What if Jesus Stinks?

I was sitting in an exam room at the doctor's office recently when I overheard the doctor talking to one of his staff about an unkempt man that had been in the waiting room at the same time we had been. He was asking her to perform an EKG on him, and warned her, "He's really filthy. I don't know when he last had a shower but he smells really REALLY bad, I'm just warning you. He's really stunk up the exam room."

He was talking matter-of-factly, no hint of ridicule or derision in his voice, just stating facts, and she responded just as matter-of-factly. In the waiting room, when the man had come in, the receptionist had had him fill out some paperwork; their conversation indicated that he hadn't seen a doctor in many years and I had been thankful that he'd been able to see one that day.

What if Jesus were alive today? What if He came back just to check up on things? What if that man were Him? Obviously that's not a Biblical idea, when Jesus comes back the whole world will know it; you can hardly miss the sky opening up after all. But this whole incident did make me think.

I have seen "Christians" snub visitors to "their" (as opposed to Christ's) church, even visitors who were well-dressed and smelled fine. I have seen "Christians" address people who serve them in restaurants or other retail venues as if they were less important than themselves. I can't even imagine what these "Christians" would do if the Savior that they worshipped on Sunday mornings showed up for church dressed in tatters and smelling bad.

Jesus Himself told us, "The King will answer them, 'I tell you with certainty, since you did it for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.'" (Mt.25:40) and Proverbs 19:17 tells us that "One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed."

As I will embrace my Jesus when I see Him, so need I embrace the "least important", whether lovely, clean, beautiful, and good, or homely, smelly, drunken, and loathesome in the eyes of the world. In so doing, I can embrace Jesus now.