Acts 9: 36-43
John 10: 22-30
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment