Junior Sawyer stumbled across his dorm room to answer the phone. It was his first year at the big university in the state capital, and he was enjoying the first freedom he had ever known.
Junior's parents loved their son but, like a lot of other parents, they never said, "I love you." They never hugged him. They hadn't even kissed him goodbye when he went off to the university. The way they expressed their love was to make up a lot of rules for him to follow.
As charter members of the Independent Free-Will Bible Church of Jesus Christ, Junior's parents were loving their son in the best way they knew - making sure that he grew up to be a Bible-believing Christian. In their house the first and highest order of the day was to obey Jesus' commandment to love God and to love your neighbor. Ranking right after this commandment were the ten commandments of Exodus. Then came all sorts of other commandments and rules for living.
Junior's parents were experts at drawing rules for living from almost any passage in the Bible. Even things such as Paul's nine fruits of the Spirit turned into laws at Junior's house. The gift of joy became "You shall be joyful." The gift of love became "You shall be a loving person." Everything was reduced to a rule.
Tonight's phone call was like every other call since Junior had gone away to the university. His parents were nurturing their unspoken love by checking to make sure Junior was obeying all the rules.
"Are you remembering to keep the sabbath holy?" his mother asked. This meant "Are you going to church every Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evening?
Junior, as he had done with all the other phone calls, lied. "Yes, mother. I went to both services yesterday."
You see lying is where Junior found his freedom. Because State University was so far from his home-town, there was no way for his parents to know what Junior was really doing, except by asking him.
His lies kept them happy. And his lies bought precious freedom. It was every parents' nightmare. And it was the dream of every repressed youth. Junior loved his new life! He spent every day and every night wallowing in his new-found freedom by breaking every rule his parents had ever taught him.
This week, he was working on "Thou shalt not steal." After his parents' phone call, Junior headed to the Speedy-Quick store. It was one of those places that sell gas and junk food. Getting in was no problem. Junior just broke the glass out of the front door.
He didn't find any money in the cash register, but he stuffed a bunch of lottery tickets down the front of his jacket (after all he might get lucky). He filled his pockets with candy bars and grabbed a handful of CDs. Junior was chugging his second can of beer when he heard a voice behind him say, "Put your hands in the air. You're under arrest!"
As Junior turned toward the voice, a glint of light hit the CDs in his hand. The officer saw the reflection of light, and figured Junior was holding a gun. Everything seemed to go into slow motion after that. Junior saw the officer drawing his weapon to shoot. Junior looked toward the closest door, and then back at the officer. At the same instant, Junior saw Jesus behind the officer, and Jesus was pointing toward the back of the store, away from the closest door. Junior broke and ran the way Jesus had pointed. Behind him, he heard the loud percussion of the officer's gun firing. Junior dived into the men's room, amazed he was still alive. He locked the door, and then broke out the restroom's window. Through it, Junior disappeared into the night, as the officer tried to break open the restroom door.
The rest of that night and all the next day, Junior sat in his dorm room and shook with fear. He realized how close he had come to being killed.
On Wednesday morning, he walked past the Speedy-Quick. He saw people replacing the glass in the doors. They had already replaced the glass in the door he had broken through, and they were working on the door on the other side of the store, the one that had been closest to him. There was a bullet-hole right through the center of the glass in that door.
Junior started to shake all over again, as he realized that if he had run toward that door the bullet would have gone through his body too. Seeing Jesus pointing the other way had saved his life.
Then, for the first time, Junior remembered something else. The hand that Jesus had pointed with had a nail in it.
Jesus had not been standing and pointing. Jesus had been hanging on the cross when he was pointing.
This was too much for Junior, and he just dismissed the whole thing as an overactive imagination. "The truth was," he thought to himself, "there had been two directions to run, and I was lucky to have chosen the right one."
By Saturday night, Junior had put the whole affair behind him as a good learning experience. For now on, he would pick easier targets. And what is easier than a church?
The church next to the campus proved him right. He did not even have to break any glass to gain entry. He simply found a door that someone had forgotten to lock.
Of course, being a church, there was not much to steal. After hunting around for awhile, he finally found a little milk carton with the word "Missions" printed on it. There was some change inside, but not even much of that.
Junior was just about to leave, when a banner hanging in the hallway caught his eye. The banner showed Jesus hanging on the cross.
"Hah!" Junior said to himself. "That's not very real. That guy looks almost happy to be on the cross. Jesus didn't look at all like that when I saw him."
Junior thought back to the Jesus he had seen at the Speedy-Quick. The face and body of that Jesus was drawn up in terrible pain. Dried blood matted his hair and beard, and streaked his arms and body. The Jesus Junior had seen had been dying. And as he hung on the cross dying, he had been pointing toward the men's room of the Speedy-Quick.
Once again Junior wondered if he had actually seen Jesus. He stood staring at the banner. He read the line of scripture printed under the figure of Jesus on the banner, "…and I will love them and reveal myself to them" (John 14:21c). Junior kept reading the words over and over, "…and I will love them and reveal myself to them."
"Does Jesus really love me?" Junior asked himself out loud. "He revealed himself to me, and saved my life - I think."
He read the words again, "…and I will love them and reveal myself to them." Then Junior turned around and carried the little milk carton labeled "Missions" back to the classroom where he had found it. He set it down on the table there, and then dug in his own pocket for coins. He added thirty-eight cents to the milk carton's worth.
Then Junior left the church the way he had entered. And, as he went out the door, he pushed the button on the door-knob to make the door lock behind him.
On Sunday evening, Junior did not wait for his parents to telephone him. He called them. "Hi, it’s me. No, nothing's wrong. I just want to tell you something. I know that you will be angry, but you need to know. I've been lying to you. I haven't been going to church like I told you I have. But this morning I really did go, and I liked it. I plan to go back next Sunday. No, I don't know if it is an Independent Free-Will Bible Church. I don't know what it is, but it's a church and they preach Jesus Christ. Does anything else matter? No, I'm okay. Listen, I need to tell you something else. I don't really know if you guys love me or not. I mean you've never said so. But, for the first time in my life I know that I am loved. I know that Jesus loves me. It's a long story, and maybe sometime I'll tell you. Just know this. I love you guys. I really do. And for now on you're going to see an improved son. Look, I have to go now. I have a lot of catching up to do on my class-work. I'll see you at Thanksgiving. I love you, Mom. I love you, Dad. Bye."
Questions for Meditation, Discussion or Preaching
Copyright 2020. Robert D. Ingram, 32746 Jourden Rd., Albany, Ohio 45710 (dr.bobingram@gmail.com). Used by permission.
