SATISFIED THE HOUSE IS NOW THOROUGHLY TRASHED, the children scatter in the dark. They’ve done their worst. Now they snicker in the bushes. A shadow passes the window and the front door opens. What will the Old Man do, they wonder?

Instead of the Old Man, however, his son appears. The younger man steps onto the porch and surveys the toilet paper in the tree, the soap on the windows, and the ugly words painted on the fence. “It’s okay, Dad,” he calls back into the house. “I’ll clean it up.”

Then he peers into the night. The basket in his hands is full of candies and treats. “Don’t be afraid,” he says. “There are still treats.”

At first, no one comes. The perpetrators shrink further back into the shadows. Surely, he can’t see us in the dark, they think. But then the man says, “Lucy, I like your costume. And Josh, I see the shoe you lost when you ran through the yard; it’s under the mum plant. And Sylvia, I hope you didn’t hurt your arm too much when you collided with the bird feeder after you tossed that last toilet paper roll… Come on out, everyone, and get some candy. It’s truly all right.”

Finally, little Chuckie Benson, steps into the dim light cast from the porch. “Do you have any Snickers bars?” he asks timidly. “I like Snickers.”

The man with the basket smiles and lifts up two Snickers bars. Chuckie runs to claim them. The man laughs and good-naturedly tousles the youngster’s hair.

Chuckie shouts to the others, “Come on! There’s a lot of good stuff here. Thanks, mister.”

Sheepishly, Chuckie’s older brother and his friends make their way to the porch. “Sorry, mister,” they mumble. And each child claims a treat from the basket. They all know they don’t deserve the treats. They’ve already committed the tricks. And yet the man insists that they’re welcome to the sweets.

Tricks and treats are like guilt and grace. After we’ve done our worst, the God we’ve misunderstood and maligned surprises us and holds out forgiveness. And His Son takes care of our messes and covers our sins. He sees behind every mask and lays bare our tattered coverings, and even through the darkness and shadows of our shame, He calls to us by name.

“Come,” Jesus says. “Come and receive.” And when we come, we find it’s just as if we’d never sinned.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)   Even while we are yet sinners, He offers His Grace!

We trick, He treats. We bring our guilt, He proffers Grace! We do our worst, and He gives His best.