"The King will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'(Matthew 25:40)
This verse kept running through my mind as I walked between the dwellings in Maneadero, Mexico last week. Although I have heard the
Parable of the Sheep and the Goats from
Matthew 25 all my life, it has never held as much meaning for me as it did last week.
I must admit that this mission trip to Mexico held many "firsts" for me: My first time in a foreign country, my first time to be surrounded by people who don't speak the same language as I do, my first time seeing the magnificent Pacific ocean, and my first time on a plane. (Yes...You read that right. Almost 33 years old and I've NEVER flown!) But there was another "first" on this trip that I did not expect: The first time seeing Jesus in poverty.
The Baja village of Maneadero is a very poor place. I dare say that America's ghettos are luxurious estates compared to the dwellings that make up Maneadero. There I saw a family of four living in a 5'X 10' hut with a dirt floor. I met a man who picks radishes for a living, making about 90 pesos a day (around $9.00). I saw children who wore rags and hadn't had a bath in weeks. It brings tears to my eyes, even now as I write this, when I think about the children that I met that will probably never see the earthly blessings that my own children will have throughout their lifetime.
But, in the midst of it all, I saw Jesus.
I have to confess that I felt incredibly inadequate while on this trip because I don't speak much Spanish, and I don't have many construction-type skills. But I
did discover that there is really only one skill that one must have on a trip like this: Love. If you can love like Jesus, you can do mission work. I believe that love is what Christ was talking about when he said, "Whatever you do for one of the least of these..." In every face of every man, woman, and child that I met in Mexico, I saw the face of Jesus.
I guess if there's one thing that I learned while in Mexico, it is that true compassion comes from seeing Jesus in others. Every day, we are blessed with opportunities to love as Jesus loves. If we see the face of Jesus when we look at others, and have genuine love for one another, there's no end to what we could do.
May God bless us all with the vision to see Jesus in others today!
--Eric G.
