October 7, 2008: The Least Of These

There is a joy that smart, independent, capable people will never know: that of being rescued from befuddled predicament by a kind and resourceful person. Only a confused idiot can really experience that pleasure.

I know because I have been that confused idiot. Three years ago I invited friends and family over for Thanksgiving, which was a problem because I had no table. The fact weighed on me - not simply that I didn't have a table, but that I knew in my heart that normal people knew how to get one and I didn't. I did know enough to go to Goodwill and find a serviceable table for only 10 dollars, but now, how to get it home?

God in his grace sent me a Mexican auto mechanic. Juan saw me struggling to disassemble the table in the Goodwill parking lot, came over, and just did it for me - squeezing all the parts into my small car like a contortionist into an aquarium. What joy! I hope I was grateful enough. I found out where he worked and called his boss to laud him for the kindness he showed to me, a total (and hapless) stranger.

Haplessness is no stranger to me - it haunts me like the ghost of Hamlet's father. Like when my lawnmower stopped working a few weeks ago. I did not know how to dispose of it and get a new one at an affordable price. I last bought a lawnmower in 1998, which required some assembly, which I did myself. It broke of course, literally broke - the frame snapped in two - the first time I used it. A kind friend assembled the replacement. This time though I just let the grass grow, hoping that with fall coming I wouldn't have to worry about my lawn until May. Wrong. Warm autumn rains left my untended lawn overgrown and unsightly, and I didn't know what to do.

Then yesterday a friend said, "I have three lawnmowers. Which one do you want?" More joy! Now my troublesome lawn is clipped tidy and short, and it cost me nothing more than grass stains on my gym shoes. Glory to God, and gratitude to my friend.

It can be embarrassing and demoralizing to be the fool in need, but there is redemption in it. In Matthew 25:35-36 Jesus casts himself in the role of the needy person that capable people do nice things for: "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." It seems that when we talk about being Christlike to people, we usually mean doing good things to them with our talents and time and resources. That is true, but it can also mean just being the poor luckless schmo that other people help out. This is a good thing, because it brings joy to us, and credit to them, and glory to God.