I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the foremost. But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.

This morning, instead of heading into the office as I usually do, I went into Escanaba to the Delta County Jail. There, with the aid of a telephone, I spoke with a woman from my congregation sentenced last week to eight months in jail. She was convicted of embezzlement, and now her life has crashed around her. The sentence was more than she expected, and it has hit her hard!

During our conversation, I looked at this woman through the glass. There before me was a baptized child of God, a precious creation of a loving Father. In her eyes I saw fear, despair, and a weariness from a long weekend of realizing that her foreseeable future is not in her hands at all. I marveled at how my own stress and strain, which drags me down, seemed rather insignificant next to hers.

Yet I also saw something else in her eyes. I saw myself. No, I'm not embezzling. I'm not aware of anything I have done to break the law. (Well, maybe I did do 28 in a 25 mph zone!) Still, we share something - we are both fallen from grace. In different ways perhaps, but we share our failure as human beings to live as God has called us to live.

Paul says that he was the foremost of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). He says that Jesus came to save him, and if Jesus could save even him, there's hope for the rest of us too. For Paul proclaims that if he received mercy, what a witness and example that makes for the rest of us (v.16)!

For the woman in the jail - for me - for you - there is the witness! The witness that Jesus comes into the midst of our broken-ness and despair, bringing new hope. That, in fact, is the whole point of Jesus - he came precisely to save sinners.

And that is the source of my hope. Recently I've had some challenges in the parish, challenges that rattled me a bit. In the midst of some difficult days a college student with whom I've had an e-mail correspondence contacted me. Her parents told her things had been challenging. She reminded me of what I had done for her over the years, but then she also said, "Remember, Jesus is by your side."

Yep, there he is - he is there because he came to save sinners. Sinners like me, the woman in the jail, and you. I know that because I've seen Jesus at work. Paul is a witness - and so are many others in my lifetime. Witness to a Jesus who grasps hold of us in the midst of our sinfulness and lifts us up to new life.

Paul is indeed right - "The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance!"

Thanks be to God!