“For this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:32). Recently, hundreds of masked police—their service weapons drawn and machine guns at the ready—raided Hamburg’s so-called “Blue Mosque.” The authorities had determined that this Shiite mosque was doubling as an outpost of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and wanted to put an end to the malign political activities conducted there—including cooperation with the Hezbollah and Hamas terrorist organizations. Our Iranian Lutheran parishioners cheered when they heard that the hated Blue Mosque had finally been shut down. They are fearful of the Iranian agents stationed there who coordinate the surveillance of immigrant Iranians who have converted to Christianity. In Bible class the other day, we studied the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. We talked about the older brother who resents that his father had forgiven the young man. From the older brother’s point of view, the kid did not deserve to be forgiven. All of the Persians could identify with the young man because they too had repented and were forgiven by Jesus Christ. When I asked them whether they might ever act like the older son, begrudging someone else Christ’s forgiveness, they loudly exclaimed, “Never!” “Wonderful,” I replied. “But what if a certain Iranian man came here and wanted to be baptized…“ “Happens all the time,” one of them interjected. “*We* repented and received Christ’s forgiveness. Of course, we would welcome him.” “Indeed,” I replied. “But what if this man said that he had once worked in the Blue Mosque, but has now repented and wants to become a Christian? Would you still rejoice that he was once lost and is now found?” They nervously exchanged glances. One Iranian lady remarked, “I get it. In theory, it’s easy to look down on the older brother in the parable, but in reality, any Christian could react the same way. May the Holy Spirit protect us from such a miserly attitude. But even if we were guilty of that, if we repent, our Lord would forgive us that sinful behavior as well.” Amen. Thank you, Jesus, for your grace—even for us sinners!
The Tiews in Germany 