Serving like a Russian Rabbi

There was a certain rabbi that lived in a small village in the heart of western Russia.  It was a small town with a nearly entirely Jewish population.  This rabbi was known for being a wise, kind, and sincere man.  But he was also known for something else.  On Friday mornings he would disappear for hours.

The rabbi's disciples would tell everyone that the rabbi spent the early hours of Friday morning communing with God in heaven.  In fact, the story of the rabbi's fantastical Friday morning forays had spread to the surrounding towns and villages.  A man who lived in one of those neighboring towns was skeptical of the rabbi, and wanted to see for himself.

The man came to the town late Thursday night and determined to follow the rabbi to see what was really going on.  In Friday's predawn hours, the rabbi woke up early and clothed himself in a peasant's garb.  He then went deep into the woods and spent the next hour cutting down a tree and splitting it into firewood.

The rabbi then picked up as much firewood as he could carry and he brought it deeper into the forest until he arrived at a small cottage at the far edge of the woods.  The house was inhabited by a widow and her three young children.  The rabbi brought enough firewood for a week's worth of fires before going back to the village.  The man was stunned and determined to become a disciple of the rabbi.  And now, when the other disciples talk about the rabbi's weekly trip to heaven, the man agrees with joy.

Service is a remarkable and influential endeavor.  It affects people in miraculous and dramatic ways.  Conversely, the lack of the evidence of service can be devastating and disenfranchising.  How do you think the bucolic detective above would have responded if instead of discovering that the rabbi spent his "secret" Friday mornings serving a neighbor in need, but simply stayed in bed because he had a weekly ritual of getting drunk on Thursday nights?  He would have been appalled at the incongruity between what was professed and what actually occurred.

We, as Christians, should strive to be better servers who seek out opportunities to serve and seize them with eagerness and joy.  Service that comes from a sincere heart is the of a life that is focused on the Lord.  Let us then live out our faith in service!