Both Sinner and Saint

Acts 9: 36-43
John 10: 22-30

I have no idea what to type here. I feel completely lost and out of words. I do not feel like one of God’s sheep today, but instead I am a total outsider with my face pressed against the glass and there is no way inside without an invitation. Unfortunately, no one sees how lost I am, and so no one thinks to say, “Come in, you’re welcome here”.

Fortunately, I know that I am one of God’s sheep, and that the feeling will eventually go away. However, what about those that have never really known what it feels like to belong? How do we know who they are and how do we make them feel welcome inside of our church? Jesus tells us that those who recognize him as the Messiah have seen his good works in God’s name and they are his sheep. However, Jesus is no longer here performing miracles and telling us awesome parables on how we should live our life. How are the people that are outside these walls supposed to recognize Jesus as their Messiah two thousand years after he ascended into heaven?

In the Gospel of John, he makes it very clear that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. This is a powerful image because a shepherd’s flock of sheep does not know the shepherd because they were told that is their shepherd. They do not know he is their shepherd because they attended a class or an initiation ritual. How then do the sheep know that this is their shepherd? Because of the way he cares for them. Because of his actions.

Jesus tells the people that all who acknowledge him as their Messiah have seen his good works, they have seen the miracles he performs, and recognized that these are the actions of the one whose mind and heart are one with God’s. Therefore, they can see him as their Messiah. They see the shepherd and know him as shepherd partly because of the things he says, but mostly it is what he does that shows them the way.

Again, I ask you, how are the people outside these walls supposed to recognize the risen Christ and follow Him if he is in heaven?

Us. They will recognize Christ through us.  I’ve been telling you that for the last several weeks and now I need to share with you exactly what that means. HOW do we accomplish such a feat? How can we be the light that guides people into the safety of God’s arms? We can show them Jesus through things we already should be doing in our daily lives. It does not require you to perform miracles. It does not mean you need to be able to tell amazing stories in response to people’s questions. It does not mean you need to walk around the town proclaiming yourself to be a Christian, and that you are willing to heal anyone who comes to you.

No. The way people recognize Jesus Christ is in the way you treat them. Treat everyone as equals. Treat everyone with respect. Treat the criminal and the saint the same exact way because didn’t Jesus die for them both? I heard a joke once where someone said, “I treat everyone the same way. I hate them all equally.” I laughed at the unexpectedness of it, but immediately thought to myself, “We need to love everyone equally, not hate them equally.”

Disdain, disgust, dismissal are easy emotions. They require very little from us. 

Love is hard work. There are people out there that do things completely against your belief system like the two young men whom bombed the Boston Marathon this week. It’s hard to understand a leader who will threaten nuclear war against several countries just because he wants to prove he is a force to be reckoned with. It’s hard to understand a group of religious extremists who would picket funerals of soldiers and victims of bomb attacks and saying that this is God’s punishment for America’s sinfulness.

We are not ever going to understand such people. It doesn’t mean we aren’t called to love them. That’s the hardest part of Christianity for anyone to fully do. When I looked at pictures of people crying and screaming this week from the bombs in Boston, I wanted to hunt down the people that did this and shoot them myself. That was my very first reaction, I am ashamed to admit. I had to take a deep breath, and I began to pray because I knew that only God could help me through these feelings of hate and revenge.

My first reaction should have been, “How can I help these people?” followed closely by, “I need to pray for anyone who could do such a thing, and hope God helps them to see what they did was very wrong.” But it’s not easy to think that way. It’s not easy to show people the way Jesus’ mind works. Jesus is forgiveness and love without equal. We need to try to be the same way. If more of us prayed for the people who could do such things, maybe they wouldn’t do them in the first place. It won’t surprise me to find the two men that did this are psychologically disturbed because of the way people have treated them in their life.

Yes, there are people out there that just aren’t right, and no matter if they had a perfect childhood and great friends and support in their life, they would still be evil. But there are many people out there who were only looking for someone who would smile at them on a bad day. There are people out there who have been betrayed endlessly by those closest to them, and only look for one person they can trust unconditionally. There are people out there that are deeply hurt by everyone and feel abandoned by the rest of the world.

The other day there was a story about a teenager who committed suicide. He left a note that said, “If just one person will smile at me as I walk to the building and ride the elevator up, if just one will look at ME and smile, I will not kill myself because I know there is happiness in the world still. I will know there are people who care about someone other than themselves.” Obviously, not one person smiled at him because he was found dead with the note in his hand.

A simple smile can save a life. A kind word about how nice a person looks today can make their whole day. Noticing that someone hasn’t been to church or your club lately can make them feel missed and wanted. People need to feel important.

Jesus made people feel important. He made them feel loved and appreciated. Jesus gave to everyone he encountered, even the ones that were determined to destroy him. This is how we show others that they are not unwelcome in here. This is how we will share the Gospel with others. It is not just saying you are a Christian, it is not just wearing a cross; it is about how you treat others.

It is not enough that we know the scriptures and can tell people that God loves them. We need to show them that we have been transformed by the love of Jesus Christ, and we do that in how we treat everyone we come across. We should treat the criminal bombers with the same consideration that we treat the victims. It’s not easy, but both sides need prayers. Both sides need God rather desperately.

It does not mean we cannot be angry and hurt. It means that we do not let those emotions control our actions. We put our hurt and anger aside to take a moment to think about what could bring a person to such a dark place where they think that hurting others is right and justified. That person needs us to pray for them. That person needs God in his or her life just as much as we do.

Colossians 3:13 tells us, “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Today we need to pray not just for the victims of such horrific attacks, but for every person that would cause such harm to others.  

Amen.