Jesus doesn’t want our used underwear

(Klik disini untuk baca dalam Bahasa Indonesia) A reflection from Indonesia

Imagine

Imagine for a moment that Jesus was walking down your street (you knew for sure it was Jesus), and he was a sorry sight– his shirt was full of holes, his pants were ripped, and he was barefoot.  What would you give to Jesus?  Would you go in your house and find an ugly old Tshirt, something that has been in your dresser for years and you don’t even like anymore?  Would you find your worst sandals, the ones with holes in the bottoms anyway, and tell Jesus to wear them?  Would you give your worst for the savior of the world?

Jesus doesn’t want our old underwear.

Reality

But the reality is that we too often do exactly this.  Most of us are familiar with the story in Matthew 25, the final judgment day, the separation of the sheep and the goats.  Jesus tells us “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (verse 40 NIV).  Those who are hungry, thristy, foreigners, naked, sick, and in prison.  If we love Jesus, we must love the least of these.

I have lived in Indonesia for six and a half years now.  I came here in obedience to Jesus’ call– to Jesus’ invitation to meet him in the least of these.  I have purposefully placed myself in a slum community, because it is in places such as these that we find many opportunities to meet Jesus.  In our garbage scavenging community, I meet the least of these.

Neighbors in need

My neighbors know what it means to be hungry, when their money is gone and they only have enough to eat rice and spicy sauce.

They know what it means to be thirsty, working in the hot sun on top of the garbage mountain scavenging for anything that still has value. 

They know what it is to be a foreigner, for they are migrants from their home village.  Here in the city they are undocumented, illegal. Our friends here cannot access the free government health care because they do not have the necessary paperwork.  These papers are impossible to attain because our neighborhood is illegal, not acknowledged by the governing authorities. 

Our neighbors are also frequently sick.  Sickness spreads so quickly in communities like ours.  With my own eyes I have seen people suffering from: Tuberculosis (more times than I can count), asthma, high blood pressure (strokes), chickenpox, leprosy, measles, mumps, rubella, scabies, hepatitis, dengue, and tetanus.  There are also many people struggling with undiagnosed and untreated mental illnesses.  And many of our friends also have physical handicaps; I think of our friend with a lame leg, two friends blind in one eye, a deaf girl, and a mama with only one arm.  The list goes on and on.

But it is in places like these that we meet Jesus every day.  And we learn so much from Jesus here.

Jesus does not want our old underwear.

Mission month

Recently, a church contacted us, wondering if they could collect things for our school as a project for their “mission month.” (Note: this is just a story about one church. Please do not think it is representative of all churches in Indonesia!) They asked what we would want, and we said very specifically that we wanted children’s story books for our library and baby clothes to give to the women in my pregnancy group. We waited three months for them to deliver the items to us. But the morning they delivered their gifts, I could tell as soon as they started unloading the car that it was not what we were hoping for.  From the outside, it looked like a LOT of stuff; with the appearance of a “Successful mission project” that moved the hearts of the church-goers to great generosity.  However, this was not the reality.

Of the 15 boxes of stuff, only one tiny box was of used baby clothes.  And there were only 10 used story books to add to our school library.

The rest?? Used clothes, used school notebooks, used stuffed animals, random tupperware, and boxes of old magazines. 

And also there was used underwear. 

Giving Good Gifts

Of all the “gifts” that were in the boxes, I am pretty certain none of it was new.  Everyone just looked around their house and closets for junk that they didn’t want anymore.  

(The boxes of used clothes we gave to our teammate’s sewing project Mutiara, and they could use some of it for making cloth pads and potholders. The boxes of old magazines went straight to our neighbor’s recycling business).

If we give something that we do not like, something broken, old, and ugly– what meaning does it have? If in our “mission month” project we only give things that do not have value, is this a sign that there is a bigger problem in our heart?

Seeing Jesus

 I think the problem is that too often we are totally blind.  We do not realize that Jesus is standing in front of us.  That what we give to the least of these we are giving to Jesus.

Do we really want to follow him?

I am just an ordinary person. I am not a saint or a hero.  I am a sinner just like everyone else.  And because I know this truth I realize that every single day that Jesus still allows me to live I must continually learn more about what it means to follow him.  I do not claim to be perfect or have close to all the answers in this.  However, I am begging you— please—please— Church, open your eyes to see Jesus outside your doors!  Jesus on the streets.  Jesus scavenging through trash.  Jesus who is sick, needs clothes, and needs a home.  On Sunday mornings, is Jesus at the front of the church in a suit and tie?  I am sorry but I must say that he is not.  Jesus is in the slums, in the middle of the communities racked by poverty and suffering. 

Do not embarrass yourselves (and the church) by giving worthless junk.  Jesus asks us to give our best for him.  Our best means our whole lives– Jesus asks us to sacrifice all our dreams, all our possessions, all of our time to follow him.  To love him. (And in this process we realize that none of it was actually ours to begin with!)

Do you want to follow him?  Are you ready to suffer with him?

We do not want to hear Jesus say to us, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me” (Matthew 25.45).

O Lord, have mercy on your Church!  Forgive our sins.  Open our eyes so that we can see you.  Give us your heart so that we can love you more each day.

Amen.