Jesus Alive and On the Loose

On that first Easter, some of the earliest disciples were walking along a road at dusk and a stranger came along and started walking beside them. They invited the stranger in for dinner, and the scriptures tell us that it was in the breaking of the bread that their eyes were opened and they recognized that this stranger was Jesus.

Due to this encounter, the early Christians held a deep-seated belief that showing hospitality to the immigrant, the traveler, the foreigner or the stranger was a way of meeting and receiving the Holy presence of God. They believed that Christ very well could meet you in the visit of a stranger.

One of my friends tells me her spiritual practice is to look for the image of Christ in everyone she meets: the clerk at the post office, the bag boy at the grocery store, the woman on the corner holding a sign for the political candidate she strongly opposes, the homeless man on the street…

If you are expecting Jesus to meet you at any point in time as a stranger, you look at people in a whole different way!

It’s not a bad practice for “Easter people” like us.

In his book Sources of Strength, former President Jimmy Carter wrote about interviewing Eloy Cruz, a Cuban pastor, who had gained tremendous respect among poor immigrants from Puerto Rico. He had a thriving ministry. Carter asked him, “What is the secret to your success?” Pastor Cruz replied, “Señor Jimmy, we need to have only two loves for our lives, love for God and love for the person who happens to be in front of us at any time.”

May you and I try to remember that perhaps, just perhaps, Jesus is there in that person standing in front of us at any point in time.

Let us pray: We praise you, O God, for the tomb is empty, and Jesus is alive and on the loose in the world. Give us hearts open to encounter him – even today. Amen.