You Did It To Me
The Mercy Mission gives us a daily opportunity to reflect on the words Jesus says in the great parable of the final judgment in Matthew 25: “Whatever you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Whatever we do to one of those living on the streets, we do it to Jesus.
Sunday, Lindsay and I took a birthday cake out to one of our friends. It took us awhile to find him, and in the process, we encountered a number of other folks, many having rough days. We shook their hands, asked their names, handed them cups of coffee, listened to them for a moment. Then we headed to where someone said his tent was, on a street corner in the Pearl, across from a porta-potty.
When we got to his tent, he was inside, the tent flap just opened enough to see his feet, wearing black tennis shoes. We gently called out to him, and when he finally responded, we said, “It’s your birthday! Happy birthday!” He didn’t get up, just told us that he appreciates us. We left the German chocolate cake, his favorite, right outside the tent, with small plates, plastic forks, and Happy Birthday napkins. When we got into the car, we both sighed deeply, a kind of groaning for which we don’t have words. Sometimes it just hurts.
We still had time, so drove out to Industrial to see another friend, who we had been told was having a rough time. We found him sitting in the ruins of his tiny home, built and ruined by his own hands, and we gave him a hug, offered him coffee and some donuts left over from the morning Masses, and listened to him. It was hard to see the ruins of his home, and hard, too, when another person, who was part of the reason he was so upset he’d ruined it, came and sat down with him in the ruins. We left when he told us, “I’m about to do some sinful stuff—about to use drugs—and I don’t want you to have to see that.”
Some days the mission is simply hard. We get glimpses into the weight of their suffering. We suffer with them and for them. We long to see them draw closer to Jesus, so that they can receive the healing he longs to give them. We want them to take the steps to get into housing and to get off drugs. It hurts when they don’t. It hurts to suffer with them and for them.
When the days have been particularly heavy, and we are battling discouragement, it helps to remember Jesus’ words, and to go back over each encounter on the streets in thanksgiving, knowing that whatever we did for our friends, we did it for Jesus himself. “Thank you, Jesus, because today you let me bring you a birthday cake. Thank you, Jesus, because today you let me shake your hand. Thank you, Jesus, because today you let me listen to your pain. Thank you, Jesus, because today you let me stand with you in the ruins and give you a hug. Thank you, Jesus, because just for a moment today, you let me ease the burden of your cross.”
If we could go back in time and do all these things for Jesus during his earthly life, we would have. But we don’t have to go back in time. He lets us do all these things for him now, in the flesh, in our friends. And he tells us, “You did it to Me.”
~Sister Teresa