I’ll never forget the day I saw Jesus and he let me wash his feet!
It was a normal day at the office. It had been fairly busy and I was tired when he walked in the door. You wouldn’t have recognized him. His hair was matted. His clothing was dirty and kind of ragged. A haunted, distant look was in his eyes and he mumbled his words as he checked in.
As I entered the exam room, a sour smell greeted me and I had to turn my head and catch my breath. When I asked him what he was there for, he pointed at his leg. Lifting the torn pant leg I found his leg was red and swollen, with weeping sores, and track marks clearly evident. Great, I thought to myself, another addict. Just what I need.
Trying to keep a professional attitude, I asked about how long his leg had been like this and what he’d been shooting up with. Then I got some water, poured some Hibiclens on some gauze, and began to clean pus from the sores.
That’s when I recognized him! It was like a voice whispered in my mind, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:20 NIV).
At that moment I knew I was washing the feet of Jesus! Not literally, of course, but still the feeling was so real I almost started to shake. Looking at my patient, my whole attitude changed. No longer was he just a dirty bum, an addict in need of his next fix. He was a child of God, my brother, a friend in need.
I’d like to say I then shared the Good News with him and led him to Christ, but I was too much a coward for that. I pray someone else down the road had the courage to do what I could not. Instead I finished cleaning and dressing his wounds and sent him home with a prescription for antibiotics. He left, to go back on the street, but for me something had changed. Never again would I look at my patients the same.
Now, I try to see Jesus in every patient who walks through the door. Sometimes he’s hurting or afraid. Sometimes he’s feeling down or has a cold. Sometimes he’s hard to find, but if I look hard enough he’s there, in everyone I meet.
How about you? Have you seen Jesus today?