I had an incredible variety of jobs in high school and college, which were a twofold blessing. First of all, I was able to graduate from four years of college and four years of seminary with very little debt. Maybe more importantly I learned a lot about the real world and met an incredible and diverse bunch of people along the way. While attending the Seminary in St. Louis, I had a part-time job in the branch of a local bank. It was a quiet, little bank, on the edge of town. The job didn’t interfere with classes, and there was little drama, until one day when a woman came to my teller window and asked me to cash her check. Something just didn’t feel right about her and about her check.
It was a substantial check but she had no identification. As I started to question her she ran and disappeared down the street. We had a bank guard in our little branch, but I think he was taking his afternoon nap and missed the entire episode. (As I said, there was seldom much drama.) I called the police, describing her size, skin and hair color, color of her dress, and also that one of her front teeth was gold. A police car drove up and I was asked to repeat all the details. While that was still underway, a police van pulled up and I was taken outside to identify the woman. I was shaking so hard and trying to act calm but likely didn’t convince anyone.
They opened the rear door to the paddy wagon and sitting alone on the bench was, of all things, a large man! I didn’t know what to do. I had told them it was a woman, and this was definitely not a woman. Then one of the cops opened a shopping bag that was by the feet of the man. They said they found it in his car, along with a wig. In the bag was the dress I remembered and the wig looked familiar. Then the man said, “It wasn’t me!” That was enough to get me ready to run, but as he spoke, I saw his gold tooth, remembered his eyes, and his familiar voice. My confusion was cleared up as I identified him. Later on, I would be called to serve as a witness at his trial.
What might others remember about you? What have they seen and what have they heard? What would cause you to be recognized and how would you feel about the description of your life and your actions? No matter what you think you can hide, you are memorable in different ways to different people. That guy thought he had a perfect disguise; except he forgot one distinguishing characteristic. We are witnesses every day to who we are, what we believe, and what is important (or not). People we come into contact with can likely describe us better than we can describe ourselves.
Before Jesus was arrested, he washed his disciples’ feet as a way to make visible what love felt like, and his sacrifice on the cross emphasized what it looked like. Jesus’ plan was to make certain his followers watched and remembered what he was doing for them. Such servant love became the characterizing description of the flavor of his ministry in our midst. Just like his birth in a manger is the way we see how God humbled himself to better have us identify with his love. The reason for God to show up on earth in a body of flesh and blood was for us to recognize and remember what God’s love is all about. And then he left the witnessing job to his disciples (which includes us) so we could also reveal the love of God up close and personal!
So then, what do others witness in how we live? Will they see God’s love and the peace which comes from faith, or will they see something else? This is not to inspire guilt but to free us to remember whose we are. We’ll never get in right all the time and are forgiven ahead of time when we slip and slide. But celebrate how precious a moment it becomes when we hear that someone felt the love Jesus, from you or from me! We don’t seek to be lifted up as something special, but how special it is when Jesus is lifted up by you or by me!