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“Sir, we would like to see Jesus,” says some Greeks to Philip in our Gospel Today.
The story is told of a blind man selling his wares in the middle of a busy train station, when a group of children bump into the table and knock much of his nicely stacked merchandise to the floor. As the story goes, the merchant gets down on hands and knees in an attempt to retrieve his scattered goods. Another man, clearly in hurry, rounds the corner to see the sight-impaired merchant on the floor.
The man stops for a moment, looks at his watch, his expression indicating his dilemma: if he takes the time to help this man, he will likely miss his train. With only a moments hesitation, he drops his briefcase, gets down on the floor, and helps the merchant gather and re-stack his goods. When all is in order, and the man walks away, the merchant calls out after him, “Hey Mister, are you Jesus?”
Now chances are this story is not actually true. But true or not, the story could be a modern day Parable.
“Sir, we would like to see Jesus,” says some Greeks to Philip in our Gospel Today.
What was it that made the man help the merchant? Could be many reasons… Could be the grace of God within him (and us); the grace of God as we heard in the Jeremiah reading, “I will place my law within them – (you & me) – and write it upon their hearts.”
I would guess there are many opportunities to be Jesus to others, at home, at work, at school, at church, in the everyday world in which we find ourselves. Opportunities to “make God decisions” at the present moment.
Present moment awareness might well be what the man in the story responded to. Present moment awareness is asking God what we should do in this situation, this moment before us.
We can all manage a moment, if we wish, to be helpful, to be present to another, to listen, to seize the moments before us to share goodness, Godliness, this day, this week and beyond.
We all yearn to see Jesus. And people yearn to see Jesus in us whether verbalized or not, many people call out to us, “Madam, Sir… We would like to see Jesus!”