This week’s Peace Moment is by Lisa Stobbe.
Peace Moment
How can we recognize the Holy One? We have artists interpretations in famous paintings. We can look at people from the geographic area and notice physical characteristics that could allow us to identify a person from that part of the world. In Matthew 25 Jesus tells his disciples about the time when the Son of man will come and sit upon his throne and those who had fed him, given him a drink, clothed him and took him in; visited him when he was sick or in prison will inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. He says that the people ask the question when did we see you in these situations and do these things. The answer was when you helped someone else you helped me.
Jesus seems to be saying that we need to recognize the Holy One in each and every person we come into contact with in our daily living. We all have times when we are hungry, thirsty, need shelter or a visit. Recognizing the need in others is recognizing Jesus in them.
We need to look beyond the obvious physical characteristics to recognize Jesus.
Just before Christmas I was doing a bit of grocery shopping. There were several in the aisle and an older lady was searching the shelves with her eyes looking for something. She noticed me waiting behind her and said “I’m sorry”. I told her not to worry I was in no hurry. She found what she was looking for and put it in her cart. She then started a conversation with me. She told me about a quilt she had made for one of the checkers at the store. She had witnessed on two different occasions that the checker had gotten verbal abuse from different customers and that she had remained kind and calm throughout the ravings of the angry people. The quilt was her way of letting the gal know that she was appreciated. The color purple was a favorite of the checkers so that is what the lady used to make the quilt. She showed me a picture. What a wonderful gesture to the checker who for the past 8 months has done her job under lots of stress.
The woman continued her conversation with me talking about her childhood and pranks she had played on her brothers who were now all passed from this earth. She was looking forward to a Christmas gathering with her 10 great grandchildren. We stood in the aisle nearly 10 minutes. I was in no hurry.
I recognized the Holy One in her. She gave to the checker out of compassion, she was also one in need of a visit. It seemed to me she just needed to talk to tell someone stories, to be listened to when she spoke.
In Mark 1:21-24 the evil spirits recognize the Holy One they are afraid. The evil is afraid of the good. If we look for the good and recognize it as the presence of the Holy One in each other then the evil will be driven out.
Blessings for the New Year and look to recognize the Holy One in all encounters.