What José Models
Does the name José Andrés ring a bell? No? Well, he's worth hearing about.
I don't know a lot about him, but here's what I discovered. Andrés is a Spanish-born American chef, well known for his cooking and his restaurants, mostly on the east coast. Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, Andrés chose not to just give money and use his platform as a celebrity chef to garner support, he set up emergency kitchens to provide meals and basic food aid for the poorest of the poor and went to work with his craft. Later, he founded World Central Kitchens, a not-for-profit organization, and has worked in multiple countries around the world as well in response to various crises, including in the USA following hurricanes and fires and COVID. It is worth the time to google Andrés and the Kitchen to get a sense of his heart. Lately, he has opened 8 kitchens on the Ukrainian/Polish border. One of his quotes often repeated is:
We need to make sure we are building walls that are shorter and tables that are longer.
That's a good thought from a man who invests his life in filling tables around the world. He loves others by feeding them when in need, no questions asked. I'm sure he is just as flawed as any of us, and one can probably find reasons to oppose the Kitchen, but still I would love to buy him a cup of coffee and pick his brain...and maybe help serve a meal or two.
Every day we marinate in stories of violence and selfishness and what seems like the devolution of society. Without question, there is plenty to be concerned about, but just when life mostly all looks bleak, along comes a José doing what he can with what he has. Whenever I poke my head up above the smoke of the latest "BREAKING NEWS!!!" bulletin I find another José. Whether he knows it or not, he is imitating Jesus through his actions.
Learning about Andrés and his passion led me to think about Jesus' passion for people in need. He showed it over and over by spending time with the "lessers" of his day. The "betters" were routinely appalled by his embrace of people on the fringes of society. Several times we read Jesus withstanding reprimands for having parties with sinners, embracing lepers, doing all kinds of good in unacceptable ways and at the wrong times, and hanging with undesirables. Then, at the end of Matthew, Jesus turns the spotlight on each of us. In Mt. 25 when he is talking about end times judgment, little is mentioned about tidy religious lives, rather he says:
I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.
And the righteous will say, "Lord, when did we [do all those things]?"
The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."
Now, friends, that is a powerful and frightening passage and one we often skip over on our way to the sunshine and lollipops sections of scripture. If you read much of the chapter, there are other sobering portions like this. Remember, we stand before God not on our social justice merits since our secure position as children of God is by grace, through faith, based on his death and resurrection. But how we mimic Jesus in social-need settings can be a telltale sign of true life in Christ. Also, this is not simply pity for those under duress, since Jesus declares them "brothers (and sisters) of mine." A first step in Jesus-like social moves might be recognizing the imago dei in everyone we meet, and the link of God through us to them and vice versa.
What is interesting in these verses is that all this seems to be done in the natural course of daily life. None of those doing good are on a missions trip. The "righteous" Jesus talks about are just living, then responding to the need before them with what they have to share. Folks like this seem to carry an internal radio tuned to open-handed living as opposed to clench-fisted with our stuff and time. So, we can loop back to José. He understood a desperate need in Haiti. He knew how to cook and serve. He chose to act. Simple. And that beginning launched a global outreach, one meal at a time.
Let's do this: How about praying with me for eyes to see the needs spread across our path, and for a heart to want to be part of a solution, and then the will to do what we can with what we have to share. José didn't fix cars or cure diseases or build a house. His skills led him to cook, so he cooked and served and made a difference.
What might you and I have to put to use?
Time for some music:
And a funny for the road ahead
I went skydiving today for the first time.
This guy strapped himself to me.
We jumped out of the plane.
As we plummeted he yelled in my ear...
"So how long have you been an instructor?"
