Illust Are You Jesus

ARE YOU JESUS? Several years ago a group of salesman went to a regional sales meeting in Chicago. They assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for supper on Friday night. One thing led to another and the meeting ran overtime. The men had to race to the airport, tickets in hand. As they barged through the terminal, one man inadvertently kicked over a table supporting a basket of apples. Without stopping they all reached the plane in time and boarded it with a sigh of relief. All but one. He paused, got in touch with his feelings and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He waved good-bye to his companions and returned to the terminal. He was glad he did. The ten year old girl was blind. The salesman gathered up the apples and noticed that several of the apples were battered and bruised. He reached into his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this ten dollars for the damage we did. I hope it didn't spoil your day." As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered girl called out to him, "Are you Jesus?" He stopped in mid-stride... and he wondered.

I’ve never had that particular case of mistaken identity. Have you? Why would anyone think a person was Jesus? Could the answer be captured in words like, kind, considerate, helpful, other-people centered. We could easily pick Jesus out of a crowd. The same statement should be true of a Jesus-like person. He would be doing something nice for someone who needed it. You could hear her using kind words while others passed judgment. He would be searching for opportunities to help not trying to find ways to avoid being inconvenienced.

The Jesus person would not be so concerned what others thought that he would feel compelled to choose the politically correct clubs and company to be associated with.

Are you Jesus?

George Mansfield