JESUS
STOPS BY
Ruth looked at the envelope again. There was
no stamp or postmark, only her name and address. She read the letter one more time...
Dear Ruth,
I will be in your neighborhood Saturday
evening, and I’ll stop by for a visit.
Love Always,
Jesus
Her hands were shaking as she placed the
letter on the table. “Why would the Lord
want to visit me? I’m nobody
special. I don’t have anything at all to
offer.”
With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty
kitchen cabinets. “Oh my goodness, I really don’t have anything to
offer. I’ll have to run to the store and
buy something for dinner.”
She reached for her purse and counted its
contents. Seven dollars and forty cents
was all she had. ‘Well, at least I can
get some bread and cold cuts,’ she thought, throwing on her coat and scurrying
out the door.
When Ruth bought a loaf of French bread, a
half-pound of sliced turkey and a carton of milk, she was left with a grand
total of twelve cents to last her until Monday.
Nonetheless, she felt satisfied as she headed home, her meager offerings
tucked carefully under her arm.
“Hey lady, can you help us?” Ruth had been so absorbed in her dinner plans
that she hadn’t noticed two figures huddled in the hallway. It was a man and a woman, both dressed in
little more than rags.
“Look lady, I ain’t got no job and me and my
wife been living on the street. It’s cold
and we’re awfully hungry, and well, if you could help us lady, we’d really
appreciate it.”
Ruth looked at them both. They were dirty and unkempt but she felt that
they could some kind of work if they really wanted to. “Sir, I’d like to help you, but I’m a poor
woman myself. All I have is a few cold
cuts and some bread. I have an important
guest for dinner tonight and I was planning on serving it to Him.”
“O.K. lady, I understand. Thanks anyway.” The man put his arm around the wife’s
shoulders, turned and headed back into the alley.
As she watched them leave, Ruth felt a
familiar twinge in her heart. She cried,
“Wait!” The couple stopped and turned as
she ran down the alley after them.
“Look, you can take this food.
I’ll figure out something else to serve my guest.” She handed her grocery bag to the man.
“Thank you, lady! Thank you very much!” Shivering in the cold, the man’s wife chimed
in, “Yes, thank you!”
“You know, I’ve got another coat at home. Here, please take this one.” Ruth unbuttoned her jacket and slipped it
over the woman’s shoulders. Smiling, she
turned toward home – without her coat and with nothing at all to serve her special
guest. “Thank you, lady! Thank you very much,” they called after her.
Ruth was chilled to the bone by the time she
reached her front door, and really worried too.
The Lord was coming to visit and she didn’t have anything to offer
Him. She fumbled through her purse for
the door key. As she did so, she noticed
another envelope in her mailbox. ‘That’s
odd,’ she thought. ‘The mailman doesn’t come
twice in one day.’ She took the envelope
inside and opened it.
Dear Ruth,
It was so good to see you again. Thank you for the lovely meal and the warm
coat.
Love Always,
Jesus
The winter night was bitter cold and Ruth had
little to eat, but hardly noticed it.
Matthew 25:37-40
Then 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?
The King will reply, “I tell you the truth,
whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for
me.”
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