Over many decades, the little magazine Reader’s Digest has been a reliable source of humor drawn from everyday life. In one issue several years ago a nurse wrote in to tell about what was then a new piece of equipment. The nurse worked in a gynecologist’s office and they were beginning to use a battery-operated device called a mini-dop on expectant mothers to listen to the heartbeat of their babies. The problem with these early devices was that sometimes they picked up interference from the radio or television set in the waiting room. What one doctor discovered quite to his dismay was that these devices could also pickup CB radio signals.
Imagine his surprise when one day he had the device to the abdomen of one of his patients when a voice came through as clear as day. The voice asked, “How are things out there?” Life is full of surprises.
Another Reader’s Digest classic concerns the true story of a man who was on his way to a funeral in a rented, chauffeur-driven car. The man leaned forward and tapped the driver of the limousine on the shoulder to ask him a question. The driver jumped. The man apologized to the driver for startling him.
“That’s all right, sir,” the driver replied. “It’s just that I usually drive the hearse.”
Yes, life is full of surprises.
The late, great comedian Gracie Allen once received a small live alligator as a gift from one of her adoring fans.
Gracie didn’t know what to do with the alligator so she put it in her bathtub. Then she left for an appointment. When she returned home she found this note from her maid:
“Dear Miss Allen. Sorry. But I had to quit. I don’t work in houses where there is an alligator. I’d a told you this when I was hired, but I never thought it would come up.” (1)
Life is full of surprises. Some of these surprises are unnerving like finding an alligator in a bathtub. But some of these surprises can be wonderful.
Jesus tells us that there will come a time when the saints of God will be surprised. And it will be wonderful. It will be at the final judgment. On that momentous day, says Jesus, the King of all creation will come to His saints and here is what He will say something they were not expecting:
“Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
The saints will be surprised, says Jesus. They will ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”
And here is how the King of all creation will answer: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
What a powerful, powerful piece of scripture. Surprise! The saints were feeding Jesus, and they didn’t know it. Surprise! The saints were clothing Jesus and they didn’t know it. Surprise! The saints thought they were visiting some sick indigent, of no importance, and they were visiting Jesus, and they didn’t even know it. “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Surprise!
It’s like a charming Christmas legend that comes out of medieval times. According to the legend, on Christmas Eve the Christ Child wanders throughout the world looking for places where he will be welcomed. Those who love him those who hope he will visit their homes demonstrate this by placing lighted candles in the window to invite him in. No one knows what he will look like when he comes. He might be a beggar. He might be blind. He might come as a poor and lonely child. So devout Christians welcome into their homes everyone who knocks on their door on Christmas Day. To turn anyone away may mean rejecting the Christ Child. (2)
There are several lessons in this familiar text from Matthew’s Gospel. The first is that we need to be careful how we treat other people, particularly those in need. Be careful how you deal with others, for they may be Jesus in disguise.
Dr. Kenneth Carter tells about a member of his congregation. This man is involved in a local homeless ministry. He says that his motivation for helping the homeless comes from his relationship with his brother. His brother, who lives in the Pacific Northwest, suffers from a psychological illness which sometimes leads him to paranoid delusions. These delusions have caused him to become one of the homeless. He travels from one homeless shelter to another. His brother explains that when he serves the homeless men in that ministry, he imagines that one of them is his brother. (3)
That’s how we need to view those in need, as our brothers and sisters in Christ. Saints of God care about other people. This is not out of fear of divine punishment. Rather it is because the Spirit of Jesus lives in our heart. We see others through his eyes and that makes all the difference.
Some of you are familiar with Jim Wallis. Wallis is often featured on TV news talk shows as a spokesman for the Christian community. Wallis tells about the ministry of the Sojourners Neighborhood Center in Washington, D.C., his hometown. This center stands just one‑and‑a‑half miles from the White House. On a given day three hundred families stand in line outside the center to receive a bag of groceries which is critical to getting them through the week.
Just before the doors are opened and all the people come in, all those who help prepare the food join hands and say a prayer. The prayer is often offered by Mary Glover, a sixty‑year‑old black woman who knows what it means to be poor and knows how to pray. She prays like someone who knows to whom she is talking. She has been carrying on a conversation with her Lord for many, many years. She first thanks God for another day, “Another day to serve you, Lord,” she says. And then Mary Glover may pray something like this, “Lord, we know that you’ll be coming through this line today so, Lord, help us to treat you well.” (4)
This is the first lesson from our text. Be careful how you treat anyone you meet. They may be Jesus in disguise. But there is something else that is important to note.
Saints of God have a heart for those at the bottom of society. This has always been so. We care about those less fortunate than ourselves.
One of the most influential people of the last century was a man named Albert Schweitzer. Most of us know his story. Our younger members may not.
Schweitzer was one of the most brilliant students in Germany. He was outstanding in philosophy. He was one of the greatest of all organists, and in particular played Bach as no one else could play him. But at the back of his mind there was a feeling that would not be stilled. He once said that as far back as he could remember, the thought of all the misery in the world had deeply troubled him. He came to believe that he did not have the moral right to take his happy youth, his good health and his ability to work as a matter of course. He believed that we must all take our share of the misery which weighs so heavily upon the world.
