A friend emailed me the following story several weeks ago:
A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of Root Beer and he started his journey.
When he had gone about three blocks, he met an elderly man. The man was sitting in the park just feeding some pigeons.
The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the man looked hungry, so he offered him a Twinkie.
The man gratefully accepted it and smiled at boy. His smile was so pleasant that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer.
Again, the man smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.
As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the man, and gave him a hug. The man gave him his biggest smile ever.
When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?
"He replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? God's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"
Meanwhile, the elderly man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and he asked," Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?"
He replied, "I ate Twinkies in the park with God." However, before his son responded, he added," You know, he's much younger than I expected."
If we were to set out looking for God, I wonder if we would know where to find him? Maybe Joan Osborne asked it best, “What if God was one of us?” What if Jesus were here? Would you want to meet him? How would you treat him?
In the scripture you heard this morning, Jesus said whatever you did to the least of these, you did to me. Tony Campolo, professor at Eastern College refers to this as Jesus in disguises. Shane Claiborne, in his book Irresistible Revolution, quotes Tony, “Jesus never says to the poor, ‘Come find the church,’ but he says to those of us in the church, ‘Go into the world and find the poor, hungry, homeless, imprisoned,’ Jesus in disguises” (102)
Seeking a real Christian – someone who really lived like Christ – Shane went to India and spent time working with Mother Theresa in the House of the Dying and a leper colony. While there, he learned to see those he served as Jesus. He tells of volunteers being scolded for not putting enough gravy on rice, since the plate was being served to Jesus himself. (Irresistible Revolution, 78)
He tells of his time at the House for the dying:
As I looked into the eyes of the dying, I felt like I was meeting God. It was as if I were entering the Holy of Holies of the temple – sacred, mystical. I felt like I should take off my shoes. . . The reality that God’s Spirit dwells in each of us began to sink in. I had sung the old worship songs in youth group like “Sanctuary” but I don’t think I every realized that we really are the sanctuaries where the Spirit dwells. Our bodies are the temples of God and that’s not just a reason to eat less cholesterol. WE are the body of Christ, not in some figurative sense, but we are the flesh and blood of Jesus alive in the world through the Holy Spirit – God’s hands, feet, ears” (78-80)
Acts 17:24 reminds us that God “does not live in temples built by hands.” We are temples and the Spirit lives in us. God is one of us. He is EACH one of us. And in a very special way, as Jesus says in Matthew 25:40, in the least of these, we find Jesus in disguise. Perhaps we are just as likely to encounter Jesus over the dinner table, in the slums, in the streets, in our schools, or even in our prisons as we are in a giant auditorium or church sanctuary. (323)
Claudia Mair Burney illustrates this in a meditation published in Will and Lisa Samson's book Justice in the Burbs
Jesus lives next door. He's an eight year old girl and her three year old brother. The Son of Man looks like those starving Ethiopian children. He only gets breakfast and lunch at school, when he makes it. His mama is a crack whore. Nobody knows where his daddy is. I heard his mama lets her “Johns” do things to him.
Poor King of Kings.
Jesus is two houses down and has six children. Now he's pregnant with the seventh. I don't know if he hasn't figured out what birth control is, or what, but how does he expect his husband to feed all those babies on that salary? And you know with all those kids the Lord of Lord's can't work. That means hard working taxpayers' money has to go for Christ's food stamps!
He needs to get fixed!
The Lord is a crazy man – paranoid schizophrenic. If he doesn't take his medication, he walks up and down the street cussing and spitting on everybody he passes. He's homeless. Nobody knows where his family is – if he's got one. Digs out of the trash can for food. Somebody ought to get him off the street.
Jesus is nothing but a nuisance.
I'm starting to see the Son of God everywhere I go. He's always crying or begging or looking pitiful. Why doesn't he pull himself up by his bootstraps? This is America! Makes me mad. He's ruining our neighborhood.
Somebody ought to do something about him.
Somebody.
Have you seen Jesus? What can we do? How do we go about doing something about this Jesus? The Jesus that is in the least of these. Maybe the Beatles answered that question best: “All you need is love.” Mother Theresa is quoted as saying, “We can do no great things, just small things with great love. It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it.” See Jesus in everyone you meet and love them.
The scripture we read this morning says in the kingdom of God, we will be separated based on how we cared for the least among us – how we treated Jesus in these disguises. Shane Claiborne says that he is just not convinced that Jesus is going to say, ‘When I was hungry, you gave a check to the United Way and they fed me,’ or ‘When I was naked you donated clothes to the Salvation Army and they clothed me.’” Don't hear me saying these organizations aren’t good or that you should not donate to them. I think they are very beneficial to our society, but as Shane states “Jesus is not seeking distant acts of charity. He seeks concrete acts of love: ‘you fed me…you visited me in prison…you welcomed me into your home…you clothed me.’” (158) It's about love. When you love others, you begin to become more and more like Jesus.
