A striking of inspiration

So, I was on my way downtown to visit Bebe today when I passed a homeless man sitting by the side of the road. He was bedraggled, looked as though he hadn't showered in years, and from the way he was sitting I imagine he has not slept in a bed (or off the ground, for that matter) in just as long. But what struck me most was his eyes. They looked alert, they were watching each and every car as it passed by, looking at the drivers, making eye contact and SMILING? Yes, he was smiling. And waving, too! Now, normally this might make me slightly uncomfortable as I have always heard that homeless people are crazy. A generalization? You bet it is and I hate to make those but it's hard when SOCIETY says....Anyway, he was quite happy watching people, waving, and smiling. But then I noticed something else. NOBODY was waving back. In fact, nobody was even looking his way. How sad, I thought. So, when it is my turn I am going to wave and smile and make him feel good. Sure enough, the light turned green (Rosedale of course) and I got to turn left. He saw me coming, smiled and waved! I waved back and smiled at him and noticed in the rear view mirror that his eyes stayed on my car for as far as I could see. Was I the first person who waved back at him? Surely not! This got me thinking about "What Does Jesus REALLY look like?" So, I called Raymond at Church and told him I'd like to write something to share with the congregation during Danny's sermon series. And here is basically what I was thinking (I'll share it with you because I trust you) : What does Jesus REALLY look like? I sometimes think the people in the New Testament were clearly at an advantage when it came to believing in Jesus. After all, they got to witness Him performing miracles every day! But even more than that, they SAW Him. His believers actually got to SEE Him, to fellowship with Him, to travel with Him. What must that have been like? Modern day Christians like to think of Jesus as this lofty ideal, someone to aspire to be like. Oh sure, I aspire to be as Christ-like as possible, too. But upon studying the Bible, I have realized that being Christ-like does not mean what a lot of people think it means. After all, where did Jesus hang out? He hung out with SINNERS. People who did all sorts of deplorable things, people who (by today's standards) would not be fit for a person to smile or wave at. But JESUS spent time with those people. In fact, one could make the argument that Jesus might have PREFERRED those people! Maybe that is a little strong, but I can sort of see why He might have....after all, I don't like hanging out with people who are so full of themselves that they can't admit when they have made mistakes! It is apparent through some of the things that Jesus said to the Pharisees that he saw them as those kinds of people, and you don't read much where he spent a lot of time with them. So, what does Jesus look like. To a sinner? From what some people would have you believe, Jesus is the son of a vengeful, wrathful God who wants nothing more than to strike you down for doing the nasty things you are doing. But that is not what I have discovered about Jesus. I have discovered that Jesus is loving, compassionate, and genuinely wants you to know Him. He wants you to WANT to be with Him, He doesn't want you to feel FORCED against your God-given free will to follow Him. Jesus led by example, so it is my feeling that as a modern day sinner who wants to have her friends and family in Heaven (and wants to go there herself!), that I have to be Christ-like and LEAD BY EXAMPLE. Easier said than done? Not really. I am human, so unlike Jesus, I am going to make mistakes. I am going to sin. "All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God." Paul said that. Guess what, he was a sinner too. I have a feeling God doesn't like it too much when people pretend like that verse doesn't apply to them.

So, back to my man under the bridge : what if that had been Jesus? What if all He wanted today was someone to wave and smile at him? I like to think maybe it WAS Jesus, and the Bible backs me up : "whatever you have done for the least of these you have done for me." Pretty awesome thought, huh? Maybe I came face to face with my Lord today. I doubt it, but hopefully that man saw Jesus when he looked at me smiling and waving back and him.




And just as a footnote : I don't really think the early Christians were at an advantage because of witnessing miracles, after all : every day we are given is a miracle in and of itself. But what about the larger miracles : how about BABIES. If THAT isn't a miracle, I don't know what is!