AMARANTHINE.

Be Jesus To Somebody by Bo Sanchez

I love this passage. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:12)

Good deeds, not good debates, will open people’s hearts to God. I believe it’s service, not sanctity, that will touch lives.

Don’t misunderstand me. I use the word “sanctity” the way it’s commonly understood—someone who is pious. But in my mind, “sanctity” has a more robust meaning: Someone who serves.

       I love that story when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. In Biblical times, there were four ranks of slaves. Only the lowest-ranking slave washes feet. Jesus took that role and said, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.” 

       Jesus didn’t just teach a way of life and said, “Do this.” Jesus served us, and then said, “Follow me.”

       How do you serve?

       Two ways of becoming Jesus to somebody: The heart and the hand.

       The heart is the personal side of relationship.

       The hand is the practical side of relationship.

       You need both to be Jesus to somebody.

1. The Heart

One day, in a busy airport, a little boy was running to his mother holding a completed jigsaw puzzle in his hands. He was shouting, “I finished it, Mommy! I finished it!”

       But at that precise moment, a businessman was also running, trying to catch his flight.

And the two crossed each other’s path. Wham! And the jigsaw puzzle flew into the air and hit the floor, scattering its tiny pieces in different directions.

The businessman said to the boy, “I’m so sorry…” He went on his knees and picked up the small jigsaw pieces. 

And patiently, he put it back together again.

After 15 minutes, the puzzle was done. It was obvious now that the businessman missed his flight. And he should have been angry and frustrated. But he didn’t know why, but he wasn’t. In fact, he felt happy that he “wasted” his time with a kid doing a jigsaw puzzle.

When the man stood up, the little boy stood up as well. He looked at the towering figure for a brief moment, and asked a question that blew the man away.

The boy asked him, “Are you…Jesus?”

Somehow the boy knew that when he met compassion, kindness, dying-to-oneself-for-the-sake-of-others, he was in the presence of Jesus.

To be Jesus to somebody, you need to give heart. The heart is the personal side of relationship. Affection. Warmth. Touch.

But you also need to give the “Hand”…

2. The Hand

       I’m a father of a family. And I need to spend time with my wife and my kids. That’s a non-negotiable thing I have to do.

       But imagine this scene….

One morning, my wife tells me, “Bo, we have no food in the house anymore; I need to buy groceries but we don’t have money…” and I tell her, “What are you complaining about, Sweetheart? I’m always here at home, spending time with you and the kids 24 hours a day, 7 days a week…”

There’s something wrong with the picture.

       To be a Jesus to somebody, you need to give the hand too.  The hand is the practical side of the relationship. Excellence. Development. Achievement. 

Are you a doctor? An engineer? A Teacher? A businessman?

In your job, God calls you to be Jesus to somebody.

How? Give heart and give hand.

Be excellent in all that you do. That’s the hand. But give your heart too. Do it with warmth, compassion, acceptance, and openness.

Last Word: Who Was Jesus To You?

       Look back into your life.

       Someone became Jesus to you.

       You came to know God’s Love because somebody loved you without condition. 

       I think of my Dad. He was far from perfect. He never expressed his love for me by hugging me or saying, “I love you.” But boy, did he spend time with me when I was a kid.

       He was Jesus to me.

       I think of my Mom. Again, she’s got many weaknesses. But Mom loves me. At 86, she prays for me before the Blessed Sacrament every single day.   (When she has extra time, she prays for my sisters.) When I’m preaching somewhere, I know that Mom is praying for me, and that gives me strength.

Mom is Jesus to me.

I think of my wife. She too has many weaknesses. (And if you think I’ll enumerate them to you now, think again.  I’d rather be thrown to a pool of hungry piranha than face my angry wife asking me what I wrote about her.) 

But she does something that astounds me no end. When I tell her my preposterous, out-of-this-world, “big, hairy, audacious” dreams, she doesn’t laugh. She doesn’t guffaw and roll on the floor. She smiles, looks at me, grips my hand, and says, “They’ll come true.”

My wife is Jesus to me.

I think of my professor in my Masters in Theology. I wasn’t even supposed to be there. I had failing grades in Grade School, High School, and College. I didn’t even finish College. I was just taking the Masters course because I wanted to study about God.

But my professor, a priest, called me in his office. He said he saw brilliance in me. (Huh?) He said, “After your Masters in Theology, go back to college and get your Diploma. And then we’ll send you to Europe to finish your Doctorate in Theology. There’s this great School there. We’ll pay for everything…”

I wanted to tell him, “Are you sure you’re talking to the right person? I’m not a good student. I’m a dunce. Pull out my transcript of records. It’s all there displayed in flaming red glory…”

But he saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself.

That professor’s perspective of me changed my life forever. After taking up my Masters, I went back to college with vengeance. I got straight A’s there from then on.

That professor was Jesus to me.

       Let me ask you: Who was Jesus to you?

       Thank God for each one of them.

       And everyday, resolve to be Jesus to somebody.

       You don’t have to be perfect.

You just have to love them in your imperfect way.

       May your dreams come true,

       Bo Sanchez

(Source: 500daysofzyrah)