I recently received, via the internet, a story of a salesman responsible for a mishap with a blind girl selling apples.  Rather than continue on in his trip home, he stops to assist her in recovering from this incident.  The sum of his actions caused the girl to ask him, “Are you Jesus?” 

What I hope to share with you is that the actions of Jesus, which this girl seemed to know of, were reflected by this man’s response in several ways.  The first involved the salesman immediately changing his plans to return home to be with family after a lengthy business trip.  Rather than seeking his own desires or needs, he put another’s first.  Jesus did the same when called upon to empty Himself and to take on the form of a servant and eventually giving His life on the cross at Calvary (Philippians 2:7).

Another important element of the story related how the salesman was glad that he had returned.  It would seem he had no idea of the condition of the individual and just how much she needed his help.  We too, have a great need in our alienation from God as a result of our sins.  God and His Son were “pleased to crush and to be crushed” (Isaiah 53:10) in order to be a guilt offering for us.  In the words of Jesus Himself we see He was and would be distressed until He faced the baptism which was His to undergo.  This, of course, would have been the sacrifice He was to make on the cross.

And last, we see the salesman offering over and above that which was needed by giving $40 to cover any unseen damages.  That would certainly by a lot of apples.  In the life of Jesus we are told His mission was “to seek and to save the lost” and He would do that at Calvary, but in the interim we find Him healing illness and disease, casting out demons, miraculously feeding multitudes as well as preaching the gospel.   This man’s actions exemplify behavior much like Jesus’, thus eliciting the question, “Are you Jesus?”  How would you respond if placed in a similar circumstance?  Does your life make you a candidate for the question, “Are you Jesus”?

Copyright © 2006, Nolan P. Rutter