The heart of a writer is a vulnerable thing. It becomes tied to a page then passed around for people to do with it as they please. Some fill the heart with praises, tears of joy and understanding, wonder and appreciation, while others are free to criticize and reject the heart of someone they may never have to face. When you are face to face with someone everything becomes more real – more personal. It becomes much harder to ignore or reject someone when they are standing right in front of you… but it is still possible.
The same is true for the poverty and disease stricken, genocide victims, homeless, orphaned, the lost and the forgotten of this world. They are too often words on a page without a face. We talk about them with sympathy or even judge them because of how they let their lives end up, but they always remain a “them” or a “they” we talk about or hear about on the evening news. It is too easy to forget that every homeless person has a story they would love for someone to care enough to stop and listen to, and every orphan had parents that have somehow disappeared from their life. Every story and statistic we hear has a face and a heart that is suffering quietly in the background, hidden behind the horror of their circumstance that makes us feel, but somehow never moves us to act.
I’ve seen the face of poverty, looked into the eyes of an orphan, held the hand of a homeless man and sat with someone dying of a disease. My heart has been crushed and made more raw and real but, I’ve also walked past the beggar on the street pretending not to see them and I’ve told the orphan that I’m busy and will play later, but later never comes. I’ve looked at poverty and wondered how they could choose to live that way and I’ve seen people starving in their villages and the same night gone back to dinner and complained about eating the same thing for three meals in a row.
I am often sickened by the selfishness that still remains in me, but I guess what I’m realizing is that it is all a choice. Whether we are out traveling the world on a mission trip or at home walking down the street, we all have a choice. We can feel bad for someone’s circumstances and choose to do nothing no matter where we are or who’s face we’re standing before. But, what if it were Jesus we were walking past on the street? What if it was Jesus looking back at us when we make an excuse not to help?
Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 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; naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited 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? And when did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison and come to You?” The King will answer them and say to them,
“Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me”. Matthew 25:34-40
Jesus wants us to be Him; His love and His light walking around the Earth. He painted it so clearly for the disciples, He’s saying, it is Me you are feeding and clothing out there! Why do we feel that those words no longer apply to us? The distance that has made us so comfortable in our complacency seems too easy to keep. When Jesus walked around He gave pain a face. While the Pharisees were busy making their lives appear perfect on the outside, Jesus was out in the midst of the poor, forgotten and imperfect; loving on them, looking them in the face and giving them worth and hope.
Lord, I don’t want to be another person who stands at a distance with words of criticism or even compassion. I want to find the faces to the stories and feel the pain of their reality. I want to pass along the worth and hope that has been given to me through Christ. Lord, may I see the face of Jesus in everyone I meet today.
