God's Wife

An eye witness account from New York City,

on a cold day in December, some years ago:

A little boy, about 10-years-old,

was standing before a shoe store on the roadway,

barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold.

A lady approached the young boy and said,

'My, but you're in such deep thought staring in that window!'

'I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes,’

was the boy's reply.

The lady took him by the hand, went into the store,

and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks

for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water

and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. 

She took the little fellow to the back part of the store

and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed

his little feet, and dried them with the towel.

By this time, the clerk had returned with the socks..

Placing a pair upon the boy's feet,

she then purchased him a pair of shoes..

She tied up the remaining pairs of socks

and gave them to him.

She patted him on the head and said,

‘No doubt, you will be more comfortable now..'

As she turned to go, the astonished kid

caught her by the hand,

and looking up into her face, with tears

in his eyes, asked her:

'Are you God's wife?'

In the story the women is washing the child’s feet as Jesus washed the apostle’s feet. The modern day setting reminds us that we as disciples of Jesus are called to serve the poor and each other. We can bring the light and love of Jesus to the world by reaching out to those in need.

John 13:12-16 NIV

12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

In Jesus’s time the roads were dusty and people wore open-toed sandals. Their feet often became dirty. It was the job of the lowest servants to wash the guests' feet.