On my evening run tonight I decided to go through downtown San Jose. Something was different about tonight. There were police everywhere. Police, guys in suits with earpieces, and plenty of other high tech equipment and trucks filled the streets. This was because President Obama is in town today. In fact, he was right inside one of the cities nicest hotels that I was running in front of.
Something struck me as unusual as I was running. The park across from the Fairmont hotel, where the President was staying, was empty of its usual fill of homeless people. I saw they had all moved down the street in front of a church. I imagine they were probably removed due to the fact that the world’s most powerful man, or pretty much royalty, was going to be in near proximity. I imagine homeless people probably aren’t allowed anywhere near the President.
As I kept running I kept thinking of how Jesus never shunned people. He never turned away the homeless, prostitutes, cheats, and children; all of who were considered unimportant in that time. He gladly welcomes them. In fact, there is one story in the Bible where Jesus speaks of a man that invites a bunch of guests to his party. When the guests turn down the invitation, the party host instructed his servants to go into the streets and alleys and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. Then the invitation was extended for whoever would want to come.
I am glad Jesus is approachable. He doesn’t need guys with guns and high tech vehicles to protect him, or keep him from ordinary people. I like that you don’t need a $1,000 ticket to eat dinner with him. I like that he is not afraid of rubbing shoulders with homeless people. In fact I think if Jesus was in town today, he would have been outside with those homeless people, rather than spending the evening with the elite that had purchased tickets to dine with him.
