What a Beautiful Thought

BY RYAN MIFFLIN

One of the biggest blessings I received on the November 14th Homeless Outreach was a reunion with Dewayne. Dewayne is an incredibly happy, youthful middle aged man who asked me a great deal of Biblical questions on Halloween. He asked deep questions about living as a Christian and shining Jesus.

This time when I met him, he immediately asked me if Jesus was hated and eventually killed for things like performing miracles, how come no one came after the people who received the miracles. He asked specifically about Lazarus. If that was one of the reasons people were nervous about Jesus, why didn’t they come after Lazarus, too?

I told him that in many cases people who witnessed miracles and maybe even those who received them WERE persecuted, stoned, and even killed. They were the martyrs.

He also asked why Jesus put so much emphasis on how hard it was for rich people to get to Heaven. We talked about the “easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to get into heaven” passage and the rich young ruler whom Jesus instructed to sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor.

I told Dewayne that it could be tough, if you think you have all of your needs met, to feel the need to lean on God and rely on Him. This was a very odd conversation, because my two-year-old daughter was on the trip. She was running and I had to run after her every so often.

So, I’d talk to Dewayne a bit…then chase Kate.

“Being rich isn’t bad in and of itself.”
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“When you have a lot, many times you want more”
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“If you think you have what you need, what would you need God for”
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“That’s part of what’s so beautiful about the entire God/Jesus story…”
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“It’s all upside down…”
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“Jesus was born to a poor family…who weren’t married yet…”
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“…who came from a town no one thought highly of…to a poor carpenter…”
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“The angels shared the good news with the shepherds first”
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“If we wrote the story…we’d have the angels go to the media or well-known celebrities, so people would believe it…”
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“People hated shepherds…they were poor and dirty…they were thought to have questionable character and weren’t allowed to give testimony in court…”
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“And these are the people God chose first…then Jesus hung out with all kinds of ‘questionable’ characters…”

I was talking in circles and in bits and pieces. It was out of order and disjointed. I didn’t think it made any sense. I felt horrible, because I really wanted to talk to Dewayne about this. But I also didn’t want my kid to get hit by a car! :-)

One of the final times I returned to our conversation, you could almost literally see a light bulb go off over Dewayne’s head. His eyes got really big and he said one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard:

“So…wait…it’s like…If Jesus were to come back now…he’d maybe COME TO US because WE are the ones who need to hear good news! We need that! We’d believe Him!”

Can you picture for a moment how incredible that realization must have been? I saw it happen to him, so I have a pretty good idea. But I don’t know what it felt like inside his heart.

Dewayne is a recovering alcoholic and/or drug addict. He’s poor. He’s homeless.

And on Saturday, November 14th, he realized that if Jesus Christ walked the earth today, he would make his presence known to someone like Dewayne.

Because the rest of the world would probably not believe Him and the rest of the world would think they don’t need Him and the rest of the world would just keep doing it’s thing.

But folks like Dewayne – broken, poor, hungry, cold, homeless, down and out folks of “questionable character” – need Him. And they would believe Him.

What a beautiful thought.

And then a tougher-to-swallow thought comes next…

Aren’t WE – me and you – the “rest of the world”?

Ever wonder how you’d respond if some (as Kris Kristofferson said) “riddle-speakin’ prophet” showed up, claiming to be the true Son of God?

I’m pretty sure how Dewayne would respond. And Bill. And Antoine. And Jimmy. And Charles. And Bubbles. And Memphis. And Colleen. And Marie.

I’m not so sure about me, though.