Today I sat with Jesus. He didn't look anything like the pictures. You know pasty white with a solemn look on his face. No, he didn't look like that at all. I found him at a small bus stop in Koboko, Uganda. I had seen him and interacted with him a month before on our trip into South Sudan, and now a month later we were back together, face to face.
I guess the verse holds true in which Jesus said the son of man has no place to lay his head. Apparently he had been sleeping on the cold cement steps since the last time our eyes met. And again in Isaiah when it says he was despised and rejected, by the way the others were treating him this was definitely the case. He seemed to the owners of the stop to just be a nuisance, another homeless beggar. To me I saw much more behind the the young boy in the dirty white cut off. To me I saw Jesus.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘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.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘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?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:34-40
Sitting on the bench out in front of the bus stop I began to search through my bag for a gift to give to my King. On my lap I held about $2,000 worth of electronics and other things that I didn't really need. The boy in front of me motioned with his hands that he was hungry. I handed him a few small rolls and some peanut butter and then settled back into my spot on the bench and the book in my hands.
My thoughts began to wander. “If I really believe that what I do unto this man is what I do unto the Lord, is that really all I have to offer him?” I noticed his sleeveless shirt, the same one he had been wearing that cold morning that we met a month ago. I stepped away from the bench I was on and sat down on the cold stair. There were people hurrying by not paying much attention just trying to find their place in line for the bus. I wasn't so concerned with time anymore, I was with the king. I slipped off my fleece and placed it in his hand. As the zipper came to rest around his neck a joy settled over my heart. This is true life I though to myself.
Today I sat with Jesus. I don't write this to commend myself, or to try to appear like the perfect christian because Im not. I write this because the king is unclothed, hungry, depressed, confused, and waiting to be loved by his people. You see what we do unto the least of these we do unto Him. I believe in a way we are all the least of these, and everyday you and I can sit in the presence of our God. Everyday we can minister to those in need and in doing so minister to Jesus himself. It might be the person serving you coffee through the Starbucks window, or the homeless boy on the bus stop step. Whoever crosses your path love them with the same passion you have for Jesus. Love them as if they were the Lord himself. You see because if we cant love our brother who is seen, then we cant love our God who is unseen. God’s blessings and love to all of you!
