Babushkas and Jesus

Yesterday, there was a brief “discussion” at my kitchen table that left me a bit shaken and chagrined. I was remarking about some of the grandmas (babushkas) who I see at the deli counter in the supermarkets (yes we have supermarkets in Ukraine). They always seem to take forever when they get to the counter. They ask questions like, “How fresh is it?” or “Is it today’s sausage?” or other questions I don’t comprehend. The girls behind the counters roll their eyes and often say “I don’t know” or something to that effect. I cannot always understand their words, but their faces and body language tell it all.

Those of us standing in line shift from foot to foot peering over each others' shoulders trying to see what is going on and wondering what the hold up is. We all just wish that they would either leave or make up their mind and get out of line so that we can get on with our shopping, as we know what we want. To me, they seem rude and inconsiderate of the rest of us standing in line. But in sharing this with my family I got a reaction I wasn’t looking for.

I was expecting “Yes, isn’t it a bother” or something like that, but instead my wife said with some sadness in her voice and a bit or rejoinder, “Maybe they are just lonely and want to talk so someone!”

My immediate reaction was one of feeling criticized, and I said as much and feeling oh so vindicated in doing so. My wife quickly left the table without another word, leaving her lunch unfinished. After I had some time to think about it and with some prompting of the Holy Spirit in the person of Miss Emily Marie Mark, I was convinced of the truth of my wife’s words. I was left feeling small and embarrassed. I, the man of God who proclaims Jesus at every opportunity and thinks himself the great teacher of the Word of God, was caught in my own sin and pride. My wife had clearly taken the way of Christ, while I had been playing the part of the indigent and self-righteous Pharisee.

How easy it is to become puffed up in our knowledge and find reasons to criticize others, without having all the facts. Proverbs says, “One witness seems right until another comes along” and “There is a way that seems right to a man but the end of it is death."

There are rude and selfish people in the world, but my job is not to convict them of their sin or point out how righteous I am compared to them. My job isn’t to judge others but rather to love even my enemies and to pray for those who treat me despitefully.

So maybe I will take my wife’s suggestion and think better of them (the babushkas), pray for them, smile at them and, God willing and the opportunity presents itself, talk with them.

Matthew 7:1-5NIV
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

In Christ,
Alan