available to all?  The grace that was won with the most costly Sacrifice has the power to break the bounds of time and give life to those from the past, the present, and the future.  It's ever more precious because this is good news to all.  To sacrifice one's life for a friend is noble, but to redeem an entire humankind can only be Divine.  I still don't know how this makes sense- it completely screws with the laws of supply and demand.  The demand for redemption is always high and dire, but there is always more than enough supply of grace to match the need.  Yet that abundant, freely given grace is what calls us to give up everything that we have and follow.  Sometimes the way God works is so upside down that my brain hurts.

On a completely tangential note, on Sunday my 13 yr old bro asked me, "Hey noona, today is the day that Jesus was erected, right?"  Innocently casted innuendo aside, I realized after some minutes of guffawing that he pretty much got it down theologically.  Erection, resurrection, to-may-to, to-mah-to.