Isaiah 53:2 “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”
An old shoe cobbler once dreamed on Christmas Eve that Jesus would come to visit him the next day. The dream was so real that he was convinced it would come true. So he awoke and anxiously awaited Jesus’ arrival. An old man was his first visitor, seeking shelter from the winter cold. As the cobbler talked with him he noticed the holes in the old man’s shoes, so he reached up on the shelf and got him a new pair of shoes, before sending him on his way. Then a hungry old woman came in, and when he discovered she hadn’t eaten in days, he gave her a meal before sending her on her way. Still Jesus hadn’t come.
Then he heard a little boy crying out in front of his shop. He went out, discovered the boy was lost, so put on his coat and led the boy home to his parents. As dusk came and it was time to lock up, he cried out: “Oh Lord Jesus, why didn’t you come?” And then in a moment of silence he seemed to hear a voice saying: “Oh shoe cobbler, lift up your heart! I kept my word. Three times I knocked at your friendly door. Three times you welcomed me beautifully. I was the man with the bruised feet. I was the woman you gave something to eat. I was the lost boy out on the street.”
Jesus had come. The cobbler simply hadn’t realized it.
All we know about Jesus appearance is from Isaiah 53:2. He looked nothing special. Mother Teresa identified her best gift as an ability “to see the face of Jesus in its most distressing disguise”. May God help us to do the same, because Jesus warned us in Matthew 25: “Whatever you did (or did not do) for one of the least of these, you did (or did not do) for me” (v40,45).
Lord, help me recognize and respond to you today. Amen!
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