Lord of Macaroni

I was captured by the stories of Muslims who follow Christ as “insiders.” The January/February issue of Christianity Today told of Muslims who embrace Jesus yet stay within their Islamic community.

Those “insiders” number in the thousands, and Abu Jaz is one of them. Abu Jaz is not his real name, but his story has been verified. Here is how he describes his conversion to Christ.

One night the only food my wife and I had was a small portion of macaroni. My wife prepared it very nicely. Then one of her friends knocked on the door. I told myself, The macaroni is not sufficient for even the two of us, so how will it be enough for three of us? But because we have no other custom, we opened the door, and she came in to eat with us.

While we were eating, the macaroni started to multiply; it became full in the bowl. I suspected something was wrong with my eyes, so I started rubbing them. I thought maybe my wife hid some macaroni under the small table, so I checked, but there was nothing.

Afterward I lay down on the bed, and as I slept, Isa (Jesus) came to me and asked me, “Do you know who multiplied the macaroni?” I said, “I don’t know.” He said, “I am Isa al Masih. (Jesus the Messiah) If you follow me, not only the macaroni but your life will be multiplied.”

It was not because I was poor that Isa came to my home; there are many poor. It is not because he wanted to multiply my macaroni. Maybe there might be other people who can multiply macaroni, like magic. So what is the purpose? Isa al Masih came to my home with the kingdom of God.

Although at first Abu Jaz did not understand Jesus was God’s Son who died for his sin, eventually he came to believe. Today, Abu Jaz declares that when Jesus “died on the cross, he defeated death and the one who owned the power of death, Satan. And because God raised Jesus from the dead, he was appointed by God as a judge on the Day of Judgment, and the Savior from the Day of Judgment.”

That story and others like it are an encouragement to me. They testify of how God is at work, even in places we don’t expect. As Abu Jaz said, “We must remember that it is not we who are bringing God to the Muslim people. He was already here.”