B E H I N D / T H E / B A R

I came in early hoping to have an extended time of quiet reflection in my office before delivering my sermon at RiverChurch. However, I was quite surprised to find Thomas sitting in front of our door with blood streaming down his face. He looked up at me and immediately started to weep. He was broken and literally beaten down. He had been hit and robbed by another camper just about an hour earlier and he just sat down in front of our door he simply didn’t know what else to do. 

I talked to him for a bit, we called the police, they came and went. I helped him clean the blood off of his face and arms and bandaged the gash on his head. He just kept crying. Absolutely broken. 

I found myself feeling stressed and even a little frustrated that I wasn’t able to go inside enjoy some solitude and finish my last few minutes of sermon prep when I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit. 

“Tending to Thomas – binding up his wounds is exactly why I brought you down here earlier today. -THIS, THIS is the most important sermon you will preach today!”

I asked for forgiveness and proceeded to care for my friend. 

I’m no Good Samaritan. I’m a slow learner. One who God has to sometimes drop a broken bleeding person directly in my path to get my attention, to get me to learn to live with my eyes open, my head up, not ignoring the hurting people around me. I tend to think I’m important – the man with the message that has to be preached until He humbles me and says “say less, do more.” 

I was reminded, today, in a very real way that the way of Jesus is less often found in the sermon one preaches and more often in one’s willingness to bind up the broken and to pour healing oil on the wounded. 

One is more pleasant than the other. I don’t do blood and pain well. 

And I could be wrong, but I dare say Jesus would sooner bind the broken and heal the hurting than he would preach the sermon. Both are important but it’s a whole lot easier to hear the sermon when you’ve seen it demonstrated first. 

May we all have more opportunities to bind the broken, and may we not miss them when they come our way.

**DISCLAIMER:: Some have questioned the need for me to post this picture of Thomas’s condition, arguing that I am robbing him of dignity and lacking sensitivity to his poor condition. This picture was taken before we cleaned him up, while we were waiting for the police to come. If we had him cleaned up before they arrived we wanted them to see how bad his condition truly was. Out of respect for Thomas the picture here was cropped so not to show his face. Thomas has asked me to share his story of homelessness and struggle so people understand that homeless folks are real people too, with real struggles. **