Bono, Christ, and Grace

I listened to a wonderful John Piper sermon this week.  Actually, I listened to several of them, and I would highly recommend him to anyone who has tired of the self-help, ego-boosting sermons that make scripture more about the creature than the glorification of the Creator.  The man certainly has eternity and the exaltation of the Father stamped on his heart.  But I did not come here to praise Piper, I came here to steal a quote. 

Piper quoted Paul David Hewson, who is better known as U2's lead vocalist Bono.  The quote came from the book, Bono: In Converstation with Michka Assavas, and in it one can certainly see the classic notion of C.S. Lewis that Jesus must be either “Liar, Lunatic or Lord” (from Mere Christianity). Here the quote from page 227 of the book:

"Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius.   But actually Christ doesn't allow you that. He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says:."

 "No.  I'm not saying I'm a teacher, don't call me teacher.

I'm not saying I'm a prophet.  .I'm saying: "I'm the Messiah."

I'm saying: "I am God incarnate."   And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet.  A prophet, we can take.  You're a bit eccentric.

We've had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don't mention the "M" word!   Because, you know, we're gonna have to crucify you."

" And he goes:  No, no.  I know you're expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says:  Oh, my God, he's gonna keep saying this.  So what you're left with is: either Christ was who He said He was, the Messiah, or a complete nutcase.  I mean, we're talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson. . . . I'm not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase...for me, that's farfetched."

I thought that was an interesting quote from an unexpected source, and so I checked out more of the interview.  I must say that I found another quote that I found equally as interesting.  Bono tells the interviewer:

(The concept of grace) is a "mind blowing concept...that keeps me on my knees.   At the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics-in physical laws....every action is met by an equal or an opposite one."

"And yet,  along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that.... I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge...It doesn't excuse my mistakes....but I'm holding out for Grace.  I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity.".

"The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death.  It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of Heaven."

Now, I'm not here to praise Bono either...don't know much about him or U2....and I'm certainly not here to judge him.  I will say that the dude has a wonderful grasp of grace of Christ, and I thought it was worth sharing.