NOT GUILTY

IN AN ENDLESS TRADITION OF GOD'S WORD AND THE MIRACULOUS!!!

"Oh God!" The youth swore.
Stepping out into the well lit streets of Manhattan, he struggled to cover his head with the headwarmer as the gusty winds met him in a fierce embrace. The weight of his bag like a milestone, with its handle looped across his cotton-stuffed chest, the youth struggled to blanket his weariness but his bag won't let him.
"Come to this side, will you?"
A passerby looked at him and shook her head in disbelief. In her heart she pondered how a young lad could lose all sense of sanity, and find a companion in nothing else than his bag.
The youth looked at her and realised he must have spoken loud, for plastered on the face of the blonde was sympathy and a line that masked her eyes in pity. Without waiting for the traffic sign, he stepped out across the road and almost got hit by a car. In his shame to get away from the hypocrisy of the passerby, he realised that by sheer stupidity of crossing the busy road he had only worsened the bemused look on the blonde who now thought of a certain that he was insane. Taking large steps, he was almost running to the subway.

***

The Man sat, with so many others, on one side of the car. Their lungs suffered from the awful smell exhuming from the beggar on the other side. The beggar sat alone on one role while the role of seats opposite him was unoccupied. As the train came to a halt in one of the stations, many that sat with the Man got up and changed cars; some came in and only had to inhale once before exiting the car in preference to either change cars or wait for the next train. A lady dressed in a white shirt, dark skirt and stockings that kept the winter chill at bay stepped in and immediately moved to the other side to join the others and the Man in obvious disgust of the lonely beggar. The Man noticed the woman make a face while a young lad stepped in as the car doors were closing. The announcements were made, and the Man knew they all had to suffer in silence until they got to their destination.
The youth stepped in and immediately noticed the obvious. He was about to join others at the other side but something bade him not to. He found himself standing beside the stinking beggar, his tommy taking a turn in anguish.
"Why do you stop me from joining the others?" This time the youth was wise enough to whisper to himself. He looked at the other side and read the remark on the faces of people on the other side.
The Man looked at the young lad wondering if he was insane. Maybe he was a beggar, he wondered to himself, but he could see the lad wasn't badly dressed as such.
The youth realised that he hadn't succeeded in escaping. Someone on the way thought of him insane and now here are a bunch of people who felt the same. "I need an answer. Why do you stop me from going. This place smells like hell. I will puke if you don't let me leave."
"HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN?"
"Forgotten what?"
"IS IT THAT EASY TO FORGET, SON? DON'T YOU REMEMBER ONE TIME WHEN YOU STANK WORSE THAN THIS BEGGAR?
"What are you talking about?"
"IT WASN'T LONG AGO, YOU KNOW."
"But I never smelled bad. I always take my bath."
"YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT YOU STANK SO BAD YOU WEREN'T ALLOWED INTO THE THRONE OF GRACE. FROM YOUR MOTHER'S WOMB YOUR SIN SEPARATED YOU FROM GOD. IN DEPRAVITY OF MIND YOU WERE UNBECOMING OF A CHILD OF GOD. YET HE SAVED YOU."
The youth closed his eyes. He hated himself for always being close to tears, but he could feel his heart break at the chastisement.
"WHILE YOU WERE UNGODLY, CHRIST CAME FOR YOU. GOD DEMONSTRATED HIS LOVE FOR YOU THAT WHILE YOU WERE A SINNER, CHRIST DIED FOR YOU."
"Oh Father. I'm sorry. I will stay beside him and will not join others at the other side, not because I'm better than them but because I was once lost and you found me; a beggar and you blessed me."
The Man,with others, stared at this young lad standing in relish of the odour oozing from the beggar. How can anyone survive such a smell. He was certain the beggar must have defaecated on himself, for the smell was so bad.
Seconds turned into minutes, yet the young lad didn't move, instead there was a characteristic change visible on his face. He was blooming in joy. But in what, the Man wondered. With every stop the train made at stations, people came in and immediately changed cars only after uttering words of disgust at the beggar, while the young lad laughed. For once, the Man felt like shouting at him what was his problem. The young lad's gentle face was smearing his skin and bruising his humanity, but he couldn't find an explicable reason for his hate.
As the train pulled to its last stop, the Man watched the young lad tap the beggar. The announcements were made that people should leave the train cars but he wanted to see what transpired between this young lad and the beggar.
The youth tapped the beggar, handed him a twenty dollar bill and told him, "Take this. Go to Lenox on Nostrand, ask for Jesus. Someone will show you the Way."
For the first time the beggar looked up in tears. "Thank you, son. Thank you."
That did it for him. The Man was thrown back. He realised his stand. While he condemned the beggar all the way, this young lad didn't. While he couldn't stand a breath of him, this young lad touched him. While he joined others to spite, this young lad had changed a life forever. At that moment it came to him as the young lad left the subway. It didn't matter if the beggar went to where the young lad told him to go. Neither did it matter if the beggar went out to blow the money down the drain. All that mattered is that the beggar had come in contact with someone who identified with him without condemnation and while he picked up a stone to throw, the young lad, by his character, had said to the beggar in summary:

"NEITHER WILL I CONDEMN YOU, GO AND SIN NO MORE."

shalom!!!
the prisoner of Christ