SpOL

SpOL-078 CHRIST IS HERE

One of my favorite stories is by the celebrated Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy. He wrote about a widowed shoemaker named Martin who dreamed one night that Christ would visit his shop on the following day. Martin was deeply touched and wanted to be sure that he would not be like the Pharisee who failed to welcome Jesus at the door. So he rose before daylight, made soup, and began to watch the street carefully while he did his work. He wanted to be ready when Christ arrived.

Shortly after sunrise he saw a retired soldier shoveling snow. When the old veteran set down his shovel to rest and try to warm himself, Martin felt compassion for him and invited him inside to sit by the stove and drink some hot tea. Martin told the soldier about the dream he’d had the night before, as well as about how he had found comfort in reading the Gospels after the death of his little boy. After several cups of tea and listening to several stories about Jesus’ kindness to people of even the lowest stations in life, the old man left, thanking Martin for feeding both his body and his soul.

Later in the morning a poorly dressed woman, a soldier’s wife, stopped in front of the shop to bundle her crying baby more securely. Martin went out on the steps and invited the woman to come inside so she could take care of her baby near the warmth of the stove. When he learned she’d had nothing to eat, he gave her the soup he’d prepared, along with a jacket and money for a shawl.

In the afternoon, an old peddler woman with a few remaining apples in her basket stopped across the street. She carried a heavy bag of wood shavings over her shoulder, and as she balanced the basket on a post to shift the bag to her other shoulder, a boy in a ragged cap grabbed an apple and tried to run away with it. The woman caught him and intended to thrash him and drag him to the police, but Martin ran out of his shop and offered to pay her for the apple and begged her to forgive the boy. When the woman protested, Martin reminded her of Jesus’ parable about the servant who was forgiven a great debt by his master but then went out and took his own debtor by the throat. He made the boy apologize.

“We ought to pardon all men, and especially the thoughtless,” Martin said.

“That may be so, but these young rascals are so spoilt already,” the woman said.

“Then is for us, their elders, to teach them better,” Martin replied.

The woman agreed and began to talk about her grandchildren. Then she looked at the culprit and said, “May God go with him.” When she hoisted her bag to go home, the boy darted forward and said, “Nay, let me carry it.”

Martin watched them walk down the street together then went back to work. Soon it was getting dark, so he lit the lamp, put away his tools and cleaned the shop. When he sat down to read from his New Testament, he saw figures in a dark corner of the room and heard a voice saying, “Martin, Martin, dost thou not know Me?”

“Who art thou?” Martin asked.

“It is I,” the voice whispered. “Lo, it is I.” Out from the corner stepped the old soldier. He smiled, and then was gone.

“It is I,” the voice whispered again. And from the same corner stepped the woman with her baby. They smiled and were gone.

And it is I!” whispered the voice again, and the old woman and the boy who stole the apple stepped out from the corner. They smiled, and disappeared like the others.

Martin was overjoyed. He sat down with his New Testament and found that it had opened itself. He read from the top of the page:

“For I was an hungered, and ye gave me Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me in.” And further down the page, he read: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto Me."

Indeed, what is more Christian than showing Jesus’ kindness to those around us?

Just as Jesus loved us and gave himself for us, so he draws us by the Holy Spirit into the joy and love of his life with the Father and empowers us to share his love with others.

I’m Joseph Tkach, speaking of life.