Today’s Devotional Theme Eleanor Rigby and Us
Daily ScriptureMatthew 25:35, 40
“I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in… And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”
Encouragement
“Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name… Nobody came… Father McKenzie wipes the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave… No one was saved… All the lonely people… Where do they all come from?... All the lonely people… Where do they all belong?” One of the most poignant, heart-stabbing portrayals of loneliness I’ve ever heard in a song. It’s the decades-old “Eleanor Rigby” by the Beatles, sung to the background strains of a classical string quartet, a vignette of a woman who lives in a dream, wearing in public “a face she keeps in a jar by the door,” alone, uncared for in life and in death. I was a male Eleanor Rigby when I first heard this song, pasting on a smile for all to see while crying and dying inside. I thank God neither of those descriptions fits anymore. God and the perfect (for me) wife got me out of that crushing frame of mind a long time ago. Now the least I can do is help to overcome their loneliness and despair a few of the multitudes wandering the streets of our cities and the byways of our countrysides, as I hearken to the words of Jesus, “By lifting up one of the least of these My brethren, you lifted Me up.”
Apply God’s Word
I’m quite sure America is home to a much larger fraction of isolated people than ancient Israel was. Hebrews were and still are a hospitable people, following the commandment of God (Exodus 12:49) to feed and clothe the sojourner in their midst. (See Hebrews 13:2, “Do not forget to entertain strangers…”) The New Testament houses well over 50 verses with the phrase “one another”. Notably: John’s gospel, Romans (among Paul’s other letters), 1 Peter, and James. For example, Romans 12:16, “Do not be haughty, but rub shoulders with the lowly.” As grafted-in Jews, are we not expected to reach out as well to people to whom the world has been less than kind?
Come into His Presence
Lord God, Who exists not far off but desires an intimate, face-to-face relationship with us, continue to use us to clothe, feed, and care for the homeless and others on whom society has turned its back. I thank You that when I once was one of them, You fed and clothed me. Help us to reach out with Your loving hands. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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