Veronica steps through the crowd to wipe the face of Jesus
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| Homeless Jesus sculpture (Photo by Mark Rumsey) |
He Died
Not Too Far From Here
By Charles Kinnaird
It
was my first time to volunteer at the soup kitchen. A lady named Veronica
handed me an apron and told me I could work with Fred. “He can show you ‘round
this place,” she said.
Fred
was an older man, tall and lean with closely cropped hair that was mostly gray.
He said he was retired now, but before that he did “just about everything.”
“I
come down here every Saturday morning and I help ‘em set things up,” Fred told
me as he handed me a wash rag to wipe down the tables. “You know, most folks will wipe down the
tables after everybody gets done eatin’, but I like to wipe ‘em down before
they get here, too. That way they know we’re thinkin’ about ‘em. They know they’re
comin’ to a place prepared just for
them.”
“How
long have you been doing this?” I asked.
“It’s
been a few years now. Been more than a minute, I’ll say that. And I’ll tell you
why I do this, though I don’t know how you might take it.” Fred paused and took
a deep breath, “You see, I heard all my life about how Jesus died for my sins.
Then I come to find out he died not too far from here – and I’ve got Veronica
to thank for tellin’ me that.”
I
wasn’t sure what to say, so I didn’t say anything. I just looked at Fred in
anticipation of what he might say next. He looked at me with a side glance and
wry smile, then he tilted his head back and laughed.
He
then continued, “I can tell you don’t know what in the world this old man’s talkin’
about, but I’ll tell you what happened. Now you don’t know Veronica, but Veronica
loves to cook – that’s what she does. She cooks up yonder at the school house
for the kids then she comes over here on Saturday and cooks for these folks
that are down and out right now.
“Well,
this one Saturday morning she come up here and found this man lyin’ on the
sidewalk up against the wall. She told me she didn’t know if he was asleep or
dead, but she called out to him. He
stirred just a little bit so she got down closer. That man was all dirty and
had scratches and scabs all over his face. She didn’t know if he had fallen or
if somebody beat up on him, but he was so weak and tired. She ran inside and
got the preacher, ‘We got to help this man,’ she said. She grabbed a towel and
a wash cloth out of the charity closet, got a bowl of water and went out there to
see if she could wash off his face.
“And
this is the way she told it to me – she said when she knelt down to wash that
man’s face, somethin’ told her this might’ve been somebody important. Now I
won’t lie to you,” Fred continued, “I’d have probably said he was just some bum
who’d been drinkin’ and bein’ no count all his life, but Veronica said
somethin’ told her different.
“Well,
Veronica and the preacher brought this man inside so they could get him
somethin’ to eat and drink, but when they helped him on in, that’s when she
knew he was too sick for them to do much for him. And that’s when they called
911.
“When
the ambulance came, they got this man loaded up and Veronica told the preacher
she had to go with him to the hospital. She told the ambulance drivers she was
gonna ride up there in the ambulance, and she just hopped on in. Veronica says
she still don’t know why she done it, but it was like somethin’ told her to go
on with them to the hospital. And she stayed up there ‘til the doctors came
around and saw the man. She told ‘em she didn’t know who he was, but she just
found him out on the sidewalk by the soup kitchen. Then they told her that they
were gonna get him into a room, so she came on back. She called the preacher to
come pick her up so she could get on with her cookin’.
“Well,
that was the first time she seen this man. The next day was Sunday and she
decided she would go back up to the hospital to see how he was. She got up
there and saw he was still real sick, but he just barely opened his eyes and
saw her. Then he just barely smiled, and he just barely opened his mouth and
spoke to her just one time. He said, ‘I remember you – you’re just like an
angel to me, and I don’t know why. I feel like I’m just one of the least of
these and you don’t even know me, but you come to help me out.’
“Now
that’s when Veronica said it happened. She said it was when he said ‘I’m the
least of these,’ it just hit her like a lightin’ bolt. This is how she told it
to me, she said, ‘I felt this electricity just come though me and it was like
Jesus was sayin’ you done it do me – and all I could do was cry.’ She said she
had to leave out from there because she wasn’t doing nothn’ but cryin’ and
shakin’.
“So
that was the second time she seen him,” Fred said, “and it turned out there would
not be no third time. When she went up to the hospital the next day after work,
they told her he had passed – there wasn’t really anything they could do, you
know. Well Veronica – she was still kinda tearful then, but she said she was
somehow feelin’ stronger inside. It was
after all that happened that she came and told me the whole story, what I told
to you just now, and this is how she started it off:
Next time you hear
somebody say Jesus died for your sins, you tell ‘em, No, he died not too far
from here. And not only that, you tell ‘em he’s dyin’ somewhere every day, and
if you look around you might see where he’s dyin’. And if you see he’s dyin’,
feed him if you can, give him some medicine if you can, but if you can’t do
nothin’ but wipe his face, then you just wipe his face, because Jesus is dyin’
somewhere, and he’s dyin’ not too far from here.
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Great story. Thanks. Ted
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