Life with Jesus is a Free Ride

This past weekend, almost 100 people joined up at MERCYhouse for the purpose of driving drunk people around for 2 nights from 10pm to 3am. It was our annual "Free Rides" event. We've done this for the past 8 years for the purpose of keeping intoxicated people off the road during one of the biggest party weekends of the year. It is always a great weekend with hundreds of rides given to hundreds of people - most of whom are Umass students.

Every year I'm always struck by a contrast. The contrast of the free ride that is given to hundreds with the actual cost that goes into the ride. Before the event even happens there is planning, postering, passing out thousands of little business cards with the free rides number on them. Then the night of the event, people give up their weekend and a lot of sleep in order to drive the vans and cover the dispatch center. The day after when everyone is more hung over from free rides than are the passengers, there is still the cleaning of vans and returning them to the rental company. Last year that included some vomit removal. Just when you think that the expense of free rides is over, the credit card bill arrives with about $2000 of charges for van rentals, gas, and publicity.

Now wait a minute, I thought these rides were free? They are, to those that take the ride, but for those who provide the ride it is at a high cost. It's one of the things I like about this service event. It's something that people really appreciate and it comes at a relatively high cost to MERCYhouse. It is representative of the gospel that we love and try to live.

When we become a Christian, we are essentially taking a free ride from Jesus. His rescue of us from our drunken sinfully selfish stupor is free to us but comes at an infinite cost to Him. This is the essence of the good news that has come into the world. There are three responses that people make to this offer of a free ride and only one is appropriate.

Some respond by not recognizing the value of the free gift and their need for it. They simply take it for granted, even trample all over it. One of the challenges of the free rides weekend is that we always have more people calling for rides than we can handle. That means we have to stop taking calls. Whenever we answer the phones and try to explain to people that we are too swamped to pick anyone else up, many of the callers (granted, they are drunk) cuss out our dispatchers and try to heap blame on them saying that we are now responsible for them driving drunk and killing themselves on the road.

There are many who respond to Jesus this way. Jesus has died for the sins of the world and anyone who wants to take this free gift of forgiveness can have it, the result of which is new life now lasting throughout all eternity. Many scoff at this great offer and instead shake their angry fists at God, shouting at him because he doesn't run the universe (aka their lives) like they want Him to.

Some respond to the free gift by trying to pay for it. Every year we have people that insist on paying for the ride. We say over and over, "This is free rides. There is no cost." Still, a few people every year insist on paying by throwing money into the van as they run off because they feel guilty for taking something for nothing. This may be the result of proper breeding but when it comes to the free ride that Jesus is offering, trying to earn his gift is a big mistake.

We can't fully take the free gift that Jesus is offering unless we admit that we a bankrupt and unable to offer Him anything that makes us worthy of the gift. So many of us respond to the good news of Jesus' free ride by trying to clean ourselves up and somehow earn the "free ride". This makes absolutely no sense because not only can we not pay for the ride, we need Jesus to clean up our vomit and forgive us for a couple of million relapses. Our seemingly noble act of trying to pay a little something actually disqualifies us from receiving the free gift as much or more than response #1.

Some respond to the free gift with gratitude. Most of the riders on the vans simply can't say thank you enough. They are aware that people are giving their weekends. Some even mention the cost for vans and gas. This is the response to Jesus' free gift of grace and forgiveness that He is looking for. An ever growing awareness of his infinite cost that propels us not to get a little part-time job to pay him back but to live in gratitude for the free gift. A free rides service by Jesus that we then mimic as we represent Christ to the world around us. This is life with Jesus - a "free" ride.