Jesus, Compassion And JusticeSample

Recognizing Jesus

As people engaged in mission, ministry or outreach of any type, we can easily slip into thinking that we bring Jesus to people. That Jesus is with US and not with THEM.

After all, didn’t he say in Matthew 28, “Go into all the world and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything

I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

So, if Jesus is with us, surely he is not with them, right? Don’t we have a monopoly on Jesus?

Not so fast.

In Matthew 25, Jesus so strongly identifies himself with the poor that he is able to say, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Jesus is with THEM. Jesus is with the poor, the outcast, the people at the bottom of the heap.

My friend, Dave Andrews, points out that we don’t have to choose. Jesus is both with us AND with them. We don’t have a monopoly on Jesus.

So how do we know when we are seeing Jesus at work?

Whenever we see the fruit of His Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

One day a homeless women rushed up to me as I pushed Micah in her stroller, “These are for your daughter,” she grinned and thrust a pair of slightly used sandals into my hands.

“Sank yoooou,” my two year old smiled up at her.

My kids are growing up seeing that even people at the bottom of the heap also have something beautiful to offer in God’s kingdom.

Obviously, the Spirit of God was at work in her life, whether she recognizes it or not.

Jesus brought our attention time and time again to the poor who gave so much. He went out of his way to make certain that we would take notice of the widow and her two mites, the prostituted woman with her bottle of perfume and the little boy with his fish sandwiches.

These poor folks are stars in the gospels, examples of people of faith and generosity. Living among them, we have plenty of opportunity to teach our kids those same lessons, rather than reinforce the idea that we, the rich, have everything together.

As you move through the day today, ask God to open your eyes to the ways he is already at work in the lives of those around you.