SCRIPTURES THIS WEEK: Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:1-12; John 12:20-33; Hebrews 5:5-10 (NRSV)
THEME THIS WEEK: We wish to see Jesus
My wife recently decided to move her boutique store to a small shop with a big window on Goshen’s Main Street. It is across the street from The Window, an agency that provides services to help meet basic needs of the elderly and anyone with limited income.
As a loving husband with a desire to help my wife fulfill her aspirations, I have spent time removing the carpet in the shop and sanding off the old tar paper on the floor. It is beautiful now, but during the whole labor of love I kept thinking of this week’s theme and wondering how I would write about “We wish to see Jesus.”
And as I thought and pulled up dirty old carpet, I constantly saw a plethora of people congregated outside of the The Window, waiting for services or passing the day, including a gentleman in Army fatigues, a woman on a bench in a tight T-shirt in a windy 33 degree day and a bearded man who was there for hours talking to himself about something important.
And it made me think of the Scripture that says, “Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.
Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me — you did it to me.’
As my mom does regularly I need to make The Window part of my walk to seeing Jesus.