“Rejoice with Me”

Meditation on Luke 15:1-10

Sept. 15, 2013

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     "Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’

       So he told them this parable: ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

       ‘Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." (Luke 15:1-10)

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           September 11 this year, perhaps for the first time, slipped by me.  Busy with my church work, I didn’t give much thought to the anniversary of the terrorist attacks. But I will never forget the horror of that day in 2001, when I was working as a journalist in York, Pennsylvania. We watched on a dozen newsroom TV screens as the airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  Three thousand people were killed. We sensed our world had changed.  Our enemy had become an elusive group of Islamic fundamentalists. Twelve years later, our war on terror rages on.

           And then last Thursday, on Sept. 12, my Bible study at Meadows brought it all back.  We were just three weeks shy of completing a 28-week study of Acts.  Since our adult Sunday school is watching a film on Islam, I asked if my Meadows’ class also wanted to see it.

          Some seemed startled, at first, but when I talked more about my plan for the 4-week study before we begin another book of the Bible, most got on board, wanting to learn about the faith they had never even heard of when they were growing up.

           But one student was not convinced.

          “Absolutely not,” this student said.

          This person seemed concerned that I was trying to convert them to Islam—or at least persuade them to look more favorably upon this religion that is an enemy of America, this student said, and the enemy of Christians everywhere.

           My response was that as a pastor, my job is to equip and empower other Christians to take the gospel out to all the nations.  Muslims are God’s children, too.

           And Jesus calls us to reach out to the lost—one person at a time—just as He did during His ministry on earth. We reach out and touch lives not through preaching fire and brimstone on a street corner, but through growing loving relationships.  By our lives, we show nonbelievers that Christians are people of peace, who are kind and generous to strangers and to people in need.  We bear witness to the love and compassion of Christ, the author and model of our faith and the one whom we obediently and gratefully serve.

           We do everything always remembering what the Lord has done for us through His sacrifice on the cross so that we, who are sinners, will be forgiven and receive everlasting life. And we cannot have a relationship with someone if we do not try to understand and respect their religion and culture. 

            My student was not persuaded. 

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          Jesus is also trying to persuade a difficult audience in our reading today in Luke.  The Pharisees and scribes are grumbling about Jesus being too friendly with tax collectors and other “sinners.” They are complaining, “this fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them!”

          Jesus responds by sharing three parables – the lost sheep, lost coin, and prodigal son.  In the first, the shepherd leaves 99 sheep in the wilderness to pursue the one that is lost.  And when he finds it, he carries it lovingly home on his shoulders.  In the second, a women with 10 pieces of silver lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and does an exhausting search until the one she has lost is found.  The prodigal, as you know, is the story of the greedy son who demands his inheritance while his father still lives and squanders it on selfish pleasures.  He hits bottom and comes to his senses, realizing that he is starving because of his sinful ways.  He decides to go home, beg for forgiveness, and ask to be one of the hired hands.

       In all three stories, what was lost is found. All three end with heaven rejoicing when just one sinner repents.

      “Rejoice with me,” the shepherd says, “for I have found my sheep that was lost.”

      “Rejoice with me," the woman says, “for I have found the coin that I had lost.”

       After hearing Jesus’ parables, the Pharisees and scribes are not moved to compassion for the tax collectors and “sinners.”  Nor do they see themselves as sinners in need of redemption.

       They are not persuaded.

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         On 911, as the religion reporter, my beat suddenly became one of the most important beats in our city newspaper.

        My phone rang off the hook.  Callers asked, “Was this the end of the world? Is this God’s judgment on America?”  And, “Does Islam really teach people to hate and kill Christians as a kind of holy war or jihad?”

        I didn’t know.  As the religion reporter for less than a year, I had visited many churches and a synagogue.  But I had never been to a mosque, though there were 2 small ones in town. I didn’t know much about Islam and knew no Muslims personally.

        Suddenly, I needed to be an expert.  People who wore the distinctive clothing of the Muslim faith were in danger.  Not long after the destruction of the Twin Towers, hate crimes were being committed against American Muslims. All Muslims were the enemy—or so some people thought.

         On the following Friday—the day when Muslims gather around noon to pray—I attended a local mosque.  I was frightened of how they might react to me coming into their holy space. The newspaper had practically ignored Muslims in our community up until 911.  And then, when Muslim fundamentalists kill hundreds of Americans, journalists show up at their door.

           Turns out, they were more frightened of me than I of them.  They emphatically defended their faith as a religion of peace.  Those who committed such atrocities had hijacked Islam.  The terrorists were not serving Allah or engaging in jihad or holy war.  Jihad is the inner struggle or conflict that every Muslim experiences—just like when Christians struggle with temptation and are forced to make choices every day that boil down to, “Am I going to serve God?  Or am I going to seek to please myself?”

          Those brave enough to talk to me were very kind.  One woman, in particular, reached out to me, saw that I wanted to learn and that I really cared what happened to them. I was concerned about every word I wrote. I wanted to be fair and accurate. I did not wish to hurt anyone.

            From that first visit to the mosque, a friendship developed between the one Muslim woman and me. She invited me to her home for dinner, and  shared her search for God and how she found him, finally, through the Muslim faith.  We talked about our families and our concern for our children.  Through our relationship, I came to understand that she and I are not so different. We truly are all of God’s children. And I thought, “There for the grace of God go I.”  I could have been a Muslim, if Christ’s Spirit had not opened my heart and mind to the truth. 

          Friends, we cannot take any credit for our faith.  It is only by grace we are saved. Our faith is a gift from our merciful God.

          All that I am today and all I will ever be are because of the Lord.  John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that all who believe on him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

          And I hope that you will join us in our study of Islam.  And that the Spirit will open your hearts to love all of God’s children.

         May you be empowered to share your faith with all the nations through loving words and acts of compassion.

         I hope you will be persuaded!

Let us pray.

       Holy One, we thank you for our faith in Jesus, who was sacrificed so that we may be forgiven, receive everlasting life, and also live new lives in Christ today.  Help us to seek to obey Your loving commands every day.  Forgive us for not loving all of the world, as you do and call us to do.  Forgive us for being reluctant to share our faith and sometimes being like the Pharisees and scribes.  Move us to gratitude, Lord, for what you have done, as we are all sinners in need of redemption.  Change our hearts and minds so we are stirred to boldly reach out to the lost—one person at a time. Give us passion to build your kingdom and to rejoice with You and all heaven when just one sinner repents.  In Christ we pray.  Amen.