Jesus' Hidey-Hole

 

[Jesus said] “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41-46 ESV).

 

One of the favorite children’s games, at least before technology reinventing “gaming,” was “Hide and Seek.” When I was in my preteens, we had our own version of it. Several of the boys in our neighborhood would gather with our trusty slingshots and pockets full of chinaberries, divide up into teams, and play “war.” We could go just about anywhere within the neighborhood in those days. So the hiding places were almost unlimited. My favorite spot was in the midlevel branches of a stand of mulberry trees. The leaves were thick enough to provide cover and the berries were always a sweet treat while I waited to ambush the other team. We played it for hours. However, I discovered that my hidey-hole was too predictable after a while. The other players discovered that predictable pattern and used their knowledge to find me before I could get them. It was a painful lesson, but I soon learned that waiting for them to come to me, especially when they knew where I was, simply didn’t work. I needed to find them.

 

That memory reminded me of our reading today. Much of our time is spent looking for Jesus. Sometimes we look for him in our daily devotional reading, prayers and meditation. There are those days, however, when our prayers are weak, the reading is confusing and we doze off during our meditation. We look for Jesus in worship services, but occasionally the musicians pick a new song and the sermon is long and boring. Thankfully Jesus has given us a hint about where we can always find him. His “hidey-hole” is very predictable; and, it’s in plain sight, if we are merely looking.

 

Jesus is with the hungry and thirsty. He is with the sick and the poor. We can find Jesus among the oppressed, the marginalized, the neglected and the forgotten. Jesus isn’t hard to find, but sometimes we can only find him in places we don’t want to go. It may be necessary for us to scrape up the courage, but this is the best way we can get ready for His coming again!