Our family has been watching American Idol. It occurred to me that the judge’s panel has got both the Law and the Gospel. Simon is the law and Paula is the gospel.

The law judges you according to its perfection, never giving you any slack or mercy, and has as its purpose condemnation. (In fact, Paul calls the law in 1 Corinthians the “ministry of death”!) So Simon is perfect! With a straight face he says things like “You are an absolute nightmare” and “You look like the incredible hulk’s wife” or “that is the worst performance we’ve had in 5 years.”

Who can say these things! It’s great, because they are true. We need Simon. That’s the purpose of the law: to flaunt our weakness and failures, and ultimately to drive us to despair and kill us. Remember, Jesus does the same thing (in a positive way) in the Sermon on the Mount when he says, “be perfect just as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” Be perfect like God? Yikes! All hope is gone.

When all hope is gone, enter Paula. Paula is the gospel, the grace of God.

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