The Value of a Hug

I borrowed this from J.R. Woodward's blog:

I love this story that Tony Compolo tells about one time when he was walking down the streets of Philadelphia where he lives. He says, “I'm walking down Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. There's a dirty, filthy bum, covered with soot from head to toe, covered with filth. He had a huge beard. I'll not forget the beard. It was a gigantic beard with rotted food stuck in it. He was a filthy, despicable. He held a cup of McDonald's coffee, and mumbled as he walked along the street. He spotted me. He said, "Hey, Mister. You want some of my coffee?" I knew I should take some to be nice, and I did. I gave it back to him and said, "You're being pretty generous giving away your coffee this morning. What's gotten into you that you're giving away your coffee all of a sudden?" He said, "Well, the coffee was especially delicious this morning, and I figured if God gives you something good you ought to share it with people."

I figured this is the perfect set up. He's got me. I said, "Is there anything I can give you in return?" I'm sure he's going to hit me for five dollars. He said, "Yeah, you can give me a hug." I was hoping for the five dollars. He put his arms around me. I put my arms around him. And I realized something. He wasn't going to let me go. He was holding onto me. Here I am an establishment guy, and this bum is hanging on me. He's hugging me. He's not going to let me go. People are passing on the street. They're staring at me. I'm embarrassed. But little by little my embarrassment turned to awe. I heard a voice echoing down the corridors of time saying, I was hungry. Did you feed me? I was naked. Did you clothe me? I was sick. Did you care for me? I was the bum you met on Chestnut Street. Did you hug me? For if you did it unto the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you did it to me. And if you failed to do it unto the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you failed to do it unto me. That's what it says almost word for word in the Matthew 25. When we do it to the poor, Jesus meets us there. Jesus comes through the poor and touches us and blesses us.

If you want to feel the presence of Jesus, and you can, there are many avenues that you can take. But one of them is to go among the poor, for Jesus has a strange way of staring back at you every time you look into the eyes of someone in desperate need."

Of all the things that the Scripture talks about, it talks about the poor most of all. There are 2,000 verses in Scripture that say we should respond to the needs of the poor. There are many ways of doing it. You see, the Talmud, which is a commentary on the Torah, says there are three ways of helping the poor:

One is to create jobs for them, because then the poor escape their poverty with their dignity intact. Being employed, they will have no need of a handout. The second is to make work for the poor. Think of helpful projects they could work on. You create work for them. The third is to give the poor money, but never tell them where it came from.