“Even as you have done unto one of the least of these, you have done it unto me.”

We were on our way to dinner at LuLu’s, the premier “wazungu” eatery the other night. Its winter in Iringa in July and it gets dark, I mean real dark by 7:00 PM. As we continued our walk to dinner, we came across two little girls. Both were under 10, and the youngest maybe 7 or 8. Their clothes were well worn and ragged. They began to follow us. As we turned the corner a couple of blocks from LuLu’s, the younger of the two continued to follow us. The older one went a different direction. It seemed a little strange such a young child would be out on a dark street alone at night. We gave her little attention; she said nothing and followed as we entered the restaurant. We found an empty table and looked at our menus thinking she would turn and leave. She waited inside the door alone until one of the waiters began to speak with her. After he had finished speaking to her, he came to our table and said; “That little girl said she knows you!” I responded almost automatically saying; “I don’t know her!” The waiter walked her to the door, opened it, she turned and looked at us and out she went. She stood outside for a while peering through the window and then she walked into the darkness. As I sat and filled my belly, guilt and shame began to knock on the door of my heart and I was reminded of Jesus’ words from Matthew 25, in the great judgment scenario; “I was hungry and you gave me food…I was naked and you clothed me…Even as you have done unto the least of these, you have done it unto me…”. Was the little one I ignored and sent into the darkness, Christ? Did he come in her need, asking for help only to be told, “I don’t know you?” If we don’t recognize Jesus in the needs of the poor, then we will never know him. The poor are here, one can’t be constantly be helping the all the poor, can they? There are so many! Is that what Jesus is calling us to do? Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world. The average per capita income is under $400 per year. In effect, especially if you consider the relative wealth of American’s, everyone here would be considered poor, very poor. Poverty here is overwhelming. How can we help? The words; “I don’t know her!” still echo in my soul as I think about that night, as if the rooster had crowed the third time after Peter’s denial. To the question; “Lord, when did I see you?”, I answer; “ I saw you Lord, one dark night on the way to LuLu’s Resturant”. Jesus doesn’t call us to save everyone who is poor, or walking the streets late at night. Christ is present in each One in need and we are called to love One at a time. Whether the One in the night, or the One begging on the street corner, or the One suffering with AIDS or malaria or typhoid, or the One who needs financial support at Huruma Orphanage, or the One yearning to learn at Bomalang’ombe Secondary School. Wherever there are the poor and the suffering, Christ is present. I pray I recognize the face of Jesus next time a little one comes out of the darkness.