A few years ago I read a story about a group of salespersons. It went something like this:
A group of salespersons went to sales convention. They had assured their partners that they would be home for Sunday night’s dinner. After some final conversations the salesperson’s realized that they were a bit tight time-wise to catch their flights home. Rushing out of the convention center to catch a cab to the airport, they salespersons inadvertently kicked over a table on the sidewalk which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. The salespersons were in such a hurry that they did not stop and glance back at what had happened.
Except for one woman. She felt sorry for what her friends had done. She told the others to go on without her…and they did! She alone stayed behind to pick up the mess.
It so happened that the boy tending the apple stand was totally blind. He understood what had just happened. Tears were running down his cheeks as he helplessly felt around the sidewalk to pick up the spilled apples. The saleswoman knelt on the sidewalk beside him, quietly gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize the display. As she did this, she noticed that many of the apples had become bruised. She set these apples aside in a sack.
When she had finished, she pulled out some money and said to the boy, “Please take this money for these apples I put in this sack. And then she asked the boy if he would be ok. He nodded, yes, through his tears.
As the saleswoman walked away, the boy called out, “Excuse me!” The saleswoman paused and turned to look back into the boy’s blind eyes. The boy asked, “Are you Jesus?” “No,” the woman replied, “but bless you!”
I wonder, do people ever mistake you for Jesus? How do we live and interact with a world that can see Jesus’ love, life, grace, and forgiveness in ways that we cannot? Are we blind to other people’s needs? Do we live and walk and act as Jesus would? Do we embrace the love and joy of our Lord by our own words and actions as life unfolds day by day?
Every Easter we are reminded that Jesus suffered and died on our behalf. We are reminded that Jesus picks us up and makes our lives whole. We are reminded that we are loved and forgiven…that we are given hope…that we are given new life in Christ.
And we celebrate! We celebrate the Good News that in Christ we, our neighbors, and all of creation, are blessed to be blessed. Now and forever.
Christ’s peace, Pastor Steve