Twelve Year Old Pickles

“That must be the record,” I said to my wife. She responded, “Has to be.” We were talking about food for needy families. No it wasn’t a record food drive or a record distribution day.

Someone had contributed a jar of pickles outdated by twelve years! We both kind of laughed. Kind of…

Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” And these pickles were definitely for “the least” in our community.

My wife and I agreed: “They didn’t know what they were doing.” It was just a little oversight mixed in with a do-good objective.

Right?

Listen to those words from Jesus again: “'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, the least in society; that was Me--you did it to Me.” So, would a person accidentally have an oops-moment and present to Jesus Christ pickles twelve years past their expiration date?

Introspection caused me to look first at my own heart. And attitude. Do I see the face of Jesus in every needy person? Or do I look upon a single lump of humanity—the poor?

The prophet Isaiah gives challenging advice: “Share your food with the hungry…bring into your house the poor wander…when you see the naked, clothe him.” In addition to these material goods he adds: “Extend your soul to the hungry.”

My soul!

This is taking all God has given me—all the love, mercy, compassion, kindness, grace…and giving, extending all to “the least in society.”

Yes, we will sometimes be perplexed as to how to accomplish this. It’s as if Isaiah knew our thoughts. He adds: “The LORD will guide you continually.”