A true story was told of the massacre of Jewish people in a small Polish village by the SS Nazi troops in World War II. Many Jews were rounded up on a bitterly cold day to be slaughtered. First, they were made to dig a long shallow grave, stripped naked and lined up against the wall. As the machine guns were sprayed by the troops, bloody bodies fell to the freshly dug earth.
Miraculously, a malnourished young boy somehow escaped being shot even one time but fell with his parents and pretended to be dead. Dirt was thrown in over the bodies but being such a shallow grave, the boy was able to breathe.
Hours passed and nightfall came…finally all was quiet. The boy clawed his way out of the grave and ran with all his strength as fast as his little legs could carry him. He was naked and bloody with dirt caked to him. But he was determined to live.
He finally came to a Gentile home and timidly knocked on the door. “Please help me” he said as the door was opened just enough for eyes to peer out. But to no avail. The voice behind the door replied “Go away, you are a Jew. We cannot help you!” Again and again, house after house turned him away. With each door he came to, the unwillingness to risk getting into trouble with the Nazi’s overpowered the Gentile people’s feelings of compassion for this young child.
Finally; desperate, naked, dirty and freezing, he made his way to the last house and again knocked on the door. Someone peaked through a shutter. A scared female voice whispered “Go away!” Something supernatural inside this young boy guided him to speak very strange words for a Jewish boy. With tears streaming down his face, his trembling voice asked; “Don’t you….recognize me? I’m the Jesus….you say you love.” Her heart skipped a beat at these words. After a long silence the door slowly opened. The woman standing there had tears in her own eyes. It was true; she realized…she was being a hypocrite. How could she proclaim to love Jesus and not care for this small child whom she knew Jesus loved? She decided to take the boy in and from that day on cared for him as her own.
The young Jewish boy grew up in that gentile family. Eventually he fell in love with the same Jesus that he saw in his adopted Mother’s eyes on that cold night. God had a plan for this young life. Had it not been for the woman’s realization of her hypocrisy, he would have died at the hand of the Nazi’s.
Who are we overlooking because we don’t want to get involved? We may not have a threat to our life (not yet, anyway) but are we turning people away from Christ with our hypocrisy? Jesus died for everyone…not just us. A Casting Crown’s song says this “If we are the body, why aren’t these hands reaching?” Think about it. And hey, I’m preaching to myself here too….
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