Conversations with Myself: December 2011

MATTHEW 25:31-46 NLT

³¹ “But when the Son of Man^[a] comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. ³² All the nations^[b] will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. ³⁶ I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
³⁷ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? ³⁹ When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
⁴⁰ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,^[c] you were doing it to me!’

    I love this passage in Matthew's Gospel account where Jesus was talking to His disciples about the final judgment. They were confused by what He had to say about them feeding Him when He was hungry, quenching His thirst, taking Him in as a homeless stranger, naked and giving Him clothes to wear, taking care of Him when He was sick, and visiting with Him in prison, and in the second half of the passage, He helped them to understand that when they did these things for the least of these, they were in fact doing these things to Jesus Himself!
   For the last few years, we have been ministering to the 'least of these' in ways that many people will, or do not. We meet them right where they are, try to help them to see themselves as Jesus sees them, and to cast a clear reflection of Him through the way we live our lives.
    This can be tough sometimes, for we are mere humans, but we believe in living supernaturally through the power, the love, and the grace of Jesus Christ, and we believe that in Him we can do all things because He strengthens us.
   The bench that you see in this picture has been used by some of our homeless friends for several years now, and it is what we have jokingly called their 'couch' since we have known them. In fact, it was on this very same bench that we encountered them, and I can honestly say that in the time that we have known them, we have had many days, weeks, months, and even a few years of learning what Jesus looks like in His most distressing disguises.
   Recently, (yesterday) the bench was removed from its usual place, and thrown in a dumpster behind the business at which it has been since we came to know our friends, and it has caused all of us to see that area a little differently. It is no longer a place where we can sit and talk about life, our struggles, victories, and to plot goodness together, but a place without the life that it once had.
   Sadly enough, it's almost as if a friend has died, and where he rested there is just an empty space. A reminder of times gone by. However, we know that this is not an ending, but a beginning, and that this is just a means of us turning the corner of a new day that God has planned for us, and we press forward undaunted by this new development.
   After church today, we came back to our community and delivered our friends back to their respective places, and the emptiness of the bench being gone was weighing heavy on my heart, and I felt that I must do something, and as the Holy Spirit led me, I followed Him to the store where the bench had been, and went inside to explain my position to the manager on duty.
   What I had to say was well received, (as well received as it can be when compassion is lost to the machine of the corporate world) and they agreed to allow me to retrieve the bench from the dumpster behind the building where it had been discarded. This is the same dumpster that our friends dive for food, and we knew that they were sure to find the bench, and maybe even try to rescue it to take to their camp, which would most likely have caused a commotion, and drawn an unwelcome legal response.
   So, we set out to go shopping for the perfect gift for our friends, and went to get the bench out before they could find it while searching for food, and we took along our camera so we could share these photos of what we feel it may look like as we determine to 'do for the least of these.'
   I know that this may sound crazy to some, but that's OK, because the message of Jesus Christ sounded crazy to some as well, and even the things that He did were totally out of the box in so many ways, and it ultimately resulted in Him being crucified at the hands of those who opposed Him. (You should hear our friend Shane Claiborne talk about Jesus spitting in the dirt and healing a blind man!)
   I say all of this to help the reader to understand that we often overlook opportunities to show compassion, and to care about the things that others care about, which can leave a person sad, frustrated, and isolated from the Gospel message, and it's WAY past time that we do something about it, and do things in love that sometimes may seem illogical to others.
   We will forever remember the day that we climbed into a dumpster and brought out something so simple as a bench that someone had thrown away in an attempt to cause those who used it not to return, and we are so thankful that God allowed us to bring it to our home where they are welcomed, and valued, loved, and cared for, just as Jesus talks about in the passage at the beginning of this post.

TODAY WAS A SMALL VICTORY!!!

"We can do no great thing, only small things with great love." Mother Theresa of Calcutta