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Today’s stories are about God who searches.
God is like the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine sheep to go searching for the lost one. Or like the widow who won’t stop until she finds the lost coin.
God will not stop until he finds you. What gives God joy is finding you.
That is good news for us. You are never forgotten. Even right now, God is searching for you.
But does God do all the work? Is there anything that we do?
Jesus concludes this story with a statement that left me puzzled:
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:7)
Jesus compares the lost sheep with a sinner who repents.
Repentance in this verse sounds more active than a sheep that’s lost. It seems like something that we do.
The original Greek word for repent is μετανοέω (metanoeō).
Metanaeo is not an action word. It’s what happens in your mind.
The word metanoeo means “change your mind”. To think differently.
It also means to change your mind about something. Before I wanted this, but I changed my mind and now I want this.
Change your opinion about something. To look back on something in a different way. Metanaeo is a change of mind.
One sinner who changes their mind brings more joy in heaven than ninety-nine who don’t need to.
The Pharisees and scribes didn’t need to change their minds.
They were righteous and accepted by others. Their standing in the community was good. Why change what’s working?
The tax collectors and sinners, on the other hand, needed change.
Life wasn’t working out well for them. The tax collectors were making money but they weren’t happy.
Sinners were doing unacceptable things and living in unacceptable ways that made them outcasts in their community.
They knew they needed change. Their approach to life wasn’t working. They were ready for change and new ideas.
We see that in the opening scene of today’s story.
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. (Luke 15:1)
They wanted to hear what he had to say. They were ready to listen.
The Pharisees and scribes, on the other hand, were grumbling.
And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:2)
They didn’t share God’s joy in sinners repenting.
When you don’t think you need to change your mind, that’s when problems begin.
The Pharisees and scribes were religious leaders. They thought they knew God. They didn’t think they had anything new to learn.
They did not understand God’s heart.
They didn’t see God’s desire for sinners to repent and have a new start.
Instead of the joy the shepherd had, there was judgment and exclusion.
Their view of the sinners was fixed. They were not willing to change their minds about who they could become.
When you refuse to change your mind, you remain small-minded. Your understanding remains fixed. It can’t grow.
Do you know what the biggest problem in any relationship is?
When one person won’t change their mind. When you can’t see the other person’s point of view. When you can’t see the possibility of change in them.
In this kind of relationship, there is no growth. It remains stuck.
For the upcoming YA relationship seminar, I’m reflecting on the theme of “What’s faith got to do with it?” The main point is that in Christ, we are always changing and growing.
That’s what it means to live in Christ. For a relationship to grow, you must keep growing.
The fundamental problem of human beings is their unwillingness to change their minds.
We develop our way of thinking and seeing the world to make sense of life. But as the world and circumstances change, the ideas that made sense start to break down. Some people resist change to thinking.
This unwillingness to change can become dangerous when power is in the hands of people who don’t want to change their minds. Who want to force the world to live according to their fixed ideas even when it doesn’t make sense any more.
The Jewish world was changing a lot during the time of Jesus and the apostle Paul.
They were forced to live with the reality of Gentile rulers – the Greeks and the Romans. In this changing and expanding world, Jews were asking what it meant to be the people of God.
The first followers of Jesus were proclaiming that Jesus died and rose from the dead. For Paul, this new way of thinking was a great threat to their Jewish belief system.
A messiah was supposed to be victorious over the evil Gentile powers, not succumb to a meek death. He used his power to crush this new way of thinking.
On the road to Damascus, he heard the voice of Jesus:
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4)
That question, and his mysterious encounter with Jesus, broke down his belief system and way of thinking. He had to start again. He rebuilt his thinking from the ground up.
None of this was easy. It took many years. But the result was radically new thinking for a new context.
He discovered Jesus Christ not only for Jews but also for Gentiles. He saw a new vision of coexistence rooted in Christ’s self-giving love.
There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)
His ideas shaped the Christian faith.
A changing world and changing circumstances require new thinking. You cannot force the facts of a changed context into old patterns of thinking. That is not truthful living.
The shepherd experienced great joy in finding his lost sheep.
Who is the lost sheep? To me, it is those who are stuck in their way of thinking. Those who refuse to change their mind. Those who don’t even know they need to change their mind.
They are like those whom Einstein describes as insane: those who try to do things the same way and expect a different result.
The starting point of salvation is realizing that you need to change your mind.
The story right after today’s passage is the story of the prodigal son.
He asked for his share of the inheritance even before his father died. He squandered it in reckless living.
The turning point was this:
But when he came to his senses… (Luke 15:17)
When he came to his senses, he saw things differently.
But when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” (Luke 15:17-19)
He changed his mind about how he had been living. He clearly saw his sin. He wanted to change.
How do you become aware that you need to change your mind?
Sometimes, the situation forces you. Sometimes, hearing the Word of God will ignite something within you. Sometimes, God appears in a powerful way like Jesus did to Paul.
Many times, it is a mystery. There is no explanation.
Even if you hear sermons or go to Bible study every week, your thinking can remain the same. Until somehow, mysteriously, a realization dawns that I need to change my mind.
That’s when I realized that it’s not really up to us. We don’t just decide that I want to change my thinking.
It is God who, like the shepherd, has been searching for you. God has searched and is waiting for you to come to your senses.
When you do come to your senses, this awakening feels as though you were found. The line from Amazing Grace – lost but found, blind but now I see.
God stands ready to lead us into change. It is we who are not ready.
Changing your mind is the most difficult thing. It’s not something easily done with your own power.
When you begin a new life with Christ, you begin the life of a changed mind.
St. Paul says it beautifully:
Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
God has the power to renew your mind. The original Greek word for “renewing” is anakainosis. It means renewal or renovation.
I like that word. The renovation of your mind.
The sinners and tax collectors came to hear Jesus and let their minds be renovated.
When you allow God to renovate your mind, your life will change.
You will see the world differently. You will see others differently. You will see your situation differently.
Don’t be stuck in your thinking. Let God lead you in changing your mind.
God will lead your life in wonderful new ways with new thinking.
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