Seeking and Serving Jesus

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbour as yourself?

The first half of this promise reminds me of the parables the sheep and goats (Matthew 25:31-46), where people are separated based on whether they fed the hungry, gave a drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, and visited the sick or prison. In both cases the question is asked, “When did we see you....?” and the answer was “what you did/did not do for the least of these you did/did not do for me.” We are called to look of Jesus in everyone we meet and to realize that whenever we serve another, whenever we care for them we are serving Jesus. The blessing that I used this morning was inspired by this idea of seeking and serving Jesus. I first heard it a number of years ago and it has always stuck with me and I have used it myself on occasions, like this morning. 
                    “May Jesus Christ who walks on wounded feet, 
                      walk with you to the end of the road,
                     May Jesus Christ to served with wounded hands, 
                     open your hands to serve, 
                    May Jesus Christ who loves with a wounded heart, 
                    open your heart to love. 
                    May you see the face of Christ in everyone you meet 
                    and may everyone you meet see the face of Christ in you. 
                    The Blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit 
                    be with you and remain with you always."    
We are all made in the image of God, we are all children of God no matter if we believe or not and so when we seek to see Jesus in others, and to act accordingly we are honouring God within that person and within ourselves.

The second part of the question brings to mind the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) which Jesus tells in response to the question he asked,” Who is my neighbour?”  Through this story Jesus tells us that our neighbour is not just the people we know and like, not just the people who are like us with same values and beliefs, the same opinions. It would be easy to love those people. Instead Jesus said our neighbour is also the person we don’t like, the person whose values, opinions and belief may run contrary to our own. The Samaritan had every reason to despite the man who lie dying from his beating, and no one would have faulted him if he’d spit on the man and left him to die, but he doesn’t. This promise requires us to look beyond the surface, beyond our preferences and prejudices to not only see Christ within the other no matter how different from us, but to serve them as we would serve Christ with love and grace.

Reflection Questions:

The homeless Jesus

1. How would I treat other people who are different from me if they were Jesus?
2. Who do I struggle to see Jesus in? How can I turn that around and love them?
3. How am I serving Jesus in everyone I meet?