Folded Arms or Open Hearts?

Luke 15:1-10
(shared with the people of Friendship Church, September 12, 2004)

I recently heard two true stories. Both involve altar boys at Roman Catholic congregations, in two different parts of the world, almost precisely at the same point in time.

The first altar boy was assisting the local priest in the distribution of Holy Communion one Sunday morning when he accidentally knocked over the wine and the bread, sending everything tumbling to the floor. The priest was furious, screaming at the boy, telling him that he never wanted to see him in that church again! The mortified altar boy ran away and never did darken the door of a church again.

The second altar boy was also assisting his parish priest with Holy Communion and like the first boy, spilled the bread and the wine onto the floor. The reaction of his priest was very different though. He smiled at the boy, understanding that he had had simply made a mistake. With a wink, he said, “I have the feeling, young man, that one day you will be a great priest.”

The first boy, Josip Broz, who came to be known to the world as Marshall Tito, grew up to be the fierce dictator of Communist Yugoslavia, a man who murdered thousands in order to impose his will on his country.

The second boy, who grew up at about the same time as Tito, but here in America, was Fulton J. Sheen. Some of you may not know that name. But he was one of the most popular and effective preachers of the twentieth century, a Roman Catholic priest whose network TV show won several Emmy Awards. (I loved his Emmy acceptance speech when Sheen said that he had the best writers possible: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.)

What accounts for the markedly different lives lived by these two men?

One thing may be the markedly different ways in which their parish priests, at formative times in those young boys’ lives approached them.

One boy was met with the folded arms of religion and disapproval, with a cold and implacable indictment for being imperfect.

The other boy was met with the open heart of relationship with the God we know through Jesus Christ and he felt God’s love and approval in spite of his imperfections.

Our Bible lesson finds Jesus speaking. People you wouldn’t expect to show up to hear a preacher were getting front row seats just to hear what He had to say. And Jesus welcomed every one of them with an open heart.

You see, God wants everyone to hear the good news that He is head-over-heels in love with us and wants to have an eternal relationship with us. Jesus came into the world precisely for the purpose of finding all His lost children and bringing them back to the very heart of God forever. And so, when Jesus saw notorious sinners showing up to hear Him speak, He was happy about that.

But nearby was a contingent from the local Self-Righteous Church of the Folded Arms. “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them!” they said. They were horrified because in those days, few events were regarded as being more intimate than the sharing of a meal with friends or loved ones.

Typically, Jesus decides that it’s time to tell a few stories. He often did that, disarming and sneaking past the defenses and prejudices of His audiences, making certain truths more palatable to them than He would if He just hammered them over the head with a statement.

In the fifteenth chapter of Luke, where our Bible lesson for today appears, Jesus tells three stories, including the parable of the Prodigal Son. But our lesson only includes the first two stories He tells.

In the first, a shepherd charged with caring for 100 sheep sees that one of them has gone missing. So, he leaves the other 99 sheep behind while he goes out to find the one that’s lost. In fact, Jesus says, the shepherd may have done a very stupid thing: he left the 99 in the wilderness, unprotected and subject to attack or thievery. But that may also suggest just how much the shepherd valued the one sheep. Jesus says that when the shepherd found the lost sheep, he carried it over his shoulders and exulted...rejoiced...and then he threw a party!

And then, Jesus tells a story about a woman who has ten silver coins. Now, in those days, a woman received ten silver coins on her wedding day. It had the same value in her eyes as a wedding or engagement ring has for people today. The woman in Jesus’ story loses her coin. She turns the house upside down to find it. And when at last, she does find it, she also throws a party and asks all of her friends to celebrate along with her.

In both stories, what was lost was found. And after each story, Jesus says, that just as the shepherd and the woman rejoiced with their friends at a party, there is a party in heaven every time a sinner is found by God’s love and grace, every time people who had been living life on their own let themselves be wrapped up into God’s arms---every time they repent, or turn away from sin and death, and turn to Christ for forgiveness and new life.

You see, Jesus, the God-Man Who went to the cross for us, shows us beyond all doubting that God greets us not with folded arms, but with open hearts. God wants to party down with us forever!

This is hard for some good religious people to accept. Some folks want to pull out calculators and tote up their good deeds and let everybody know what great people they are. They want to put God behind a moat and a wall with barbed wire and a gate with a combination lock for which only good people like them have the combination.

A few weeks ago, my brother Marty and his wife Trina were in a fast food restaurant. My brother, as you know, is a comedian and a producer of clean comedy shows. He and Trina had just finished a show and at this restaurant struck up a conversation with a woman who didn’t appear to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, a kind of Forrest Gump-ette. From her attire, they could pretty much figure out her profession. But Marty and Trina enjoyed talking with her.

Finally, my sister-in-law asked my brother if he would mind her giving this woman a ticket to one of his company’s upcoming clean comedy shows. Marty said, of course he didn’t mind. Trina handed a ticket to the woman and said, “We would love for you to be our guest!” The woman was overwhelmed and clutched the ticket to herself.

But then, she noticed that the show was to be in a restaurant inside a church building. She said that she wasn’t really sure that she had the right kinds of clothes for a church. Marty said, “Don’t you worry about that. If you want to come to the show, I’m sure that you’ll be welcomed.” At that, this woman started walking up to other people in the fast food place, showing them the ticket, pointing to Trina and Marty, and saying, “They said that if I went to this church, I could go.”

Marty and Trina felt very good! The woman said good-bye and left. It was then that two women from the church where the performance was to take place came up to Marty and Trina and upbraided them. “How could you possibly give a free ticket to a show in our church to that woman? Don’t you know what kind of person she is?”

I know what kind of person she was: a lost sinner who needed to be found by Jesus’ love. She was the kind of person Jesus Christ died and rose for. She was the kind of person to whom Jesus wants to give an open heart. She was someone just like me...and maybe like you, too.

I want to tell all of you something this morning, something that may seem trite and that you’ve heard it a million times before. But it’s the simple truth: God---the wonderful God we know through Jesus Christ---loves you. He wants to be with you forever. He wants you to let Him catch you in a great bear hug of acceptance and compassion and comfort and encouragement and love that never ends. His heart is open to you. No matter how lost or distant from God or goodness you may feel.

In God’s eyes, we’re like that sheep the shepherd recklessly sought or like that coin that woman so valued. All Jesus asks is that we let ourselves be found and let the celebrating begin. Pray with me...

Lord Jesus: We are lost without You. You have our permission to come and find us and help us to live with You forever. Amen