I heard this story many years ago from the Rev. Dr. Leonard Sweet. It came to him from Janet
Huffing. She heard it from the man involved. I hope that it is true.
Several years ago, a group of salesmen from Milwaukee went to a regional sales convention in
Chicago. They had promised to be home in time for the family holiday festivities. But one thing led to another and the
meeting ran overtime, so the men had to race to the train station, tickets in hand. As they hurried through the terminal,
one man (the man telling the story) inadvertently knocked into a table supporting a basket of apples, sending it sprawling.
Without stopping, they all reached the train and boarded it with a sigh of relief. All but one. He paused, reached
down into his heart, and felt a lump of compassion for the boy whose apple stand had been overturned. He waved
goodbye to his companions and returned to the terminal. He was glad he did. The 10-year-old boy was blind.
The salesman gathered up the apples and noticed that several of them were bruised. He reached into his wallet and
said to the boy, “Here, please take this (large $ bill) for the damage we did. I hope it didn’t spoil your day.” As he
started to walk away, the bewildered boy called after him, “Hey mister! Are you Jesus?”
The man stopped in his tracks and wondered…
The child Jesus was born into this world over 2000 years ago. The man Jesus walked the earth, lived and died and rose
from the dead a long time ago.
But this Christmas, and every Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus as a current event. This is because Jesus is not
a long-ago person. He lives today in our hearts and in our every kind deed. And Jesus is continually being born into the
hearts and lives of individual human beings. Just as the birth of Jesus transformed a stable into a holy place, so his coming
into a person’s heart and life transforms that place. An ordinary deed of kindness becomes a holy act. The blind boy’s heart
perceived what his eyes could not - he knew the one who had initiated the act.
“Are you Jesus?”
Let Jesus be born in your heart, this Christmas and throughout the year. Let him work
through your hands, and feet, and mouth. Open your heart to see him in yourself and others.
May you have a blessed Advent and Christmas season.
In Christ’s love,
Pastor Matt Stengel.
