“He would give you the shirt off his back.” That is what we sometimes say when we want to describe someone who is remarkably generous, willing to sacrifice even what they themselves are using, to help someone else in need. We know it is just an expression, not meant to be taken literally. We do not expect to ever actually see it happen, in just that way.
However, Jordan Hope, an 18-year-old high school graduate, recently showed how it is done, literally; not with the shirt off his back, but with the shoes off his feet. The Maricopa, Arizona teenager saw an elderly man struggling to walk across a parking lot in shoes that were falling apart and barely staying on his feet.
Jordan said, “I just felt like God told me to go over there and just give him some new shoes. So I took off my own shoes. I gave them to him, and I just felt like I brought a little peace in his life.”
Jordan was not aware that a woman saw his spontaneous act of kindness. She filmed what happened in the parking lot, and shared it on Facebook. She wrote, “Watching this young man take the shoes off his own feet and give them to an older man who needed them truly touched my heart.”
The next day, Jordan’s grandmother saw her grandson on the post, and sent it around to all the family. A Phoenix news station saw the video and put it on the news, along with an interview with this kind young man.
You may view that news story here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awp_eHZaxxQ
Jordan had driven away after the initial encounter, but then felt compelled to turn around. He found the elderly man inside Walgreen’s. He paid for the man’s purchase, and then took his new friend to lunch, where he learned that his wife had died recently. Jordan has stayed in touch with “Mr. Roy,” and even started a GoFundMe to raise funds for his groceries and other expenses.
“A tug pulled on my heart, and I knew it was definitely from God,” Jordan said. He credited his parents, youth pastor, and faith when he was interviewed. “God interrupted my plans for that day to carry out His plans.”
Terrific!
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St. Basil lived in a time long before the vast social service network. In those days, the poor, naked, barefoot, and hungry were literally at the door of the church, every day. He and his sister Monica received a large inheritance from their father, and they gladly gave it all away to meet the desperate needs of those in their community. In the following reading from one of Basil’s sermons, he is encouraging his congregation to also give as they are able. Giving to the poor is more complicated today, but there are many excellent Christian organizations that do this very well, and Basil’s words can inspire us to share of the blessings we have been given:
When someone steals another’s clothes, we call them a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not?
The bread which you do not use, is the bread of the hungry; the seldom worn garments hanging in your closet, are the garments of those who are naked; the shoes that you do not wear, are the shoes of one who is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away, is money that could help those in need. Thus, however many are those whom you could have provided for and did not, so many are those whom you wrong.
I know many who fast, pray, sigh, and demonstrate every manner of piety, so long as it costs them nothing, yet would not part with a penny to help those in distress.
― St. Basil the Great (330-379 A. D.), Bishop of Caesarea
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Luke 3:10-11 — “What should we do then?” the crowd asked. John (the Baptist) answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
I John 3;17 — If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
Acts 20:35 — (Paul said), “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ “
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A prayer by Rev. Samuel F. Pugh (1904-2007):
O God, when I have food, help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work, help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a warm home, help me to remember those who have no home at all;
When I am without pain, help me to remember those who suffer,
And as I remember, teach me to care, and inspire my compassion.
Make me concerned enough to help, by word and deed, those who cry out for what we take for granted. Amen.
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