I have previously written on how we never know when that person we help (or don’t help as the case may be) might be Jesus. Like we are told in Matthew 25:45: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.” But did you ever stop to think of it in another way? Instead of you looking into the face of Jesus, maybe the other person is looking at you and seeing Jesus?
Let’s say you see an elderly couple stopped on the side of the highway with a flat tire and you stop to help them. You might be thinking these people could be the “least” and by helping them you are helping Jesus in disguise. The thing is in their eyes, you are Jesus, you are the answer to their prayers asking God to send someone to help them? They could have been getting stressed thinking they might have to spend the night on the side of the road, or worse that someone might come along and do them harm. Who knows? They believe they are looking into the face of Jesus.
With that in mind do you do the things Jesus would do? Are you kind to others? Do you help others? Do you give of yourself to others? We all have the Power of God in us. Hold on, I am not saying we can perform miracles, turn water into wine, raise the dead and the like, but maybe in our own little way we can. When someone is thirsty and we give them a bottle of water that might be the same as wine to them. A kind word and a little compassion may be all that is needed to have someone change their mind when they think life is so bad they are considering suicide.
When I was struggling to put food on the table and I was discouraged and depressed, it was a kind word from my boss at the part-time job I had that motivated me to do better. It was then I became re-motivated to get myself out of the state I was in. Was he Jesus in my eyes? Yes. A year or so later when I helped a co-worker who was struggling financially at Christmas by anonymously placing a Wal-Mart gift card in her vehicle, was I the face of Jesus to her?
We need to look at the passage above both ways. The person who we help in some small (or big) way might be Jesus, but so also might we be Jesus to them.
The Wayward Catholic 