Psalm 51:14 - Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

David Gelb's 2011 documentary,Jiro Dreams of Sushi, is an interesting illustration of law and grace. Jiro Ono, the film's subject, is a master sushi chef whose restaurant is, according to a food critic interviewed in the film, the most expensive restaurant in the world.

Jiro relentlessly pursues the perfect piece of sushi. He has a routine and follows it religiously every day, even so far as to board the commuter train from the same point on the platform. However, this pursuit is offset by his knowledge that actual perfection will remain out of his reach. He acknowledges that just when you think you know everything, something happens to remind you how much more there is to know and how much more work needs to be done.

This is quite reminiscent of God's law and its demand for perfection, which is always beyond our reach. Ironically, and graciously, it is in our acknowledgment of our failure to live up to the law, whether it be the law of perfect sushi or perfect righteousness, that we can actually find true freedom.

Jiro's son Yoshikazu remains at Jiro's restaurant as a sous chef despite being fifty years old, because in Japan it is expected that the elder son will stay with the father and take over his position. Yoshikazu, of course, is in the unenviable position of following in a master's footsteps. One of Jiro's former apprentices notes that when Jiro does retire, even if Yoshikazu's sushi is the equal of his father's, it will be seen as inferior and that it will only be seen as equal if it is, in fact, twice as good. Again we come up against the face of the unyielding law. There is literally nothing Yoshikazu can do to fulfill the expectation that is placed on him.

In a happy postscript, it seems as though Yoshikazu may have gotten his miracle: it turns out that every time the Michelin inspectors ate at Jiro's restaurant in the first year, it was Yoshikazu who made their sushi. There is a gospel note in this "mistaken identity," if we have the eyes to see it, because when our heavenly Father makes His judgment on the quality of our righteousness, He judges us by the work of His Son. By grace, Christ's righteousness becomes our justification, and I'm now regarded not simply "just-as-if-I'd" never sinned, but "just-as-if-I'd" always obeyed!

Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,