Who Brings Jesus to You?

My toddler was entertaining himself with blocks, and the baby was sleeping, so I seized the moment to try to get a few things done around the house. After all, it was only two loads of laundry, a full sink of dishes, tidying up the living room before our guests arrived, sweeping the kitchen, and meal-planning for the next week. What could go wrong?

My feet had just hit the basement floor, my arms full of dirty onesies, when the to-do list was already obliterated. 

“Mommy, come and see,” I heard from above me. 

I took a deep breath, weighing whether I had enough time to throw the clothes and detergent in the washer. 

“Mommy, come and see,” I heard again, this time a bit more demanding.

I sighed and placed the hamper at the base of the steps. For whatever reason, I could never justify ignoring his plea to share the joy of whatever creation he had constructed, and was always somewhat haunted by his slightly biblical call. 

“MOMMY, COME AND SEE,” Now he was getting desperate. 

I started up the stairs, praying for patience and wishing that I was genuinely more intrigued by this interaction with a two-year-old than I was frustrated and annoyed that my chores would remain undone. 

I was rounding the corner to his playroom, willing myself to respond with interest and not lash out from my unmet expectation of a few minutes of free time, when I saw him walking toward me. He had a block construction held in one hand, a short tower with a bigger bulge on the top. 

“Jesus in the Eucharist!” He exclaimed proudly, holding the structure up for me to get a better view. And while to the untrained eye it did not resemble anything liturgical, with his cue I was able to discern how he could be viewing it as a monstrance. 

I stopped in my tracks and stared at him as he placed it on the ground, knelt in front, clasped his hands and mumbled a prayer. Granted, t was the grace before meals, but hey, he’s a two-year-old. He did a motion like unto the sign of the cross, and then standing back up with the object he closed the distance to me. 

“I’m bringing Jesus to you, Mommy!”

And while a few rogue tears formed in my eyes and I abandoned the dirty clothes in the basement to join his procession through the house, I knew his words were true. More true than he even meant or knew. 

So many times throughout Scripture we are reminded that we can see, and love, and serve Jesus through the people around us. In Matthew 25:40, in reference to clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, and visiting the sick, Jesus tells us: 

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“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the last of these my brethren, you did it to me.”

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And again, very fitting in my case, in Matthew 18:5 we are told:

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“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.”

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We are being offered opportunities to love and serve Jesus every day. And they frequently are those opportunities that seem the most inconvenient to us. The friend who calls us when we’re in the middle of something, but just really needs an attentive and listening ear. The co-worker who repeatedly asks for help with projects that are not yours and they should have figured out by now. The child who knocks on the door during your deepest REM cycle. The person who’s lonely, demanding, annoying to us. You know someone comes to mind. 

Is it possible that we could look beyond their request to the deeper reality?

“I’m bringing Jesus to you.”

Those moments of interruption and inconvenience might actually be moments of invitation. Maybe we are a few minutes late to where we are heading, or the kids wait impatiently in the car, or our own to-do list stays longer, or the laundry doesn’t get finished. But is it possible that we have accomplished something much greater in the process?

So my challenge is this: who are the people who might be bringing Jesus to you in this season? And what might you need to set aside, or leave undone, in order to follow them, listen to them, help them, spend time with them. 

I pray that we can both respond with faith to the call.

“Come and see.”