Shane says:
Over and over, the dying and the lepers would whisper the mystical word namaste (nuh muh stey) in my ear. . . They explained to me that namaste means “I honor the Holy One who lives in you.” I knew I could see God in their eyes. Was it possible that I was becoming a Christian, that in my eyes they could catch a glimpse of the image of my Lover?
Shane went to India in search of a true Christian – someone who lived like Christ. He found that not only in Mother Theresa and those who served with her. He also learned to see Jesus in those they served. By serving those in need, he found he was becoming more like Jesus himself. Todd Agnew expresses the same desire in his song “My Jesus”
Which Jesus do you follow?
Which Jesus do you serve?
If Ephesians says to imitate Christ
Then why do you look so much like the world?
Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant
So which one do you want to be?
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness
Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand
Cause my Jesus bled and died for my sins
He spent His time with thieves and sluts and liars
He loved the poor and accosted the rich
So which one do you want to be?
Who is this that you follow
This picture of the American dream
If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side or fall down and worship at His holy feet
Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion
Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins
But the Word says He was battered and scarred
Or did you miss that part
Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him
Cause my Jesus bled and died
He spent His time with thieves and the least of these
He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable
So which one do you want to be?
Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church
The blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet
But He reaches for the hurting and despises the proud
I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd
And I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud
I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
Not a posterchild for American prosperity, but like my Jesus
You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity
I want to be like my Jesus but I'm not sure what that means to be like You Jesus
Cause You said to live like You, love like You but then You died for me
Can I be like You Jesus?
I want to be like you Jesus!
I want to be like my Jesus!
Can we be like Jesus? I think we can. How do we become like Jesus? By seeing and serving the Jesus in disguise that is in everyone we meet – especially the least of these: the poor, sick, homeless, imprisoned; by seeing and serving the Jesus in disguise, we can become more like our Jesus.
Asbury seminary sends a daily reader to students each semester. This semester's reader focuses on the Kingdom of Heaven. Included in the reader are suggested application ideas: ways to love Jesus in the least of these. The suggestions range from easy to very radical, difficult things to do. They are suggestions of ways to love your neighbor as yourself – ways to serve the Jesus disguised in the least of these. Not all are possible for everyone, but the may spark ideas of things you can do for the least of these in our community. These are a few that have been listed up to this point in the semester.
Fast one meal each week until Christmas for the two billion people who live on less than a dollar a day.
Contact your local crisis pregnancy center and invite a pregnant woman to live with your family.
Ask your pastor if someone on your church's sick list would like a visit.
Join an open Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and befriend someone there.
Adopt a child.
Mow your neighbor's grass.
Volunteer to tutor a child at your local elementary school – try to get to know their family.
Grow your own tomatoes – and share them.
Ask a small group in your community to meet regularly for intercessory prayer.
Build a wheelchair ramp for someone who is homebound.
Read the newspaper to someone at your local nursing home.
Plant a tree.
Look up the closest registered sex offender in your neighborhood and try to befriend them.
When you pay your water bill, pay your neighbor's too.
Give your winter coat away to someone who is colder than you and go to a thrift store to get a new one.
Laugh at advertisements, especially ones that teach you that you can buy happiness.
Go to an elderly home and get a list of those who don't get any visitors. Visit them each week and tell stories, read the Bible together, or play board games.
Create a Jubilee fund in your Church congregation, matching dollar for dollar every dollar you spend internally with a dollar spent externally. If you have a building fund, create a fund to match it to give away by buying mosquito nets or wells for those dying in poverty.
Become a pen pal with someone in prison.
Wash your clothes by hand, or dry them by hanging to remember the 1.6 billion people without electricity or running water.
Begin creating a scholarship fund so that, for every one of your own children you send to college, you can give a scholarship to an at risk youth. Get to know their family and learn from each other.
Eat with someone who does not look like you. Learn from them.
What if God was one of us? Would you want to meet him? Would you invite him over for dinner and let him stay as a guest in your home? Or would you avoid eye contact? Would you cross the street or take the long road home so you didn’t have to be bothered by him? Would you share your Twinkees and Root Beer with him, or would you keep them to yourself? God is one of us. God is EACH one of us. Jesus is disguised in the people you meet each day. How do you treat him?
The final word I have for you this morning is NAMASTE (nuh muh stey): I honor the Holy One I see in you. See and honor Him as in those you encounter this week.
