Learn From Them

Today I heard the truth.  A man corrected a misperception someone else had of him, even though he could have let it continue.  I found his unsolicited honesty refreshing and beautiful.  

Once again the homeless man who I call "Manuel" sat before me.  A woman there with us said that Manuel had stopped using illicit substances.  Immediately Manuel set right this misconception about him.  "No, I'm using," he confessed, meaning that he has been using an illicit drug.  

"Oh, I thought you had stopped," she said.  

Again he could have let this inaccurate image of him continue, but again he told the truth.  "I did stop, but I started again.  I'm using now."  

From a homeless drug addict, I was instructed in the truth.  Jesus, who is The Truth,* comes to us in those who are the least among us,** and comes to instruct us in the truth.  

We can learn from the least of those among us.  We can learn from Jesus, who is still lovingly and persistently coming to us in the poor.  

We can learn to love honesty from those who are poor among us.  We learn about love from Jesus, who is in those who are the least among us.  

Let us listen to those who are poor.  Let us listen to Jesus.  Amen.  

* John 14:6 
** Matthew 25:40,45