Thought: A Careful Vendor | Pr. Robinson E Joy Nagpur

For an urgent meeting I had to travel from Dehra Dun to Delhi. Since Delhi was unfamiliar to me then, one of my colleagues had arranged his elder brother to guide me. After the meeting we reached Old Delhi Railway Station at 7 pm, since my guide had some unavoidable duties he left me on the station. I was grateful to him, for he was a great help for me, an eye in an unfamiliar land. I bid bye and prayed in heart that the Lord would bless him for all his hospitalities for me.

I was left alone, no one to talk with; I had around 3 hours to spend before the departure of my train back to Dehra Dun. Then I thought of just walking and seeing around, just to get a taste of Delhi with own eyes. So I walked out of the station, the footpath was almost filled with vendors, just like any other Indian cities. All the vendors were yelling at the top of their voice and it felt they might lose their vocal cords. I had a preoccupied thought that all the vendors are cheaters, deceivers, the ones who wait to loot; they rob money in exchange of cheaper goods. I usually prefer to buy nothing from these guys.
Outside the station there was a traffic signal; vehicles would fill the place in moments. I simply began to watch the rush of the vehicles, and then I saw an old beggar crossing the traffic signal. He had worn rugged clothes, had a bag hung on his left shoulder and on the right hand a staff too. Neither did I understand anything nor appeared something new at this. I recognized that the signal was going to open for the closed side and the vehicles would rush….still the beggar kept on walking.

While I was waiting and looking at the vehicles, I saw a vendor running towards the beggar leaving his goods behind and pushing him away from the road. As he pushed the beggar aside the signal was turned on to green, vehicles started to rush. I stood there motionless, trying to recollect what had happened? Why did the vendor run to the beggar? Why did he push off the old beggar?
And I came to my sense, realized the seriousness of what had occurred. My attitude towards the vendors was changed. In fact, the vendor knew that the old beggar was blind, if he had not gone to rescue, for sure the old beggar would have crushed to death under the rushing vehicles’ wheels. I felt gratitude towards the vendor, for he had rescued a person from the clutch of death.
Vendor rushed to rescue just because the other person was blind- ignoring his life to save someone else’s. Could you just imagine what had happened 2020 years ago at Calvary? Jesus Christ was crucified on our behalf. When He thought of us His heavenly glorious splendor (Philippians 2: 6-9) did not matter, He left His heavenly realm, came down to earth just to give us eternal life with Him.
The sacrifices God has done for us are beyond words. What are we sacrificing for our dear Lord? Are we ready for a material loss in our lives for the sake of Christ’s love? Many missionaries I do know, who have willingly left their prosperous lives to live among the village people for the sake of souls’ salvation. How do we respond to Jesus Christ’s love? When Christ looks from heaven will He points His finger at you/me and tell the angels, who stand beside Him, “you see him/her, I love him/her so much for s/he has left everything for me?”

Robinson Joy, Nagpur

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