So Albert Schweitzer decided to give everything up and to study night and day to be a doctor. He went as a missionary to Lambarene in Africa where he established a hospital. One day a poor African man who was in much pain was brought to his hospital. “Pain is a more terrible lord of mankind than even death himself,” Schweitzer once said. Schweitzer laid his hand upon the man’s head and said: “Don’t be afraid. In an hour’s time you will be put to sleep and you will feel no more pain when you wake up.” When the operation was over, the man discovered Schweitzer waiting there beside the bed. The man looked around, and suddenly said again and again and again: “I have no more pain! I have no more pain!” Schweitzer wrote, “His hand feels for mine and will not let it go.” (5)
This was all the payment that Albert Schweitzer needed. Schweitzer had a tender heart for the suffering of the world. He saw Christ everywhere, in everyone. He gave his life to relieve the suffering of others. Saints of God have a heart for those at the bottom of society. Christ didn’t come for the well, but for the sick. That’s our calling too.
Christ may not be calling us to devote our lives in full-time service to the hurting like Schweitzer, but he does call us to do something. Whether it is visiting a nursing home, or helping in a soup kitchen, or simply taking an interest in a needy family of your acquaintance, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to be serving those less fortunate than ourselves. This is something we do not for them, but for ourselves. It is easy for us to insulate ourselves from those in need. Then we grow callous to their need. Even more deadly, we begin to imagine that we somehow deserve our good fortune, and our hearts grow cold and hard. We forget our purpose for being here and we become miserably self-indulgent. Besides, if we don’t ever spend our time serving those in need, we will probably never encounter Christ in human flesh.
Many, many years ago a man moved into a small town. His little house was near the railroad tracks. Every morning he noticed an elderly lady walking along the tracks picking up something and putting it into a bag. The man got curious. He went to a small grocery store nearby and asked the owner about this lady. “Oh, that’s the widow Jacobs,” said the grocer. “Every day she comes half way across town to pick up the coal that is spilled on the tracks when the early morning train runs through town.”
“But there hasn’t been a steam locomotive using coal on these tracks for years,” replied the new resident.
“That’s right,” said the store owner. “When the steam train stopped running, old Mr. Simpson who runs the hardware store was concerned that the Widow Jacobs would no longer have coal to heat and cook with. He knew she was too proud to take charity, so he decided to get up early every morning, take a bag of coal and drop it along the tracks. The Widow Jacobs still thinks the steam train runs by here every morning. I think Old Mr. Simpson has been doing that for about 5 years now.” (6)
A few lumps of coal dropped along a railroad track each day. It’s not much to do, but it’s something. I believe God calls each of us to do something to make life better for someone else. That’s what this text is saying to us, isn’t it? “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink . . .” It doesn’t say that you solved the problem of world hunger. It doesn’t say that you found a way to provide clean drinking water for entire nations. If God is calling you in these directions, this is great. But Christ isn’t calling most of us to change the direction of world affairs. But he is calling us to do something for somebody. “I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” It’s not much, but you can make a difference in someone’s life.
And when you do that, something quite extraordinary happens people begin seeing Christ in you.
Think about it! When you serve those less fortunate, you are doing it unto Christ. But when you are helping others, they see Christ in you.
Pastor and popular writer Barbara Brown Taylor tells an insightful story that comes from the Jewish community.
It is a tradition among Jews who celebrate Passover of saving a seat at their Seder feast for Elijah, the prophet who is supposed to bring the news that the Messiah has finally come. At a specified moment in the service, the door is flung open for Elijah to enter and claim his seat. Everyone present falls silent with anticipation. For thousands of years pious Jews have opened that door, and for thousands of years nothing at all has happened at least nothing that the eye can see.
One Hasidic story tells of a pious Jew who asked his rabbi, “For about forty years I have opened the door for Elijah every Seder night, waiting for him to come, but he never does. What is the reason?”
The rabbi answered, “In your neighborhood there lives a very poor family with many children. Call on the man and propose to him that you and your family celebrate the next Passover at his house, and for this purpose provide him and his whole family with everything necessary for the eight days of Passover. Then on the Seder night Elijah will certainly come.”
The man did as the rabbi told him, but after Passover he came back and claimed that again he had waited in vain to see Elijah. The rabbi answered, “I know very well that Elijah came on the Seder night to the house of your poor neighbor. But of course you could not see him.” And the rabbi held a mirror before the face of the man and said, “Look, this was Elijah’s face that night.” (7)
The rabbi was very wise, and we should heed his message. Followers of Christ have a heart for those in need. We see Christ in the poor and in the suffering of the world. But when we enter into their need and try to serve them, something extraordinary happens. They also see Christ in us! Surprise. “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
1. Cited by Richard J. Fairchild, http://www.rockies.net/~spirit/sermons/b‑le04sm.php.
2. Rev. Roy T. Lloyd, http://www.day1.net/index.php5?view=transcripts&tid=90.
3. http://www.day1.net/index.php5?view=transcripts&tid=524.
4. http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/medema_3410.htm.
5. William Barclay, And He Had Compassion (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1976), pp.186-187.
6. Contributed. Source unknown.
7. Mixed Blessings, (Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications, 1986), pp.86-87.