They Won't Let Me In
It was a beautiful Sunday
morning. People were filling the church to its fullest capacity! As they
entered, each was given a bulletin filled with announcements, topic of
today's sermon, what songs they would sing and who to pray for. At the
end of the line stood an older man. His clothes were filthy and you
could tell that he had not bathed in days. His face was covered in
whiskers where he had not shaved for a very long time. When he reached
the usher, he removed his tattered old brown hat in respect. His hair
was a long, dirty, tangled mess. He had no shoes on his feet, and wore
only soiled, black socks.
The usher put his fingers to his nose and glared at the old man and
said, "Uh, I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid we can't let you in. You will
distract the congregation and we don't allow anyone to disrupt our
service. I'm afraid you'll have to leave."
The old man looked down at himself and with a puzzled look on his face,
he placed his old brown hat back upon his head and turned to leave. He
was sad, as he loved to hear the choir sing praises to the Lord. He
loved to watch the little children get up in front of the church to sing
their little songs. He carried in his pocket a small worn out Bible and
loved to see if the minister preached a passage from the Bible that the
old man had underlined. He was respectful enough and didn't want to
cause any commotion, so he hung down his head and walked back down the
steps of the big brick church.
He sat down on the brick wall near the edge of the churchyard and
strained to listen through closed doors and windows to the singing going
on in the church. Oh how suddenly he wished he could be inside with all
the others. A few minutes had passed by when all of a sudden a younger
man came up behind him and sat down near him. He asked the old man what
he was doing.
He answered, "I was going to go to church today, but they thought I was
filthy and my clothes are old and worn, and they were afraid I would
disrupt their service. Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. My name is
George."
The two gentlemen shook hands and George couldn't help but notice that
this man had long hair like his. He wore a piece of cloth draped over
his body tied with a royal purple sash. He had sandals upon his feet,
now covered with dust and dirt.
The stranger reached out to touch George's shoulder and said, "Hello,
George, don't feel bad because they won't let you in. My name is Jesus,
and I've been trying to get into this same church for years, and they
won't let me in either."
Unknown author
