"Grace trumps law"
"For a majority of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, "May the good Lord pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the Lord, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary's rules of cleanness." (2 Chronicles 30:18-19 ESV)
God was doing a great thing in Israel. Something that hadn't happened in a long, long time. Hezekiah was leading the people to return to the Lord. They cleaned out the temple in 16 days & removed everything impure & purified the articles. The people were responding to the Lord & they celebrated two straight weeks because of their returning to the Lord. But a group of worshippers ate the Passover but had not cleansed themselves. This is a big problem! You had to be ceremonially clean in order to eat the Passover. This was God's command to his people. And yet this group wasn't clean. And Hezekiah prayed for them that God would pardon them because of the great occasion. God does so. Why? Because God's grace covers his law.
Jesus did similar things while on earth. He would pluck grain on the Sabbath as well as heal, breaking the traditions of the religious leaders. Jesus frequently had to set them right by teaching that the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. In fact, God's heart is to reconcile people to himself & not alienate. So when these people have come to God to be reconciled to him, law takes a backseat to grace. They are welcomed to the table even though they are unclean.
Similarly, in our lives, God's grace has trumped his law in our lives. Jesus satisfied the law of God that we never could & his grace cut off his wrath at the cross. Now we are welcomed to the table, unclean as we may be!
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