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” she thought.
Then 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. And throwing on her coat, she went scurrying
out of 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 get 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, we
understand. Thanks anyway.” The man put his arm around his wife’s
shoulders, turned and headed back into the street.
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 him – 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 still
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 driveway. “That’s odd,” she thought. “The mailman doesn’t come here 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 she 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
gave 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 min, you did it for
me.”
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