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.’
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.’
For me, one of the hardest
parts about being in any big city is the homelessness that comes along with it.
Not kidding, EVERY time I see a homeless person my mind immediately goes to the
verses above. I picture Jesus saying to me when I stand before Him, “Where were
you when I was hungry? Where were you when I needed a place to stay?”. How
ashamed I would be to tell Him I was there, but I just walked by.
Last week, I passed by a man
on the ground twice before I finally worked up the nerve to go and speak to
him. Something in me (the Holy Spirit) was telling me to go back and talk to
this man. He had no legs and was sitting beneath an above ground subway stop in
Jackson Heights. For those of you unfamiliar with this area, it’s gross. This
is the birds’ favorite spot to poop everywhere. People avoided him. His legs had
no bandages on them and it wasn’t a clean cut, his legs near where they were
cut off were black and it all looked very unhealthy and unclean.
I squatted to his level and
asked him if he was hungry. He seemed surprised and told me that he was, and I
asked if he would like for me to buy him a meal. He said yes. I went and bought
him a bagel and some water. I handed it to him, and sat down on the floor next
to him. He again seemed very surprised. I asked him to tell me his story. He
said that his name is Jose and he is from Mexico. I told him I was comfortable
listening to him tell his story in Spanish. He spoke very quickly and with very
much emotion, so it was hard for me to understand, but basically- he moved to
NY 2 years ago. He got bone cancer in his legs. Couldn’t afford it, didn’t have
insurance. Doesn’t have any money left, and all his family is still in Mexico.
He lives on the street, without a house, without any money. He said a lot of
other things that I couldn’t understand.
The I heard ‘something
something something…biblia…’. Bible? Now. I VERY rarely take my bible with me
when I leave in the mornings. It is pretty heavy and I honestly do not take it
out very often while I am working during the day. But that morning, I did. I
literally told Lauren ‘If I’m ever going to need to take this with me, today is
probably the day’. I was referring to the mosque we were going to tour that
night.
I was right, I did need it, but not for the
reason I thought.
I said to Jose ‘Necesitas una
biblia? Do you need a bible?’ He said yes, and I gave him mine. He was
astonished and began looking through it. He started crying. I asked, “Can I
pray for you?’ He nodded yes. I prayed for his safety, for God to be glorified,
that he would be given a house, money, and an opportunity to see his family. As
we finished praying, his face was glimmering with tears. “You are the angel
that God has sent to me”, he said.
